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120 Document(s) [ Subject: Mental health services ]

Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Alternatives to incarceration | Arrest warrants | Border security | County budgets | County employees | County jails | Court costs and fees | Criminal Justice, Texas Department of | Disease preparedness | Family violence | Fines | Jail population | Jail Standards, Texas Commission on | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Municipal jails | Municipalities | Operation Lone Star (Border security) | Parole | Prison population | Prisons | Probation | Quarantines |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 C832
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [31 pages  File size: 781 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the existing and anticipated populations in state prisons and city and county jails located near the Texas-Mexico border. Make recommendations for alleviating or addressing any increase or over-crowding that may result as well as any other particularized needs or circumstances that have arisen or could arise as a result of an increase in population in correctional facilities, including, but not limited to, intake capacity, adequacy of facilities and other health and safety considerations. Make recommendations to mitigate any associated costs borne by border counties and municipalities. (Joint charge with Committee on Corrections)
2. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
  • HB 1545, 87th R.S., relating to the continuation and functions of the Commission on Jail Standards;
  • HB 1906, 87th R.S., relating to grants awarded to reimburse counties for the cost of monitoring defendants and victims in cases involving family violence; and
  • HB 2073, 87th R.S., relating to quarantine leave for fire fighters, peace officers, detention officers, and emergency medical technicians employed by, appointed by, or elected for a political subdivision.
3. Study statutorily mandated services provided by sheriffs and constables and determine whether fee schedules are set at sufficient levels to allow for cost recovery without placing undue burdens on recipients of those services.
4. For individuals in county jails and Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities, or on community supervision or parole, examine:
  • The availability of behavioral health services; and
  • The current treatment and recovery options available for those who are experiencing withdrawal from drug or alcohol use.
  • Make recommendations for best practices to address the needs of individuals requiring treatment. (Joint charge with Committee on Corrections)
Supporting documents
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, June 15, 2022 (Behavioral health services, treatment and recovery options)
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View document [8 pages  File size: 210 kb]
Committee: House Defense and Veterans' Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Mental health services | Military families | Operation Lone Star (Border security) | Post-traumatic stress disorder | Public Safety, Texas Department of | Texas National Guard | Texas State Guard | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [50 pages  File size: 3,879 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the activities of the Texas State Guard and the Texas National Guard participating in Operation Lone Star. Consider any legal or logistical support that can be provided to these organizations to increase operational efficiencies in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety. Review and assess the inventory of these agencies. Make appropriate recommendations. (Joint charge with Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety)
2. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation.
3. Examine programs and funding streams connected to services that improve mental health outcomes for servicemen and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
4. Evaluate the needs of veterans and their families as they return to civilian life, including access to employment, education, housing, counseling, and mental health services. Make recommendations to ensure coordination between state agencies to create a positive environment for veterans transitioning back into communities across the state.
Committee: Senate Finance
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Bail | Border security | Coronavirus | Economy | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Federal funds | Harris County | Homestead exemptions | Hospitals | Inflation | Investment of public funds | Long-term care | Medicaid | Mental health services | Nursing homes | Operation Lone Star (Border security) | Property tax exemptions | Property taxes | Public retirement systems | Recidivism | Retirees | Russia | School finance | State employee salaries | State employee turnover | Tax and expenditure limits | Tax revenue | Teacher Retirement System of Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 F49
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [108 pages  File size: 4,001 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Federal Funds: Report on the state use of federal COVID-19 relief funds provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts, and similar federal legislation. Examine local use of federal relief funding, including funding provided to school districts through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. Evaluate the overall fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state agencies, including costs incurred due to federal mandates. Identify barriers to the effective utilization of funds and make recommendations on the expenditure of unappropriated funds. In addition, evaluate and report on the spending by state agencies that have been utilizing "one-time" federal funding (temporary enhancements, e.g. FMAP and ESSER) sources, where federal funding will likely be significantly reduced in future biennia.
2. Property Tax Relief: Examine and recommend ways to reduce Texans' property tax burden. Review and report on proposals to use or dedicate state revenues in excess of the state spending limit to eliminate the school district maintenance and operations property tax.
3. Inflation: Review and report on the effect inflation is having on the business community and state government, including state salaries, retiree benefits, the state economy, and cost of state services.
4. Inflation: Review and report on the impact of inflation on units of local governments' revenue collections and property taxpayers' tax bills, including the homestead exemption.
5. Tax Exemptions: Examine Texans' current tax exemptions and report on whether adjustments are merited because of inflation or any other factors.
6. Russia Divestiture: Examine and report on options for state asset owners to divest their positions in companies that invest in the Russian Federation.
7. State Pension Reforms: Monitor the implementation of recent statewide pension reforms to the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
8. Bail Bond Reform: Monitor the implementation of recent bail bond reform legislation along with its economic impact on the judicial and correctional system. Assess any barriers to implementation, the law’s effect on pretrial release and jail populations, and ways to further promote public safety and efficiency.
9. Operation Lone Star: Monitor appropriations and spending supporting Operation Lone Star. Evaluate and report on the effectiveness of spending to secure the southern border. Identify and report on resources needed to ensure support for the State National Guard, as well as overall resources necessary for border security for future legislative consideration.
10. Long-term Care Funding: Examine state investments in the long-term nursing home care system. Study nursing facility funding issues and the impact of the pandemic on capacity and delivery of care. Explore nursing facility quality metrics and recommend strategies to improve the sustainability of the long-term care workforce.
11. Medicaid: Monitor the financial impact of federal decision-making affecting supplemental Medicaid funding for Texas hospitals and health care systems, including negotiations between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Texas Medicaid agency regarding the state's 1115 Medicaid waiver and other federal proposals reducing supplemental funding streams for Texas.
12. Mental Health Delivery: Examine the state mental health service delivery system. Study the state's Comprehensive Plan for State-Funded Inpatient Mental Health Services and the Statewide Behavioral Health Strategic Plan and evaluate the existing state investments in mental health services and state hospital capacity. Review current forensic and civil mental health service waitlists, and recommend ways to improve coordination and outcomes to reduce waitlists. Explore and report on options for additional mental health service capacity, including building state hospitals in the Panhandle and Rio Grande Valley areas.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Child care | Coronavirus | Disease preparedness | Emergency management | Immunizations | Long-term care | Medical licensing | Mental health services | Nursing shortages | Physician shortages | Public health | State Health Services, Texas Department of | Vaccine mandates |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 H349
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [38 pages  File size: 1,285 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Public Health Data: Review the processes for public health data collection and coordination by local and state entities as well as regional trauma centers. Identify any continuing barriers to the real-time dissemination of data concerning health care facility capacity—including data that can expedite timely care—and mortality rates, as well as other information that can assist in public policy decisions.
2. Health Care Workforce: Study the impact of the global pandemic on the health care workforce in acute and long-term care. Identify health care staffing challenges and examine how staffing services and payment models changed the economics of the health care workforce. Identify and recommend ways to increase the health care workforce pipeline.
3. Pandemic Response: Examine the impact of state and federal pandemic policies—including agency guidance, licensing and regulatory actions, and health care industry policies—on patient care and treatment delivery. Examine how regulatory guidance impacts the patient-doctor relationship. Recommend any changes needed to ensure Texas can develop its own data-driven guidance during public health emergencies.
4. Monitoring: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation.
Committee: Senate To Protect All Texans, Special
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Gun safety | Mental health services | Police officers | School safety | School shootings |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 P485
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [99 pages  File size: 3,857 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study school safety, mental health, social media, police training and firearm safety and make recommendations to prevent future school shootings. *
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Affordable housing | General Land Office, Texas | Homelessness | Law enforcement | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Post-traumatic stress disorder | Privatization | Veterans | Veterans cemeteries | Veterans health care | Workforce Commission, Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.87 V641
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [26 pages  File size: 523 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. State Veteran Cemeteries: Evaluate the current oversight of the Texas State Veteran Cemeteries to ensure that these sacred and essential grounds are being maintained, repaired, and treated with respect. Ensure that the needs of our veterans are being met by reviewing the number, location, and funding of the cemeteries. Examine and make recommendations for the financing mechanism for the Texas State Veterans Cemeteries to ensure sustainability.
2. Veteran Benefits: Explore and report on options to remove barriers for companies offering veteran benefits and consider policies that could leverage additional public-private-partnerships. Identify opportunities to connect veterans to existing business resources and available state services. Recommend ways to increase matching federal funding for veteran benefits. Review current law for consistency in eligibility for state veteran benefits and recommend any necessary changes.
3. Veteran Mental Health: Review the currently accepted forms of treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and consider the creation of a program which would require completion of a multi-modality treatment plan including traditional talk therapy, limbic system therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and emotionally focused individual therapy (EFIT).
4. Veteran Mental Health: Identify the training and resources available to urban and rural first responders when assisting veterans experiencing a mental health crisis. Make recommendations for how to best support first responders in these crisis situations.
Committee: House Youth Health and Safety, Select
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Child Protective Services | Children's health care | Children's mental health | Coronavirus | Emergency communications | Emergency management | Gun safety | Inmate rehabilitation | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services | School discipline | School safety | Shootings | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View report [56 pages  File size: 2,708 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Provide a cross-jurisdictional forum for the examination and consideration of issues that broadly affect the health, safety, and rights of Texas youth.
