Texas Impact's Legislative Agenda 2009
Texas Impact's legislative agenda is adopted by the Board of Directors at its January meeting in each odd-numbered year and reflects the broadly held positions of national denominations and social concerns units.
HEALTH INSURANCE
Lawmakers should ensure Texans have access to an equitable private health insurance market, dependable safety net programs, and a strong, responsive Texas Department of Insurance. Only national health insurance reform will permanently resolve the systemic health care issues facing Texas and all other states, but Texas lawmakers should take incremental steps to alleviate our state’s current crisis.
There’s no doubt that Texas is facing a health care crisis: Texas has led the nation for two decades in the percentage of our population without health insurance according to the U.S. Census. Almost six million Texans—one out of every four people in our state—lack any kind of health insurance. Texans have seen health insurance premiums jump forty percent in just five years—ten times faster than Texas household incomes. More that eighty percent of uninsured Texans are in working families, and three quarters of them make incomes above 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
Health insurance is too integral to the state’s health care infrastructure to be treated as an optional commodity. In 21st century Texas, the health care system upon which all of us depend can exist only if there is a reliable financing system. No one reform will “fix” our health insurance crisis—we need targeted solutions to bring more payers into the system, ensure affordable access for the most vulnerable, maximize available federal resources, and give our state insurance agency the authority and responsibility to regulate the market so it works for consumers and insurers.
The Market Should Serve Consumers
• Make rates more affordable through public reinsurance.
• Enact reasonable limitations on medical underwriting and pre-existing condition exclusions.
• Expand access to pooling and premium assistance mechanisms for individuals and small employers and allow “groups of one” to purchase insurance as self-employers rather than as individuals.
• Tighten existing rate bands or adopt community rating to limit variation in premiums.
The Safety Net Should Be Secure
• Implement 12 months of continuous eligibility for children in Medicaid as is currently the case for CHIP.
• Provide a CHIP buy-in option for families above the CHIP income eligibility limit.
• Ensure that children receiving child support are enrolled in health insurance.
The Texas Department of Insurance Should Be Pro-Active on Health Insurance
• Require the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to identify and implement policies and mechanisms that promote and encourage more Texans to purchase health insurance.
• Require TDI to evaluate the effectiveness of the health insurance regulatory environment with respect to availability and affordability and report on statutory and\or regulatory barriers to Texans’ achieving coverage.
• Clarify that the mission of TDI is to serve consumers and ensure a robust insurance market for consumers and insurers.
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IMMIGRATION
Lawmakers should focus on protecting innocent people and families within Texas’ borders.
Immigration is primarily a federal policy issue, but states can take some actions to impact the implementation of federal policies in their jurisdiction. Immigration is a highly charged issue for many people. In assessing possible state approaches, Texas lawmakers should seek first to protect innocent people and families.
• Direct the Attorney General to develop policies and procedures to address issues related to human trafficking in Texas.
• Leave enforcement of federal immigration laws to federal authorities rather than burdening local officials with new monitoring and enforcement projects.
• Ensure that no child in Texas can be denied essential services regardless of the immigration status of themselves or their parents.
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NUTRITION AND WELLNESS
Lawmakers should expand and integrate nutrition, physical activity and nature education programs and increase substance abuse prevention.
Health insurance is vital for a healthy population, but health insurance alone will not improve Texas’ health and well-being. Many of Texas’ most troubling health issues are the results of poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. These problems, in turn, often stem from environmental and economic factors and ultimately reflect a growing disconnect between people and the natural world. To address these issues, Texas should ensure the availability of fresh, nutritious food to Texans of all incomes and coordinate food programs with those that provide physical activity and nature education. To improve public health, Texas also should invest more resources in substance abuse prevention and prevention of related diseases.
• Ensure that Texas schools provide quality, nutritious foods.
• Increase the availability of fresh produce and other healthy foods in economically disadvantaged communities.
• Increase participation in the Summer Food Program.
• Coordinate healthy food, physical activity and nature education programs for Texas children and families.
• Increase funding for substance abuse prevention.
• Permit local health departments to establish disease-control programs that include anonymous needle exchange strategies.
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ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Lawmakers should set ambitious goals for rapid implementation of renewable generation and energy efficiency and prepare Texas for national carbon regulation.
