The 79th Texas Legislative Session has less than a month to go before gaveling to a close. Now that we are in the home stretch, I thought it might be a good time to provide a quick status report on some of the bills I authored this session.


One bill that I think matters a lot to District 55 is HB 25, which is designed to help the school aged children of military families. This legislation would tighten the time it takes to transfer student records and allow alternate exit exams for pupils who move to Texas after January 1 of their final school year. While this bill will clearly assist military kids, it will also help out children with mobile parents. I am pleased to say that HB 25 left the Texas House on a unanimous vote.


Another bill that helps military retirees who have undertaken second careers in state government also passed the House with overwhelming support. HB 417 would allow the option for state employees eligible for TRICARE to have the state pay for a TRICARE supplemental policy for those willing to switch from the state's health benefits package. The program is completely voluntary for the eligible employees and can offer health care benefits that actually exceed what the state offers. Both the State of Texas and the eligible employee can also end up saving money with this TRICARE supplement benefit option.


Another bill I authored with enormous implications for the health care industry is also moving forward. My HB 1771 left the House on a vote of 148-0 and had 134 coauthors in my chamber. This bill would halt the proposed Star+Plus Medicaid managed care statewide expansion and put in its place a pilot program using integrated care management (ICM), an emerging model of  care that serves as a hybrid between a health maintenance organization (HMO) and primary care case management (PCCM).


The reason that all this matters is that under my bill Texas' major public hospitals would be able to continue to access $150 million in federal upper payment limit (UPL) funds each biennium that would be forever lost to them under Star+Plus. In short, my bill seeks to both prevent a local property tax hike in several counties around Texas and halt the further erosion of the major hospital infrastructure that is essential to protecting the public health in this state.


I have several bills aimed at state agency purchasing reform that are also moving along. My HB 880 calls for having the Texas Attorney General review huge health care contracts before they are signed and work with state agencies early on in the procurement process to ensure that we get tightly written agreements. This legislation left the House on a voice vote.


Another bill (HB 905) clarifies that our state auditor may review state contracts with an eye to see if a vendor has acted in our best interests – and that all the information needed to make this determination will be made available by the vendor.


Another of my bills calls for putting major state contracts on the Internet where the general public can easily read them. HB 26 should be coming to the House floor soon and I expect it will find a warm welcome in the Senate.


Of course, not all bills have to be big ones. Sometimes you can make a small improvement that saves a few tax dollars by doing something that just seems like common sense. My HB 423 says that every free publication a state agency mails out must have directions on how to get off the hard copy mailing list and be notified when the same publication is posted on the agency's Internet website. We should save a little bit in postage and printing and have less clutter in the mailbox with this one.


Apparently a lot of other lawmakers also liked this idea, as it was the second House bill of the session to be approved by the Senate. It is now on its way to Governor Rick Perry's desk for his signature.