2. Improve the ability of federal, state, and local governmental entities to address the needs of Texas youth through, among other things, expanded coordination between all programs and systems that serve youth and their families, including child protective services, mental health services, educational institutions, and the juvenile justice system.
3. Study the allocation and use of state resources to preventative and rehabilitative services that address the primary challenges facing Texas youth placed in the juvenile justice system, including the redirection of those resources as necessary to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
4. Study the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health needs of Texas youth and identification of effective treatment strategies.
5. Study the expansion of prevention efforts and the strengthening of service systems to permit the behavioral health challenges faced by Texas youth to be addressed closer to their homes, including efforts and systems that permit youth to remain in their classrooms and stay out of institutionalized healthcare and juvenile justice systems.
6. Study programs, services, and governmental action focused on the rehabilitation of youthful offenders, including considerations related to developmental factors that impact a youth's entry into the justice system.
7. Study the implementation and impact of SB 11, 86th R.S. and any other pertinent laws. Identify additional policies, protocols and strategies that will help create a safer environment in schools and local communities.
8. Examine strategies to prevent acts of mass violence, including measures to enhance firearm safety in Texas.
9. Evaluate the preparedness of and coordination between state and local agencies, nongovernmental entities, and law enforcement for the prevention of and response to mass violence, including the content and efficacy of active shooter response training.
10. Examine the role of online communications in mass violence scenarios and identify technological resources and solutions for detecting, mitigating, and reporting threats.
11. Study the needs of the state related to mental health professionals, educators, school administrators, and related professionals overseeing youth mental health programs and the delivery of those mental health services.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Youth Health and Safety, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, August 8, 2022
Library Call Number:
Session: 87th R.S. (2021)
Online version: View document [169 pages  File size: 26,497 kb]
Committee: House Defense and Veterans' Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: County jails | Homelessness | Mental health services | Military bases | Military Department, Texas | Senior citizens | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.86 D361
Session: 86th R.S. (2019)
Online version: View report [88 pages  File size: 5,049 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 86th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
  • HB 1326, which is the sunset legislation for the Texas Military Department. Examine the Adjutant General's policy outlining the director of state administration's responsibility for state administrative interests across all programs, including evaluating procedures for oversight of state employees and mitigating compliance risks.
2. Study the mental health treatment options available for all Texas veterans, including efforts to fill gaps left by federal government. Make recommendations for future legislation streamlining mental health treatment coordination among federal, state, and local agencies.
3. Study the potential impact of eliminating Regional Military Sustainability Commissions as an ineffective tool in assisting Texas military installations and their host defense communities with protecting the missions, operations, readiness, and resiliency of military installations. Identify new and enhanced strategies to replace the Commissions with land use limitations or restrictions, regulatory strategies, annexation powers, contractual agreements, or other tools to preserve military use areas inside and outside municipal boundaries.
4. Examine gaps in services and assess efforts to connect justice-involved veterans, senior citizens, and homeless populations to services while incarcerated and after release at both the local and state levels. Specifically, the committee should evaluate training and technical assistance provided by the Texas Veterans Commission to criminal justice agencies. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Corrections)
5. Review the connection between the economic vitality of business and industry and the economic vitality of our military veterans transitioning into the workforce. Specifically, the committee should analyze barriers to military veterans transitioning from active duty to civilian life, the effectiveness of government transition and training benefits, and current and ongoing demand for veteran and military spouse employment from industry in Texas. (Joint charge with the House Committee on International Relations & Economic Development)
6. Monitor the State Auditor's review of agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The Chair shall seek input and periodic briefings on completed audits for the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years and bring forth pertinent issues for full committee consideration.
Committee: House Public Education
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Education Agency, Texas | Educational accountability | Educational technology | Mental health services | Physical education | School finance | School safety | Special education | Teacher salaries | Texas Virtual Schools Network | Virtual schools |
Library Call Number: L1836.86 Ed84h
Session: 86th R.S. (2019)
Online version: View report [34 pages  File size: 1,813 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 86th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following:
  • HB 3, which relates to public school finance and public education. Monitor the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) implementation of the bill, including the extensive rulemaking process and broad unintended consequence authority of the commissioner. Examine the pay raises districts have provided to staff and the various approaches adopted to differentiate these salary increases according to experience.
  • HB 1842, 84th R.S.; HB 22, 85th R.S.; SB 1882, 85th R.S.; and HB 3906 which relate to public school accountability, assessment, interventions, and district-charter partnerships. Monitor the ongoing progress of the TEA's implementation and rulemaking of the A-F rating system, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), and public school sanctions and interventions.
  • SB 1873, 85th R.S., which relates to reporting certain school district health and safety information.Review the report on physical education prepared by the TEA and determine what, if any, next steps are needed based on the data collections.

    Related to Behavioral Health (Joint charge with Committee on Public Health)
  • HB 18, which enhances school safety and mental health resources for students and school personnel and works to reduce the stigma around mental health conditions. Monitor the process by which state agencies coordinate to implement the legislation and their compliance with various requirements, including providing required guidelines and resources to schools.
  • HB 19, which places non-physician mental health professionals at education service centers to provide resources for educators and administrators in school districts and charter schools.
  • HB 906, which creates the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health Services.
  • SB 11, which creates the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium to facilitate access to mental health care services through telehealth and expands the mental health workforce through training and funding opportunities. Monitor the creation of the consortium and agencies' rulemaking processes. Review how school districts are spending their school safety allotment.
2. Determine if any barriers exist in providing a digital learning environment for all children, including an evaluation of the competitive marketplace for blended learning products and services. Evaluate the effectiveness of the Technology and Instructional Materials Allotment (TIMA) in providing districts the resources necessary to equip students with instructional materials and technology, including in the review all programs and initiatives funded by set-asides from the TIMA. Monitor the performance and accountability of the state's full-time virtual schools and online courses provided through the Texas Virtual School Network.
3. Monitor the progress of the TEA's compliance with the Corrective Action Response required by the United States Department of Education, the implementation of the state's Special Education Strategic Plan, and the state’s compliance with other federal requirements regarding special education, including maintenance of state financial support for special education. Recommend solutions to barriers the agency, school districts, students with disabilities, and parents face in accessing a free and appropriate public education and in meeting the milestones of the plan and any measures needed at the state level to ensure that students with disabilities are being located, fully evaluated, and appropriately identified for special education instruction and services.
4. Monitor the State Auditor's review of agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction. The Chair shall seek input and periodic briefings on completed audits for the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years and bring forth pertinent issues for full committee consideration.
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs and Border Security
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Law enforcement | Mental health services | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.86 V641
Session: 86th R.S. (2019)
Online version: View report [57 pages  File size: 3,290 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Veteran Treatment Courts: Review the effectiveness of diverting veterans from the traditional criminal justice system to veteran treatment courts. Make recommendations to strengthen veteran treatment court outcomes and expand access to locations not currently served by the courts.
2. Veteran Health Care: Examine the adequacy of long-term health care services and support options for veterans in Texas. Identify under-served areas and barriers to accessing quality care for both institutional as well as home and community based settings. Discuss the potential impact of federal reforms, such as the implementation of the Veterans Affairs MISSION Act on care delivery. Make recommendations to best leverage federal assistance and create greater efficiencies in veteran health care delivery.
3. Veteran Mental Health: Review suicide prevention strategies and programs identified by the federal Defense Suicide Prevention Office and make recommendations to connect at-risk individuals with available resources as they transition into veteran status.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Human trafficking | Inmate health | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Prisoner re-entry | Recidivism | State jail system | Telemedicine |
Library Call Number: L1836.85 C868
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View report [148 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Identify Successful Re-Entry Programs: Study current reentry programs and procedures across Texas' adult criminal justice system and identify which are most effective. Review best practices and make recommendations to ensure that incarcerated individuals who are released from a county or city jail, state jail, or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice have adequate supervision and access to employment, housing, treatment, and other support programs to allow for successful reentry and integration into the community and to prevent recidivism.
2. State Jail Review to Improve Outcomes: Perform a comprehensive analysis and study of the Texas state jail system. Examine the access to and use of rehabilitation, vocation, and education programs. Determine whether current programs are effective and if there are efficiencies that can be found to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes.
3. Telemedicine in Correctional Facilities: Review current availability and best practices in the state regarding the use of telemedicine for inmates in city or county jail, state jail, or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Examine and make recommendations on whether access to care and outcomes can be improved through the expanded use of telemedicine for medical and mental health services, and whether expansion would create efficiencies. Examine barriers to implementation and expansion of telemedicine in correctional facilities.
4. Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention: Study opportunities to increase awareness of human trafficking through public awareness campaigns, among local officials, and within public school districts including the identification of potential human trafficking and stash houses as well as how and where to report. Examine the Human Trafficking Prevention Business Partnership Program at the Office of the Secretary of State and provide recommendations for increasing participation of Texas businesses in the fight against human trafficking.
5. Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee during the 85th Legislature and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/ or complete implementation of the following: • Senate Bill 12, Relating to the creation of a grant program to assist law enforcement agencies with the purchase of bulletproof vests and body armor; • Senate Bill 30, Relating to the inclusion of instruction regarding interaction with peace officers in the required curriculu m for certain public school students and in driver education courses and to civilian interaction training for peace officers; and • Senate Bill 1326, Relating to procedures regarding criminal defendants who are or may be persons with a mental illness or an intellectual disability and to certain duties of the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System related to persons with mental illness.