For generations Texas has led the nation in fossil fuel production and consumption, bringing our state temporary monetary gain at the permanent expense of our health and the health of the environment that sustains us. It’s time for a different approach. Texas has the technological prowess and vast reserves of renewable energy to help provide a secure energy future for our state and nation, build a sustainable economy, and reduce the threat of catastrophic climate change. We have the technology to make our homes and businesses more energy efficient, saving us money and reducing pollution.
The Texas Legislature should lead the way in clean energy solutions by creating incentives and rebates to encourage the installation of solar panels and energy efficiency measures in our homes and businesses. Investment in clean energy will help create thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs, make our air cleaner, and renew Texas’s leadership as the energy capital of the world. At the same time, U.S. regulation of carbon emissions is becoming more likely. As the nation’s biggest carbon emitter, Texas should prepare for carbon regulation and work with the federal government to ensure that carbon regulation does not produce or exacerbate economic disparities.
Texas Should Invest More in Energy Efficiency
• Require utilities to meet new energy demand through efficiency programs.
• Expand Texas’ LoanStar program to serve non-governmental facilities such as churches, libraries and museums.
• Establish and fund a “green jobs” skills training program.
Texas Should Increase Incentives for Renewable Power Generation
• Establish an ambitious solar “renewable portfolio standard.”
• Require utility companies to offer incentives for solar electric installations on homes and businesses, including low-income homes and places of worship.
Texas Should Prepare for National Carbon Regulation
• Create a state greenhouse gas inventory to establish a baseline for future emissions-reduction targets and early action credits.
• Require public and private entities in Texas to adopt “no-regrets” strategies that reduce carbon emissions without resulting in higher costs to businesses or consumers.
• Place a moratorium on the permitting of new coal-fired power plants that do not capture and store carbon emissions.
• Require TCEQ in its permitting processes to consider the full impact of proposed new power generation including cumulative impacts of emissions and costs associated with mining and transportation of fuels and disposal of waste.
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PUBLIC SAFETY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Lawmakers should ensure that Texas’ public safety and criminal justice systems protect innocent people, deal humanely with those who are convicted of crimes, and protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all Texans.
Texas’ accounts for more than 50 percent of executions in the U.S. Capital convictions are slowing dramatically in Texas, largely as a result of the establishment of a life-without-parole sentencing option in 2005, but concerns remain around the issues of wrongful conviction and the execution of individuals with diminished mental capacity.
In both capital and non-capital cases, Texas lags the nation in investment in adequate defense for those who are accused of crimes and unable to afford legal representation. Texas also should address the risks associated with increased reliance on intelligence-sharing among law enforcement agencies and “pre-emptive law enforcement” created by post-September 11 homeland security policies.
• Make permanent and fully fund Texas’ indigent defense system.
• Establish an Innocence Commission to identify and correct problems in Texas’ criminal procedures that result in wrongful convictions.
• Create a task force to study the operation of “fusion centers” and develop programming to educate the public about intelligence-based law enforcement.
• Prohibit imposition of the death penalty on offenders who have mental retardation.
• Support early intervention and prevention programs for at-risk youth.
• Restructure Texas’ juvenile justice system to focus on local communities and families in a continuum of treatment and sanctions for youthful offenders.
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STATE REVENUE
Lawmakers should direct the state budget agency to prepare a “current services budget” to serve as the baseline for the biennial budget process and establish a state personal income tax.
Texas has low per-capita revenues and low per-capita spending, but not low per-capita income or low per-capita needs. Our regressive tax system unfairly burdens low and moderate-income Texans and does not generate enough revenue to maintain stability in funding for core state responsibilities. Constitutional provisions enacted nearly two decades ago provide adequate protection against “uncontrollable” state spending under an income tax and ensure that a state income tax in Texas would be approved by a majority of Texans.
In part because of our inadequate revenue system, Texas has adopted practices to mask diminishing funding for core state programs. Returning to the practice of preparing a current services budget as a starting point for each biennial budgeting process would allow lawmakers and the public to see the true impact over time of declining revenues relative to a growing population and increasing costs of goods and services.
• Allow the public to vote on a constitutional amendment authorizing a state personal income tax conforming to the constitutional limitations of the Bullock Amendment.
• Require the Legislative Budget Board to prepare a current services budget to be used as a starting point in each biennial budget process.
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For more information on the issues and positions listed here or to inquire about other issues, contact Bee Moorhead, Texas Impact Executive Director, at bee@texasimpact.org or 512.472.3903.
