IN THIS ISSUE:
Important Housing Bill Awaits Approval in House Subcommittee
- Baby Emilio Given More Time
- House Committee Hears “Treatment Pending Transfer” Bill
- Conference Committee is Coming; Settlement Endangers Waiting List Funds
- Scooter’s Bill zips through committees
Updates:
Important Housing Bill Awaits Approval in House Subcommittee
HB 3627 would give the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) more flexibility in how it distributes HOME funds—dollars that are critical to people with disabilities who need more and better housing options. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, is waiting on a vote from the Housing Subcommittee of the House Urban Affairs Committee following a public hearing last week.
HOME funds are important to people with disabilities with low incomes for rental assistance, down payment and home modification assistance. Until recently, TDHCA worked in partnership with the Texas Home of Your Own (HOYO) Coalition and the Promoting Independence Advisory Council to develop specialized home ownership and renter assistance projects. Now TDHCA officials say the agency’s enabling law limits the use of these HOME funds.
HB 3627 would lift the restrictive requirements and allow the funds to be directed where they are needed most—including urban areas. Approximately 80 percent of Texas’ disability population lives in major metropolitan areas in order to be near services and supports they need.
A second important feature of the bill is the creation of a specialized mortgage bond program that would provide low-interest home mortgage loans to eligible people with permanent disabilities and parents, legal guardians or conservators of children with disabilities.
The Disability Policy Consortium has a position statement in support of all efforts to create more “real” affordable housing for Texans with disabilities who have low incomes. DPC members joined other housing and disability advocacy organizations who testified in support of the bill.
The Housing Subcommittee of the House Urban Affairs Committee has yet to vote on HB 3627. Advocates for affordable, accessible housing for Texans with disabilities are contacting members of the subcommittee to express support for this effort to expand housing options for Texans who need them most.
Baby Emilio Given More Time
A Travis County judge gave Baby Emilio’s family and lawyers a bit more time to try to locate a hospital that will care for the terminally ill 17-month old. Judge Guy Herman also appointed a guardian ad litem to represent the baby’s interests. All parties will meet in court again April 19 at which time the judge is expected to decide if the hospital will be required to keep Emilio on life support. Get more background on Emilio’s story in the last issue of the Action Update.
House Committee Hears “Treatment Pending Transfer” Bill
A bill that addresses the heart-breaking dilemma facing Baby Emilio’s family got its first public hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee last Thursday. Sen. Robert F. Deuell, R-Greenville, introduced SB 439, referred to as the “Treatment Pending Transfer” bill. The bill would amend current state law to require doctors to treat terminally ill patients until another facility is found to accept them. Currently, hospitals are allowed to end life support 10 days after doctors decide to withdraw treatment.
In an April 2 letter to the Dallas Morning News, Sen. Deuell, a medical doctor, wrote: “Neither current law nor my proposed changes would require any doctor or hospital to provide treatment that is actually medically futile – i.e., not providing some benefit to the patient. Physicians, including myself, become frustrated when we cannot make a patient well or have exhausted reasonable standard of care efforts. But ending a person’s life is not the solution. The life of a patient does not simply become futile because we physicians are scratching our heads. Since one interest will have to prevail in these instances, it seems obvious to me that the right of the patient should prevail.”
The DPC has developed a position statement in support of allowing families—not hospitals—to make end of life decisions.
Conference Committee is Coming;
Settlement Endangers Waiting List Funds
Within in the next few days, House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst will appoint the members of the conference committee that will finalize the state budget for the next two years. As they wait on announcements of the appointments, DPC member organizations and other advocates are already talking with legislative leaders about the need to reduce the waiting lists for Medicaid waiver services by 20 percent over the next biennium.
In addition to the Speaker and Lt. Governor, advocates are contacting the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, Reps. Warren Chisum (chair) and Ryan Guillen (vice chair), and Sen. Steve Ogden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
The prospect of getting funding to achieve a full 20 percent waiting list reduction has been uncertain throughout this legislative session. The uncertainty grew last week when the Senate Finance Committee earmarked $706.7 million in general revenue (state dollars) and $1.779 billion in all funds to settle Frew v. Hawkins. The settlement addresses the lawsuit’s claim that children served by Texas Medicaid are receiving inadequate medical care. The funds would increase payment for a variety of physicians and medical services. Some of the settlement funding had been intended to shrink the waiting lists and advocates are working to have it restored by the conference committee.
Scooter’s Bill Zips Through Committees
SB 673, a.k.a. “Scooter’s Bill,” has cleared the Texas Senate and is on a straight path for approval in the near future by the House of Representatives. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would allow a student in an individualized education program (IEP) who has completed the fourth year of high school to participate in graduation ceremonies and receive an attendance certificate. It also would allow the students to continue after commencement and receive a high school diploma upon completing their IEP programs.
The bill’s nickname honors Gene “Scooter” Long, a Dallas student who was not allowed to participate with his classmates in graduation ceremonies.
About the Disability Policy Consortium
The DPC is made up of a diverse assortment of disability advocacy groups that have joined forces to advance the rights, inclusion and independence of Texans with disabilities. Each member organization contributes its unique perspective and resources to the collective effort to promote effective public policy for a variety of issues important to people with disabilities and their families.
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