Committee: House Defense and Veterans' Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Aerospace industry | Base realignment and closure | Defense Economic Adjustment Assistant Grants | Emergency management | Homelessness | Hurricane Harvey | Mental health services | Military bases | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.85 D361
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View report [36 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Evaluate the impact of Hurricane Harvey related to the Texas Military Department, Emergency Management Council, and the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Recommend any changes that could improve operational stability and the reaction of these agencies following a natural disaster and changes that would allow for a more effective response.
2. Assess ways the State of Texas can further aid federal military installations and their communities in order to minimize the negative consequences of a Base Realignment and Closure round by the federal government.
3. Examine best practices related to use of the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant program to maximize support for military installations, and how the state can better serve military installations in Texas. Also, evaluate changes that would increase utilization of the Texas Military Revolving Loan Fund.
4. Study the economic impact of the aviation, aerospace, & defense manufacturing industry in Texas and the state's ability to facilitate industry job growth and investment. Review the relationship between the economic vitality of industry and military veterans transitioning into the workforce. Determine existing and potential barriers to the retention and expansion of the manufacturing industry in the state and the broader economic implications it may have on workforce readiness, as well as veteran employment and support services. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Economic & Small Business Development)
5. Examine the needs of homeless veterans in Texas. Examine obstacles veterans may face finding housing across the state. Recommend measures to bolster the state's efforts to address veteran homelessness in Texas.
6. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature. In conducting this oversight, review the implementation of S.B. 27 (85R) and the related Veterans Mental Health Program, as well as S.B. 578 (85R) and the development of the Veterans Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Affordable housing | Alzheimer's disease | Child Protective Services | Children's mental health | Dementia | Family preservation | Homelessness | Housing | Maternal mortality | Medicaid | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Organ and tissue donations | Rural areas | Rural health care | Substance abuse | Telemedicine | Transitional housing | Women's health |
Library Call Number: L1836.85 H349h
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View report [125 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review state programs that provide women’s health services and recommend solutions to increase access to effective and timely care. During the review, identify services provided in each program, the number of providers and clients participating in the programs, and the enrollment and transition process between programs. Monitor the work of the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force and recommend solutions to reduce maternal deaths and morbidity. In addition, review the correlation between pre-term and low birth weight births and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Consider options to increase treatment options and deter usage of these substances.
2. Study treatment of traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's, and dementia, and recommend opportunities for advancing treatment and cures.
3. Study and make recommendations to improve services available for identifying and treating children with mental illness, including the application of trauma- and grief-informed practices. Identify strategies to assist in understanding the impact and recognizing the signs of trauma in children and providing school-based or community-based mental health services to children who need them. Analyze the role of the Texas Education Agency and of the regional Education Service Centers regarding mental health. In addition, review programs that treat early psychosis among youth and young adults.
4. Study the overlays among housing instability, homelessness, and mental illness. Review the availability of supportive housing opportunities for individuals with mental illness. Consider options to address housing stability and homelessness among people with mental illness. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Urban Affairs)
5. Review opportunities to improve population health and health care delivery in rural and urban medically underserved areas. Identify potential opportunities to improve access to care, including the role of telemedicine. In the review, identify the challenges facing rural hospitals and the impact of rural hospital closures.
6. Analyze the prevalence of children involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) who have a mental illness and/or a substance use disorder. In addition, analyze the prevalence of children involved with CPS due to their guardian's substance abuse or because of an untreated mental illness. Identify methods to strengthen CPS processes and services, including efforts for family preservation; increasing the number of appropriate placements designed for children with high needs; and ensuring Texas Medicaid is providing access to appropriate and effective behavioral health services. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Human Services)
7. Evaluate the process of organ and bone marrow donations. Consider opportunities to improve organ and bone marrow donation awareness in order to increase the number of willing donors.
8. Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the Committee will also specifically closely monitor the implementation of H.B. 10 (85R), H.B. 13 (85R), and S.B. 292 (85R).
9. Consider testimony provided at the May 17 House Public Health Committee hearing regarding improving mental health services for children. Identify specific strategies that would enhance overall school safety. Study ways to help parents, youth and primary care providers support school personnel in their efforts to identify and intervene early when mental health problems arise. In addition to school-based trauma-informed programs and those that treat early psychosis, consider the benefits of universal screening tools and expanding the Child Psychiatry Access Program (CPAP). Make recommendations to enhance collaboration among the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Education Agency, local mental health authorities, and education service centers.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, May 17, 2018 (Mental health and children).
Library Call Number:
Session: 85th R.S. (2017)
Online version: View document [176 pages  File size: 9,928 kb]
Committee: Senate Finance
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Franchise taxes | Information Resources, Texas Department of | Local government debt | Medical education | Mental health services | Pension liabilities | Property taxes | Sales taxes | State budgets | State government debt | State purchasing | Tax and expenditure limits | Tax holidays |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 F49
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [86 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Property Tax Process: Study the property tax process, including the appraisal system, and recommend ways to promote transparency, simplicity, and accountability by all taxing entities. (Charge to a select subcommittee on Property Tax Reform and Relief)
2. Reduce Tax Burden: Examine and develop options to further reduce the tax burden on property owners. (Charge to a select subcommittee on Property Tax Reform and Relief)
3. Franchise Tax: Study the benefits, including the dynamic effects, of continuing to phase out the franchise tax. Consider alternate approaches to funding the Property Tax Relief Fund.
4. Spending Limit: Examine options and make recommendations for strengthening restriction on appropriations established in Article VIII Section 22 of the state constitution, including related procedures defined in statute. Consider options for ensuring available revenues above spending limit are reserved for tax relief.
5. Fiscal Responsibility: Review the budgeting format of other states, such as whether they use strategy-based budgeting, program-based budgeting, or some other approach and discuss the level of transparency with each approach. Review and make recommendations to reduce state debt liabilities, including state pension liability. Consider how to incentivize state agencies, boards, and commissions to identify and realize savings to taxpayers.
6. Coordinating Behavioral Health Services and Expenditures: Monitor the state's progress in coordinating behavioral health services and expenditures across state government, pursuant to Article IX Sec. 10.04. Identify ways state agencies that provide mental health services are collaborating and taking steps to eliminate redundancy, create efficiency, utilize best practices, ensure optimal service delivery, and demonstrate expenditures are coordinated and in furtherance of a behavioral health statewide strategic plan. Identify barriers that prevent the coordination of behavioral health services. Make recommendations to maximize use of state funding for mental health.
7. Sales Tax Holiday: Review the state's current sales tax holiday structure and determine its economic benefit to the state. Evaluate and consider the merits of any potential expansion of the tax holiday either in the application of the sales tax exemption or the timing of the holiday.
8. Monitoring Charge: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Finance Committee during the 84th R.S. and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following: 1) Tax relief provided to property owners; 2) The gradual phase out of the franchise tax; 3) Support for and the enhancement of graduate medical education; 4) Efforts of the Department of Information Resources (DIR) to modernize the technology of state agencies; 5) The implementation of required changes to state agency contracting, purchasing, and accounting procedures; and 6) Monitor the implementation of Health and Human Services Commission Rider 50.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Abortion | Adoption | Adult day care | Assisted living facilities | Birth defects | Child abuse | Child abuse prevention | Child Protective Services | Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of | Foster care | Liability | Long-term care | Managed care | Medicaid | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Nursing homes | Office of Inspector General, Health and Human Services Commission, Texas | Organ and tissue donations | Planned Parenthood | Pregnancy | Refugees and asylees | Senior citizens | Services for persons with disabilities | State employee turnover | Sunset review process | Telemedicine | Women's health |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 H349
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [152 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine the business practices and regulatory structure of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, and investigate whether state or federal laws are being broken by Planned Parenthood and/or its affiliates in Texas in regards to the donation and/or sale of fetal tissue. Consider recommendations to strengthen regulations on abortion providers, including further restrictions on the sale of fetal tissue by these entities. *
2. Protecting the Unborn: Part I: Examine and make recommendations on the use of fetal tissue provided for research purposes and how related laws governing abortion procedures are interpreted and enforced. Part II: Examine the cause of action known as “wrongful birth.” The study should examine (1) its history in Texas, (2) its effect on the practice of medicine, and (3) its effect on children with disabilities and their families. Examine related measures proposed or passed in other states.
3. Protection of Children Part I: Reducing Recurrence of Child Abuse and Neglect: Examine the current process that Child Protective Services uses to track recurrence of child abuse and neglect, and make recommendations to improve data tracking and the use of that data to assist in preventing recurrence. The study should examine the differences in recurrence among families who received services, families who received no services and had their cases closed, and families who had their children removed from the home. Part II: Addressing High-Acuity Needs of Foster Care Children: Study the increase in higher acuity children with trauma and mental illness in the state foster care system, and recommend ways to ensure children have timely access to appropriate treatment and placement options. Part III: Strengthening Adoptions: Examine the frequency, causes, and effects of disrupted foster care adoptions and make recommendations to improve the long-term success of adoptive placements. Study and make recommendations on ways to ensure a smooth transition for foster care children who are exiting the system.
4. Healthy Aging: Part I: Study and make recommendations on innovative methods and best practices to promote healthy aging for the state’s population and reduce chronic medical and behavioral health conditions. Identify opportunities for improved collaboration to promote healthy aging in the health and human services system at the state, regional and local levels. Part II: Examine and recommend ways to improve quality and oversight in long-term care settings, including nursing homes and ICF/HCS programs. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services during the 84th Regular Session related to the revocation of nursing home licenses for repeated serious violations.
5. Medicaid Reform and State Innovation: Study the impact of the Section 1115 Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program Waiver on improving health outcomes, reducing costs, and providing access to health care for the uninsured, and monitor the renewal process of the waiver. Explore other mechanisms and make recommendations to control costs and increase quality and efficiency in the Medicaid program, including the pursuit of a block grant or a Section 1332 Medicaid State Innovation Waiver for the existing Medicaid program.
6. Inpatient Mental Health System Reform: Study and make recommendations on establishing collaborative partnerships between state-owned mental health hospitals and university health science centers to improve inpatient state mental health services, maximize the state mental health workforce, and reduce healthcare costs.
7. Mental Health Diversion and Forensic Capacity: Study the impact of recent efforts by the legislature to divert individuals with serious mental illness from criminal justice settings and prevent recidivism. Study and make recommendations to address the state's ongoing need for inpatient forensic capacity, including the impact of expanding community inpatient psychiatric beds.
8. Improving Access to Care through TeleHealth: Study and make recommendations on the appropriate use, scope and application of tele-monitoring and telemedicine services to improve management and outcomes for adults and children with complex medical needs and for persons confined in correctional facilities. Examine barriers to implementation of these services and any impact on access to health care services in rural areas of the state.
9. Review of Refugee Resettlement Program: Study the impact to the state of the increasing number of refugees relocating to Texas, including the range of health and human services provided. Examine the authority of the state to reduce its burden under the Refugee Resettlement Program, and any state-funded services.
10. Monitoring Charge: Monitor the implementation of legislation and riders related to health and human services that were considered by the 84th R.S. and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation, including but not limited to: ? The impact of changes made by the Department of Family and Protective Services, Child Protective Services on child safety, workforce retention, prevention, and permanency; ? Initiatives to reduce Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse, and other cost containment strategies, including examining the processes and procedures used by managed care organizations to address Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse; and The consolidation and expansion of women's health programs at the Health and Human Services Commission.
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Children's mental health | Homelessness | Mental health services | Rural health care | Veterans |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 M528
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [117 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the behavioral health system, including substance abuse treatment, for adults and children. Make recommendations to improve the delivery and coordination of services to create an integrated system to improve early identification of mental illness, improve access and continuity of services, reduce barriers to treatment, and increase collaboration between entities responsible for the delivery of care in a manner that will ultimately reduce cost and improve care.
2. Identify educational, healthcare, law enforcement, criminal justice, judiciary, state, county, and city entities that are statutorily or contractually responsible for the identification or delivery of behavioral health services. Review how the services are directly or indirectly connected and how the entities work together.
3. Review entry points into the mental health system for both adults and children; how individuals gain access to services; what services are available; the effectiveness of services; and how to define, prioritize, measure, and improve outcomes achieved for adults and children.
4. Identify local and state cost of mental health in Texas and identify measures to reduce cost to the overall system by improving care.
5. Study and recommend solutions for the challenges within the current system, including, but not limited to, how to provide effective services in the short term and close gaps over the longer term in mental-health workforce shortage areas; access to appropriate mental health care for school-age children, including those identified through Mental Health First Aid training, to break the school to juvenile detention to prison pipeline; factors contributing to differences in communities’ access to law enforcement and Judges with specific mental health training; communities’ access to crises intervention and jail diversion services; communities’ ability to plan and coordinate between healthcare providers and systems, law enforcement, the judiciary, and the criminal justice systems to deliver and coordinate care; and the location and availability of inpatient treatment beds, including how the need for inpatient beds varies by the effectiveness of the entire system. Also, identify obstacles to adequate insurance coverage for mental health services.
6. Identify the challenges of providing care and increasing access to veterans, homeless Texans, and individuals with serious mental illness.
7. Examine challenges of providing services in underserved and rural areas of the state and in communities serving high numbers of Texans below 200% poverty level.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, February 18, 2016 (Mental health and behavioral health)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [181 pages  File size: 9,046 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, March 22, 2016 (Children and mental health)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [184 pages  File size: 11,847 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, April 27, 2016 (Mental health and behavioral health care)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [87 pages  File size: 4,917 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, April 28, 2016 (Mental health and behavioral health care)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [79 pages  File size: 4,218 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, June 2, 2016 (Insurance - coverage for collaborate care, representatives of commercial health plans and state employee health plans, Medicaid and CHIP; law enforcement/criminal justice)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [149 pages  File size: 6,864 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, August 18, 2016 (Homeless, substance abuse, and veteran services)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [156 pages  File size: 9,496 kb]
Committee: House Mental Health, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, September 22, 2016 (Mental health hospitals, mental health services - public institutions of higher ed)
Library Call Number:
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View document [130 pages  File size: 6,254 kb]
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Alternatives to incarceration | County government | Courts | Hazlewood Act | Mental health services | Military and veterans benefits | Military bases | State agencies | Suicide | Veterans | Veterans educational benefits | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.84 V641
Session: 84th R.S. (2015)
Online version: View report [59 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Strike Force, VA Health, Mental Health: Study the state of veteran health and mental health in Texas. Review the progress made by state strike force teams to reduce the claims backlog and decrease wait times at VA hospitals. Evaluate if the passage of the federal Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 and other state initiatives have improved access and outcomes. Determine if state strike force teams should continue as established and make recommendations on necessary changes.
2. State Veteran Employment: Study current veteran hiring policies among state agencies and consider the effectiveness of a percentage-based system. Make recommendations if there are other ways to equitably measure the success of veteran employment within an agency.
3. Veteran Benefits: Given pending litigation on the subject, study what veteran benefits, if any, are currently only offered to residents of the state of Texas-whether by being born here or by entering the service in Texas--and assess whether any of these additional benefits leave the state liable for lawsuits under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Make recommendations for legislation that could reduce the state's liability.
4. Veterans Courts: Study successes and challenges of veteran’s courts in Texas, including evidence of rehabilitation or recidivism. Consider alternative means of funding, such as voluntary donations at points of contact with state services, and make recommendations.
5. Defense Adjustment Authorities, Compatibility Use, and Encroachment: Consider best practices for improving the military value at military installations in Texas. Determine cost-effective policies and make recommendations that would strengthen military value.
6. Monitoring Charge: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Military Installations during the 84th R.S. and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following: 1) Monitor the implementation of legislation relating to the qualifications of veteran county service officers, and make recommendations if further changes should be made.
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Counties | County jails | Ebola | Emergency management | Homelessness | Hospitals | Jail population | Jail Standards, Texas Commission on | Managed care | Marijuana | Medicaid | Mental health services | Population growth | Specialty courts | Veterans |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 C832
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [106 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine population growth in Texas counties and the impact the growth has had on housing, available land resources, businesses in Texas, as well as the impact of growth on the state's economy. Evaluate Texas's preparedness to respond to future growth and ensure economic stability.
2. Continue oversight of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and issues jails currently face, including the mental health of those in jail, and make recommendations for refinement or improvement of processes and programs.
3. Monitor the health advisory panel stemming from HB 3793, 83rd R.S..
4. Determine which counties have implemented a cite-and-summons policy, whether the policy has been effective in lessening overcrowding in county jails, and whether those cited by peace officers comply with the policy.
5. Study the implementation of SB 462, 83rd R.S.. Examine which counties currently have veterans courts, as well as veterans courts in other states, and determine how those programs are working and whether these courts provide additional services or resources for veterans. Make appropriate recommendations. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Defense and Veterans' Affairs)
6. Conduct legislative oversight and monitoring of the agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction and the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 83rd Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the committee should: a. consider any reforms to state agencies to make them more responsive to Texas taxpayers and citizens; b. identify issues regarding the agency or its governance that may be appropriate to investigate, improve, remedy, or eliminate; c. determine whether an agency is operating in a transparent and efficient manner; and d. identify opportunities to streamline programs and services while maintaining the mission of the agency and its programs.
Supporting documents
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, March 10, 2014 (Population growth, Texas Commission on Jail Standards and county jails, HB 3793 mental health advisory panel, Medicaid 1115 waiver, veterans courts)
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1801.9 C832 83 2014: MAR 10
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [170 pages  File size: 8,459 kb]
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, May 5, 2014 (Texas Commission on Jail Standards and county jails, HB 3793 mental health advisory panel, cite-and-summons policy, oversight of healthy community collaboratives)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [102 pages  File size: 9,604 kb]
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, May 15, 2014 (Medicaid 1115 waiver)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [220 pages  File size: 41,128 kb]
Committee: House County Affairs
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, October 20, 2014 (Population growth, Texas Commission on Jail Standards and county jails, HB 3793 mental health advisory panel, emergency response preparedness/ebola)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [171 pages  File size: 12,739 kb]
Committee: House Criminal Jurisprudence
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Alternatives to incarceration | Children's mental health | Criminal records | Deferred adjudication | Inmate rehabilitation | Internet | Jail population | Juvenile crime | Juvenile justice system | Juveniles certified as adults | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Parole | Prisoner re-entry | Probation | Public information | Recidivism | Restorative justice | Rules of the Texas House of Representatives | State jail system | Statutory revision | Substance abuse | Texas Penal Code | Vandalism |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 C868h
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [82 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the classification of 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system of Texas.
2. Study the effectiveness of deferred adjudication and orders for non-disclosure in spite of the many exceptions to the statute. Study extending the use of expunction of criminal records history and non-disclosures to certain qualified individuals with low-level, non-violent convictions. Examine the statutorily allowed but underused non-disclosure and expunction of criminal records, and the use of deferred adjudication.
3. Study the impact of SB 1289, 83rd R.S.. Examine the sale of criminal histories that may be erroneous as well as the lasting impact that arrest records have on individuals who are arrested but not charged or convicted. Assess the need for revision of existing statutes and consider designating an agency responsible for regulating entities involved in the industry.
4. Examine the association between co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders and parole revocation among inmates from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Review current policies and procedures for incarcerating individuals with a dual mental health diagnosis in both state and county correctional facilities and examine potential remedies within the State's criminal justice system to ensure that the public is protected and that individuals with a mental health diagnosis receive a continuum of mental health services. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Corrections)
5. Examine the current pecuniary loss thresholds associated with graffiti offenses. Study the costs of enhancing the penalties associated with the offense of graffiti, as well as a study of pretrial diversion programs that exist in other states and are specific to persons convicted of graffiti offenses. Study the existing Graffiti Abatement Programs in Texas.
6. Evaluate the approximately 1,500 non-traditional criminal offenses that can be found outside of the Penal Code. Study the feasibility of streamlining these offenses and examine ambiguities in the law. Study the existing use of the Rule of Lenity and Mens Rea requirements in Texas and the benefit of codifying both of these standards.
7. Examine the utilization of community supervision in state jail felonies and the effectiveness of the state jail in light of its original purpose.
8. Conduct legislative oversight and monitoring of the agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction and the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 83rd Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the committee should: a. consider any reforms to state agencies to make them more responsive to Texas taxpayers and citizens; b. identify issues regarding the agency or its governance that may be appropriate to investigate, improve, remedy, or eliminate; c. determine whether an agency is operating in a transparent and efficient manner; and d. identify opportunities to streamline programs and services while maintaining the mission of the agency and its programs.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas | Child abuse | Child Protective Services | Computers and government | Contraceptives | Dental Examiners, Texas State Board of | Family planning | Foster care | Healthy Texas Women | Homelessness | Medicaid | Medicaid fraud | Medically uninsured | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Office of Inspector General, Health and Human Services Commission, Texas | Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Substance abuse | Temporary Assistance for Needy Families | Welfare eligibility | Welfare reform | Welfare-to-work | Women's health |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 H349
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [58 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the Department of Family and Protective Services’ efforts to reduce child fatalities. Review the process by which the Department of Family and Protective Services collects and uses data to evaluate agency performance and improve outcomes for children in the Child Protective Services system. Make recommendations to ensure the process effectively uses data to strategically improve caseworker performance, and identify and improve upon deficiencies within the system and improve overall outcomes for children and reduce child fatalities.
2. Monitor the implementation of programs that were created or expanded by the 83rd Legislature to improve mental health and substance abuse services and assess these efforts' contribution to improved outcomes such as reduced recidivism in state hospitals, diversion from emergency rooms and county jails, and access to permanent supportive housing. Identify and address gaps in the current mental health and substance abuse system and make recommendations to better coordinate services across agencies and programs.
3. Build on previous legislative achievements in women's healthcare by examining women’s access to preventative health care, pregnancy services, and post-partum care, and exploring ways to expand access and improve quality, particularly in rural and underserved areas of the state. Monitor the implementation of women's health programs in Texas. Assess these programs' impact on outcomes such as improving access to preventative services, reducing unplanned pregnancies, and achieving cost savings. Recommend ways to better coordinate the various programs in a manner that increases the number of women served, ensures adequate provider capacity statewide, and maximizes efficiencies to the state.
4. Identify cost-effective alternatives to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to better connect low income individuals to health care services through private market-based solutions, including Medicaid block grants and waivers. Recommendations should strive to encourage cost sharing, promote personal responsibility, reduce uncompensated care costs, contain increasing health care costs, improve access to care, address access to emergency department care issues in rural areas, promote the use of existing private coverage or employee sponsored coverage, reduce non-­?emergency use of emergency departments, and reduce the need for federal approval to the state Medicaid plan.
5. Evaluate the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program structure. Make recommendations to improve the program's operations and ensure the program achieves outcomes that allow TANF recipients to find employment and achieve self-sufficiency. Recommendations should seek to ensure Texas is using the most effective work-related requirements and drug testing protocols.
6. Evaluate the current state of prescription drug abuse and strategies for reducing prescription drug abuse in Texas. Make recommendations on how these policies can be improved or modified to enhance the State of Texas’ handling of services, treatments and education related to prescription drug abuse and to reduce the overall prevalence of prescription drug abuse.
7. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation, including but not limited to:
  • Monitor implementation of initiatives aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of Medicaid long-term care services and supports, including the redesign of services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
  • Monitor implementation of initiatives aimed at reducing fraud, waste, and abuse in Texas Medicaid and other health and human services programs.
  • Dental Board Reforms: Monitor implementation of initiatives aimed at improving the State Board of Dental Examiners' ability to protect public safety, including strengthening the Board's authority and enforcement powers, improving the complaint review and resolution processes, and increasing staffing to improve the Board's ability to respond to complaints and potential fraudulent activity. Determine whether there are additional changes necessary to ensure that the Board is able to regulate the practice of dentistry and ensure public safety.
  • Cancer Prevention and Research Institute: Monitor implementation of initiatives aimed at restructuring the governance structure, eliminating conflicts of interest, and increasing transparency at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
Committee: House Health Care Education and Training, Select
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Education | Health care | Health care providers | Higher education | Job training programs | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 H349ce
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [36 pages]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Assess the statewide demand for health professionals, including in the area of mental health. Make recommendations to better align institutions of public and higher education with the needs of health care employers.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Health Care Education and Training, Select
Title: Committee meeting handout, August 28, 2014 (Texas health information technology: employer needs assessment report, Texas State University-San Marcos, Susan H. Fenton, PhD, Project Director, February 3, 2012)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [60 pages]
Committee: House Health Care Education and Training, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, August 28, 2014 (Health care workforce data and statistics, Health care workforce state employment programs and initiatives, Public and higher education programs and policies, University health science programs and initiatives, Higher education institutional programs and initiatives, Industry needs and perspective, Additional testimony)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [300 pages  File size: 22,532 kb]
Committee: House Health Care Education and Training, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, September 16, 2014 (Mental healthcare workforce state policy and provider perspective, Mental health education and community programs, Additional testimony)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [189 pages  File size: 20,147 kb]
Committee: House Health Care Education and Training, Select
Title: Committee meeting handouts and testimony, October 6, 2014 (Health care workforce, including National Conference of State Legislatures and Texas Workforce Commission)
Library Call Number:
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View document [64 pages  File size: 5,810 kb]
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Foster care | Government transparency | Higher education | Medicaid | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons | STAR+PLUS program | Student aid |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 H88
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [67 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine crisis resources for individuals with co-occurring mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities. Identify strategies to serve individuals with complex behavioral and medical needs in the community.
2. Monitor the implementation of Foster Care Redesign. Evaluate its impact on the child welfare system in areas of the state where redesign is underway, including transition from the legacy system, foster family retention and recruitment, placement stability, permanency, and child safety.
3. Monitor and evaluate implementation of SB 7, 83rd R.S., including agency preparations for the statewide rollout of STAR+PLUS.
4. Former foster youth have the benefit of free tuition and fees if they enroll in higher education, yet very few take advantage of this opportunity. Consider new strategies to support these youth and make recommendations to enroll and retain more foster youth in higher education. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Higher Education)
5. Conduct legislative oversight and monitoring of the agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction, including implementation of the Balancing Incentives Program and relevant legislation passed by the 83rd Legislature. In conducting this oversight, the committee should: a. consider any reforms to state agencies to make them more responsive to Texas taxpayers and citizens; b. identify issues regarding the agency or its governance that may be appropriate to investigate, improve, remedy, or eliminate; c. determine whether an agency is operating in a transparent and efficient manner; and d. identify opportunities to streamline programs and services while maintaining the mission of the agency and its programs.
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: 211 telephone system | Base realignment and closure | Federal budgets | Mental health services | Military and veterans benefits | Military bases | Military spending | Occupational licenses | Student aid | Veterans | Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of | Veterans Commission, Texas | Veterans employment | Veterans health care | Veterans with disabilities |
Library Call Number: L1836.83 V641
Session: 83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version: View report [38 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Investigate the impact of federal actions (including the federal government shutdown, sequestration, military force reductions, and potential base closure or realignment) on active-­duty service members, the Texas Military Department, veterans, their families, defense-­related contractors, small businesses, local governments, and state agencies.
2. Monitor and examine efforts to provide employment and workforce opportunities for veterans, service members, and their families. Make recommendations on how best to continue collaborating with and supporting our honored veterans as they re-­enter the civilian workforce, including improving employment opportunities for veterans at all state agencies.
3. Provide an update on the State Strike Force teams’ progress and recommendations on any additional steps necessary to ensure that veterans promptly receive all federal disability benefits to which they are entitled.
4. Study and make recommendations to improve access to services provided by non-­profit organizations to veterans, their families, and survivors, including examining the effectiveness, standards, and consistency of the 2-­1-­1 information and referral system for military and veteran families statewide.
5. Monitor the implementation of the veterans occupational licensure bills passed during the 83rd Legislative Session to expedite the licensure process for those who are serving, have served, or are married to someone serving our nation in uniform. Study and make recommendations to strengthen and improve state efforts to ease the transition of military veterans and their spouses into the Texas civilian workforce.
6. Monitor implementation of the veteran's mental health legislation passed during the 83rd Legislative Session, including funding to support the Military Veteran Peer Network at Department of State Health Services. Assess whether state mental health initiatives targeted to veterans and their families appropriately address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Study and make recommendations to enhance the delivery of mental health services to veterans at the local level through the network of Veteran County Service Officers.
7. In addition to the formal Interim Charges, the VAMI Committee reviewed allegations that the VA has denied health and mental health care and manipulated waiting lists to access care. The Committee also considered whether or not the state has a role in assisting veterans in Texas with VA health care as it did with the Strike Force Teams for VA disability claims.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas | Caseworkers | Child Protective Services | Children's Health Insurance Program | Dental care | Foster care | Health care | Health care costs | Health insurance | Immunizations | Long-term care | Managed care | Medicaid | Medicaid eligibility | Medical research | Mental health services | Nursing homes | Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act | Public health | State Health Services, Texas Department of | State supported living centers |
Library Call Number: L1836.82 H349
Session: 82nd R.S. (2011)
Online version: View report [186 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on insurance regulations, Medicaid and CHIP, health care outcomes and overall health of all Texans, and the state budget in Texas. Additionally, monitor the current constitutional challenges to PPACA and other court cases associated with PPACA, and ensure that the state does not expend any resources until judicial direction is clear. (Joint charge with Senate State Affairs Committee)
2. Monitor the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on insurance regulations, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), health care outcomes, health care workforce, overall health of all Texans, and the state budget in Texas. Additionally, monitor the current constitutional challenges to PPACA, and other court cases associated with PPACA, and ensure that the state does not expend any resources until judicial direction is clear. (Joint charge with Senate State Affairs Committee)
3. Evaluate the implementation of cost-containment strategies across the Health and Human Services Enterprise to determine if and how each strategy can be expanded upon to achieve additional savings next biennium. The evaluation should include but is not limited to: the expansion of managed care, co-­pays in Medicaid, electronic visit verification, and independent assessments for long-­? term care services. The evaluation should also consider new cost-containment strategies that will increase efficiencies and reduce costs. This evaluation should include but not be limited to: Medicaid, Early Childhood Intervention Services, and immunizations.
4. Review the state's current investment in health care innovation, including translational research and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute, which focuses on rapid transfer of new technology experimentation directly into the clinical environment. Make recommendations to improve the health of Texans and encourage continued medical research in the most cost-effective manner possible.
5. Review existing policies for prior authorization and medical necessity review across the Medicaid Program, including nursing homes and orthodontic services. Make recommendations on how these policies could be improved to save money by reducing unnecessary utilization and fraud.
6. Review the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waivers to identify strategies to lower costs, improve quality, and increase access to services. Areas of the review should include, but are not limited to:
  • Functional eligibility determinations to ensure services are only being delivered to individuals that qualify;
  • Financial eligibility determinations to ensure parental income and resources are considered when the client is a minor;
  • Coordination of acute and long-term care services;
  • Development and use of lower-cost community care waiver options;
  • Coordination with the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) for waiver services for children in conservatorships;
  • Reinvesting savings into accessibility of community care for individuals waiting for services.
7. Evaluate the management structure and supervision of CPS caseworkers with an emphasis on rural areas. Identify any legislative changes that could assist DFPS in maximizing efficiency, improving quality casework and supervision, and increasing caseworker retention. Identify any legislative changes that could improve the quality of care children receive while in Child Protective Services custody, including improving permanency outcomes.
8. Examine the delivery and financing of public health services in our state, including how federal funds are distributed by the state to local health departments and whether the work done by Regional Health Departments operated by the Department of State Health Services overlap unnecessarily with local health departments.
9. Review the state's public mental health system and make recommendations to improve access, service utilization, patient outcomes and system efficiencies. Study current service delivery models for outpatient and inpatient care, funding levels, financing methodologies, services provided, and available community-based alternatives to hospitalization. The review should look to other states for best practices or models that may be successful in Texas. The study shall also review and recommend "best value" practices that the state's public mental health system may implement to maximize the use of federal, state, and local funds.
10. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation, including but not limited to:
  • Health Care Quality and Efficiency - Monitor implementation of initiatives aimed at improving health care quality and efficiency in Texas, including: the transition of Medicaid and the CHIP to quality-based payments, establishment of the Texas Institute of Health Care Quality and Efficiency, implementation of the Health Care Collaborative certificate, patient-centered medical home for high-cost populations, development and use of potentially preventable event outcome measures, and reduction of health care-associated infections. Include recommendations on how to improve and build upon these initiatives, including improving birth outcomes and reducing infant and maternal mortality;
  • Federal Flexibility - Monitor implementation of initiatives to increase state flexibility, including the Health Care Compact and the Medicaid Demonstration Waiver;
  • Foster Care Redesign - Monitor implementation of the initiative to redesign the foster care system;
  • Implementation of DOJ Settlement agreement to address State Supported Living Center concerns.
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Courts | Hazlewood Act | Mental health services | Military and veterans benefits | Military bases | Texas Coordinating Council for Veterans Services | Texas Military Preparedness Commission | Texas National Guard | Texas State Guard | Veterans | Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of | Veterans Commission, Texas | Veterans educational benefits | Veterans employment | Veterans health care | Veterans homes |
Library Call Number: L1836.82 V641
Session: 82nd R.S. (2011)
Online version: View report [40 pages]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the employment rate of Texas veterans, and consider ways to better coordinate federal, state, local and private resources to enhance employment services. Examine the transfer of Veteran Employment Services (VES) from the Texas Workforce Commission to the Texas Veterans Commission, and include an assessment of the impact on Texas veterans and their families. Make recommendations for improving services and possible expansion of services to potential additional returning veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
2. Review the benefits claims process for filing with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through the Texas Veterans Commission's Claims Representation and Counseling program and make recommendations to improve the quality of life for veterans and their families. Coordinate with the Senate Finance Committee to identify and maximize funding options, reduce claims backlogs, and increase the benefits received by Texas veterans.
3. Examine methods to support veteran participation in higher education. Examine the use of the Hazlewood Act by Texas veterans, and include recommendations to maximize programs to effectively serve veterans and their families. Determine the efficacy of establishing Veteran Resource Centers at institutions of higher education to assist in student veteran academic achievement, provide additional funding for institutions from increased Montgomery GI Bill revenue, and better integrate veterans on college campuses.
4. Evaluate the status of mental health services for veterans and Texas Military Forces. Include an assessment of peer counseling programs, "aftercare" provided for units within their local communities following a trauma within the group, and efforts to address the secondary mental health and substance abuse issues caused by post traumatic stress disorders and other combat-related disorders.
5. Consider establishing a "Commander's Council" in conjunction with the Office of the Governor's Texas Military Preparedness Commission, to allow commanders of Texas' military forces and installations to better coordinate and communicate with the Texas Legislature and state leadership. Develop a comprehensive communication plan with Texas military installations, and recommend any legislative initiatives necessary to support the installations, active-duty service members and their families on and around the installations, and the partnerships between the defense community and the community within which the military installations reside.
6. Study the appropriate role of Texas state military forces in enhancing the safety of all Texans, and make recommendations for improving the coordination, accountability, and effectiveness of all components of our state military forces, including the national, state, and air guards. Identify limitations on the forces providing border security and other operations, and make recommendations for better coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. (Joint Charge with the Transportation & Homeland Security Committee)
7. Study the use and impact of Veterans Courts throughout Texas. Make recommendations relating to potential funding sources, staffing requirements, additional direct services not provided by the Veterans Administration, and possible expansion.
8. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations, 82nd Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the following:
  • the "College Credit for Heroes" program as administered by the Texas Workforce Commission;
  • the administration of the Veterans Housing Assistance Program by the Texas Veterans Commission's Fund for Veterans' Assistance; and
  • the Texas Coordinating Council for Veterans Services, authorized by SB 1796, 82nd Regular Legislation Session.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 82nd Legislature / Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
Subjects: Alcohol-related deaths | Alternatives to incarceration | Blood alcohol concentration | Child abuse | Child sexual abuse | Community notification of sex offenders | Concealed weapons | Crime laboratories | Criminal Justice, Texas Department of | DNA testing | Driving while intoxicated | Forensics | Indigent criminal defense | Jail Standards, Texas Commission on | Juvenile detention facilities | Juvenile justice system | Juvenile Probation Commission, Texas | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Municipal jails | Prison security | Public Safety, Texas Department of | Recidivism | School discipline | Sex offender registration | State Health Services, Texas Department of | Texas Fair Defense Act | Witnesses | Youth Commission, Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 C868
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [115 pages  File size: 3,355 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the efficiency and fairness of the current sexual offender registry system and make recommendations to improve the system, if necessary. Study the issue of compliance with the Adam Walsh Act, focusing on the associated costs to the state and the punishment of juveniles. Examine the risk assessment tools used to measure the likelihood of recidivism of sexual predators.
2. Review statistics regarding the crime of driving while intoxicated, including accident statistics, alcohol-related deaths and injury, and other impacts on the community. Examine enforcement options used nationwide to deter driving under the influence and make recommendations to reduce the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities and accidents in Texas.
3. Review the performance of the Fair Defense Act and the Task Force on Indigent Defense. Study key outcomes of the law, including: appointment rates in felony and misdemeanor cases; state and county indigent defense expenditures; attorney caseloads; attorney compensation; access to investigators and experts; and overall quality of counsel for the indigent. Examine the Task Force on Indigent Defense's effectiveness in monitoring and enforcing standards and design strategies to improve the delivery of services for indigent defense, including timing of the appointment of counsel, the use of the appointment wheel and the monitoring of workloads and performance of attorneys.
4. Study and make recommendations related to municipal jails and other detention facilities that operate without state agency oversight. Identify the number of such facilities and the population detained, as well as best practices for municipal jails. Make recommendations to improve services and consider options for oversight of facilities by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
5. Review the detention of juvenile offenders in local jails, state jails, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison units by examining conditions of confinement, including quality of education, mental health treatment and medical services, rehabilitative treatment, and equality of access to services for young female inmates. Review access to administrative and inspector general grievances in TDCJ facilities. Make recommendations for improving the system and reduce recidivism of juvenile offenders.
6. Study and make recommendations to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of testing done in Texas forensic laboratories, including DNA and blood/alcohol testing. Assess and make recommendations for improving the capacity of Texas criminal laboratories to process evidence, identify ways to reduce the backlog of DNA evidence processing, identify ways to encourage qualified applicants for crime lab jobs, ensure adequate training for new crime lab technicians, ensure the availability of efficient crime lab processing to all regions of the state, and determine the impact of additional collection requirements on the capacity of Texas crime labs to process evidence. Consider the costs and benefits of creating a statewide crime lab.
7. Assess how the Commission on Jail Standards, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Criminal Justice, and Department of State Health Services are working together to identify defendants with mental health issues, notify magistrates when defendants have been identified and, where appropriate, provide crisis stabilization services to defendants. Monitor legislation passed by the 81st Legislature for mental illness and make recommendations for any needed improvements to improve mental health services and reduce recidivism.
8. Study and evaluate the success of juvenile probation pilot programs aimed at community-based diversion of youth from Texas Youth Commission facilities. Make recommendations for needed legislative action and additional programs to increase the number of delinquent youth successfully rehabilitated in their home communities.
9. Consider the impact that secondary education school disciplinary laws and policies have on the juvenile justice system and the adult prison system. Recommend changes, if needed, to current law.
10. Evaluate the usage of current Texas practices for facilitating the fair and accurate courtroom testimony of children and reducing the trauma associated with testifying, particularly for children who are victims of sexual abuse. Specifically consider recent efforts and trends across the nation to develop best practices, including "court orientation" programs, and ensure that courtrooms are more child friendly and accommodating for young victims to reduce the trauma associated with testifying in court while ensuring that fair and accurate information is solicited from the child as a witness.
11. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, 81st Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation.
  • Study the impact of certain provisions in the 2009 DPS Sunset bill on the timely processing of concealed handgun license applications and the issuance of licenses.
  • Monitor and make recommendations, if needed, on actions by TDCJ to improve security and reduce contraband.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 82nd Legislature
Subjects: Adult Protective Services | Aging and Disability Services, Texas Department of | At-risk youth | Child abuse | Children's Health Insurance Program | Cloning | Crime prevention | Diet and nutrition | Emergency management | Families | Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of | Family violence | Federal government | Foster care | H1N1 virus | Health care | Health care providers | Health insurance | Human services | Long-term care | Medicaid | Medicaid eligibility | Medical Board, Texas | Medical errors | Medical research | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Nurses | Obesity | Physicians | Quality of care | Senior citizens | Services for persons with disabilities | State budgets | Stem cell research | Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 H349
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [272 pages  File size: 6,511 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Upon passage of federal legislation relating to reform of the health care industry and health insurance industry that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission estimates will costs the State of Texas $2 to 2.5 billion per year in General Revenue beginning as early as 2013, study the implications of such legislation on Texas, the health care industry, and public and private insurance. Study and monitor the implementation of the insurance regulatory changes, changes to high risk pool, and any other insurance mandates. Study the health care policy changes and the impact to the Medicaid and CHIP programs and the state budget. Assess the impact to all state uninsured and uncompensated care programs and county programs for the uninsured, including county property tax programs to pay for the uninsured. Make recommendations for the efficient implementation of programs. (Joint charge with Senate State Affairs Committee)
2. Study the benefits, efficiencies and costs, and effectiveness of the social service related prevention and early intervention programs at the health and human services agencies, the juvenile and adult criminal justice agencies and other government agencies that have programs that address mental illness, substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, single-parent families, absentee fathers, early pregnancy, and unemployment. Study other states' prevention programs and efforts to administer these programs through a merged prevention department. Make recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs.
3. Review the timeliness and efficiency of the Health and Human Service Commission's eligibility system. Include a review of staffing levels and staffing distribution; implementation of Rider 61; and the increased demand on the system. Make recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the system, focusing on policy changes that will not create a large financial burden for the state.
4. Study and make recommendations on the state's role for facilitating the exchange of health care information in the future, including using the Medicaid exchange as a framework for the statewide exchange of health information between health care providers to improve quality of care; what information the state should provide; how to use this information to improve care management, prevent medical errors, and reduce unnecessary services; and policies and statutory changes needed to ensure that privacy is protected. Study the feasibility of developing multiple regional health information technology exchanges in Texas.
5. Study the state's current and long-range need for physicians, nurses, dentists and other allied health and long-term care professionals. Provide recommendations for ensuring sufficient numbers of health care professionals, focusing on medically underserved and rural areas of the state as well as the Border region. Consider health care delivered by Advanced Practice Nurses in terms of access, cost and patient safety and include an assessment of independent prescriptive authority with those states in which prescriptive authority is delegated by a physician. Make recommendations to enhance the efficient use of Advanced Practice Nurses in Texas.
6. Explore strategies to support the needs of aging Texans, including best practices in nursing home diversion, expediting access to community services, and programs to assist seniors and their families in navigating the long-term care system with the goal of helping seniors remain in the community. Study the guardianship program implemented by the Department of Aging and Disabilities and the Department of Adult Protective Services, including the efficiency and effectiveness of the program, the relationship between the two agencies, the appropriate rights for parents, and whether clients and their assets are adequately protected to ensure the state is appropriately identifying seniors in need of protection.
7. Examine how the state could enact policies to improve the overall health of Texans, focusing on programs that compliment individually-based prevention with community­based prevention to reduce obesity rates by increasing physical activity, improving nutrition, and improving self-management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Examine obesity-related health disparities between different ethnic groups and ways to narrow these gaps. Consider the fiscal and health impact of second-hand smoke on businesses and service sector employees. Study state-level initiatives to incorporate these individual and community-based prevention strategies, including initiatives pursued in other states.
8. Study the state's ability to appropriately respond to the H1N1 influenza pandemic by examining issues related to vaccine distribution and capacity. Consider the benefit of providing the state's independent school districts and various health authorities with standardized protocols for issues including, but not limited to, vaccine administration, absenteeism and the cancellation of school and other school-related events. Assess the state's ability to track and record H1N1 vaccinations through the ImmTrac registry, and review statutes governing ImmTrac to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of immunization information systems.
9. Study current state health care quality improvement initiatives in Texas, including statewide health care-associated infection and adverse event reporting, reimbursement reductions in the Texas Medicaid program for preventable adverse events, potentially preventable readmissions identification, health information technology implementation, pay-far-performance programs, and other initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency, safety, and quality of health care in Texas. Identify statutory changes that may build upon efforts to improve quality of care and contain health care costs in Texas. Study policies that encourage and facilitate the use of best practices by health care providers including the best way to report and distribute information on quality of care and the use of best practices to the public and to promote health care provider and payment incentives that will encourage the use of best practices. The study/recommendations could also include assessing the best way to bring provider groups together to increase quality of care, the use of best practices, and reduce unnecessary services.
10. Study current practices of the Texas Medical Board relating to disclosure of complaints.
11. Review the types of human stem cell and human cloning research being conducted, funded, or supported by state agencies, including institutions of higher education. Make recommendations for appropriate data collection and funding protocols.
12. Review the Medicaid HCBS waivers (CBA, STAR Plus, CLASS, MDCP, DBMT, TxHmL) and develop recommendations to assure that people with significant disabilities, regardless of disability label or age, receive needed services to remain in or transition to the community. Review should look at the delivery system, eligibility, service packages, rate structures, workforce issues and funding caps. Examine options for the provision of services for children aging out of the Medicaid system. Make recommendations for streamlining/combining these waivers, ensuring that these waivers are cost effective or create cost savings, and developing policies that contain costs in an effort to increase access to these services. The review should examine other states' community care waivers and provide recommendations relating to efforts that have been successful in other states.
13. Study the type, duration, frequency and effectiveness of mental health services available to and accessed by abused and neglected Texas children. Recommend strategies to address the impact of the trauma, and enhance therapeutic services available to this population in an effort to eliminate the cycle of abuse and neglect.
14. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services, 81st Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation.
  • Monitor Department of Family and Protective Services' implementation of the U.S. Fostering Connections Act, including the new Kinship Care program. Include recommendations on how to optimize the use of monetary assistance to qualified relative caregivers.
  • Monitor the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) implementation of SB 643, relating to Texas' state-supported living centers (SSLCs), implementation of Special Provisions relating to All Health and Human Services Agencies, Section 48. Contingency Appropriation for the Reshaping of the System for Providing Services to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities, and implementation of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Settlement Agreement terms.
Committee: Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: The Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations report and recommendations to the 82nd Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Base realignment and closure | Call centers | Employment | Job training programs | Mental health services | Military bases | Military personnel | Texas State Guard | Veterans | Veterans educational benefits | Women |
Library Call Number: L1836.81 V641
Session: 81st R.S. (2009)
Online version: View report [151 pages  File size: 16,493 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study veteran employment and veteran-owned small business issues, including the usefulness of creating a veteran-specific employment database to target job openings tailored to the skill sets of Texas' returning veterans. Include an assessment and recommendations to best implement the veteran employment database.
2. Examine the potential risk factors for returning service members, which may contribute to an increase in domestic violence and child abuse cases. Additionally, determine best practices, including funding options, to ensure that specific counseling related to these risk factors is available to and provided for returning service members and their family members during the initial reunion phase.
3. Examine the use of the new GI Bill by veterans and their families in conjunction with the changes made to the Hazlewood Act during the 81 st Legislature, Regular Session, as the number of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan continues to rise. Include an assessment and recommendations on how the programs can be maximized to better serve veterans and their families.
4. Study the specific needs of female veterans and service members and whether they are met. Make recommendations for improving services.
5. Study the value of enhancing training requirements for Veterans County Service Officers (VCSO) to improve veterans service at the local level, especially in rural areas. Make recommendations on how to best use technology for training purposes and expanding accreditation of VCSO.
6. Study the advantages of centralizing call center activities for referral to benefits providers (e.g., TVC, TVLB, VA, DSHS, Suicide Prevention Call Centers, etc.), including the costs associated with maintaining multiple call centers, the potential savings of consolidating reporting systems, and any options for obtaining federal funds. Make suggestions to streamline the process for veterans to obtain resources and benefits.
7. Inventory and assess veteran workforce programs offered by state agencies (i.e., TVC, TWC, TAG), and include the usefulness of creating a veteran-specific employment database, which would target job openings tailored to the skill set of Texas' returning veterans as well as job training for spouses. Make recommendations to allow agencies to work more effectively and for efficient implementation of a veteran employment database.
8. Consider the mission of the State Guard and the numbers of volunteers within the State Guard. Make recommendations to incentivize recruitment and retention of volunteers to the State Guard.
9. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations, 81st Legislature, Regular and Called Sessions, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, review the following:
  • Monitor implementation of constitutional amendments relating to veterans issues;
  • Monitor the implementation of $5 million for mental health services programs for veterans, the military and their dependents, following the Ft. Hood tragedy;
  • Monitor and analyze the closure process for the following installations and communicate with district Senators and communities: Naval Station Ingleside; Brooks City-Base, San Antonio; and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant.
  • Monitor and analyze the realignment of the various installations across the state, including but not limited to, Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Fort Bliss in El Paso, and Red River Army Depot in Texarkana.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 81st Legislature
Subjects: Capital murder trials | Child abuse | Correctional officers | Criminal justice | Criminal Justice, Texas Department of | Deferred adjudication | Drug trafficking | Homicide | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Methamphetamine | Occupational licenses | Ombudsmen | Pardons and Paroles, Texas Board of | Penalties and sentences (Criminal justice) | Police officers | Prison population | Prison security | Prisoner re-entry | Privately-operated prisons | Pseudoephedrine | Recidivism | Searches and seizures | Sex offenders | Substance abuse | Texas Code of Criminal Procedure | Theft | Youth Commission, Texas | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 C868
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [113 pages  File size: 13,967 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Determine how private prisons are complying with state laws and how cost, safety, living conditions and rehabilitative services at private prisons compare with state-run facilities. Include an assessment of the staff turnover rates and compensation of private contractors when compared with state-operated facilities, and of the contract bidding processes used by the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
2. Monitor the implementation of SB 103, 80th R.S., and the continuing reforms to the Texas Youth Commission and the juvenile criminal justice system. Identify barriers to effective implementation and provide recommendations to ensure that the goals of this legislation are achieved. Provide recommendations relating to best practices and identify needed additional treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders.
3. Study the impact of laws designed to reduce illegal drug use and make recommendations for reducing access to illegal drugs and for developing best practices for preventative programs, focusing on drugs targeted for the younger population, such as cheese heroin. Assess the impact of limiting access to pseudoephedrine, including the impact restrictions have had on illegal manufacturers' methods for producing methamphetamine.
4. Monitor the implementation of the new and expanded programs provided to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) within the Fiscal Year 2008 and 2009 budget, and identify their impact on the criminal justice populations. Study security issues within TDCJ, including staffing issues, use of lock down procedures, the control and containment of infectious diseases and the introduction and control of contraband within the institutions. Review the use of career ladders for employees of TDCJ and issues surrounding the retention of professional corrections staff. Study the issues of independent oversight of TDCJ, including the use and effectiveness of the TDCJ ombudsman system. Provide recommendations for the reduction or elimination of barriers to an effective corrections system.
5. Study and make recommendations for reducing the number of law enforcement officer deaths in the line of duty. This study should include:
  • an assessment of the types of calls and assignments that put law enforcement officers most at risk;
  • the geographic regions of the state that suffer the most deaths;
  • the agencies experiencing the highest rate of deaths in the line of duty;
  • the time in an officer's career, and the officer's age that he or she is most susceptible to death in the line of duty; and
  • the times of year, month, and day that are most dangerous.
6. Study the issue of criminal asset seizure and the use of seized and forfeiture funds by district attorneys and law enforcement agencies. Review the oversight of these matters by the Texas Attorney General and provide recommendations to improve the dissemination of information concerning these funds. Ensure that these funds have the appropriate accountability and fiscal controls required for public funds.
7. Study the system of deferred adjudication in Texas courts and make recommendations for resolving any problems and reducing the potential for release of dangerous criminals.
8. Study and recommend best practices for reducing re-victimization of child abuse victims associated with delay in resolution of criminal cases. Recommend options for reducing the time lapse between child victimization and criminal hearings.
9. Review the processes for re-entry of criminal offenders into communities. Identify barriers to the successful return to law-abiding behavior, including the absence of employment opportunities created by restriction on obtaining certain state occupational licenses. Provide recommendations for improvements to our current statutes governing this matter.
10. Study whether Articles 36.09 (relating to trying multiple defendants from the same transaction either separately or jointly) and 36.10 (relating to severing defendants that show prejudice from a joint trial) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provide sufficient safeguards to ensure fair and reliable trial results in capital cases with multiple defendants. Determine whether the articles provide trial judges with sufficient instruction regarding joinder or severance of defendants and, if not, make recommendations to improve procedures.
11. Study the relationship between the public mental health system and the criminal justice and civil courts systems, including the identification and sharing of information regarding mentally ill offenders, including minors, among criminal justice and mental health agencies, the courts, state hospitals, and the Veterans Administration. Study how current confidentiality laws impact the exchange of information among groups described above. Study the sentencing of mentally ill offenders compared to non-mentally ill offenders, including minors, and the affect that has on statewide prison capacity and on the health care provided to mentally ill offenders. (Joint Charge with Senate State Affairs Committee)
12. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Criminal Justice Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, report on the implementation of SB 909, 80th R.S., the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Sunset legislation, including provisions relating to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and monitor implementation of the new laws relating to copper theft (SB 1154, 80th R.S., HB 1766, 80th R.S., and HB 1767, 80th R.S.).
Committee: House Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Driver licenses | Emergency management | Enhanced driver licenses | Mental health services | National Guard | Public health | Texas State Guard | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 D361
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [41 pages  File size: 3,594 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study and make recommendations to address the need to identify essential personnel necessary to enter a disaster area to restore critical infrastructure.
2. Monitor the United States Congress for the enactment and rules regarding the Veteran's Mental Health Outreach and Access Act of 2007. Explore coordination with the community based clinics in Texas that would be able to provide the prescribed services to veterans.
3. Review and monitor the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission's Inspector General Disability ratings report. Make recommendations for what the state can do to implement the findings of the report and to assist our veterans.
4. Examine Chapter 431, Government code to determine the feasibility of the Texas State Guard and Texas National Guard, while designated on state active duty, to assist in interagency planning and operational coordination under the Governor's Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Secretary of State.
5. Examine the State of Texas' preparedness level to handle a public health emergency. (Join Interim Charge with the House Committee on Public Health.)
6. Review the current requirements for driver's license and identification card holders in Texas in order to recommend legislative measures to prevent these documents from being used to further criminal activities and recommend ways to enhance homeland security. (Joint Interim Charge with the House Committee on Transportation.)
7. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 81st Legislature
Subjects: Adoption | Aging and Disability Services, Texas Department of | Asthma | Caseworkers | Child abuse prevention | Child Protective Services | Disease management | Disease preparedness | Disease prevention | Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of | Family Based Safety Services | Family preservation | Foster care | Health care providers | Health Enterprise Zones | Health insurance premium subsidies | Home health care services | Immunizations | Influenza | Medicaid | Medical errors | Medical reimbursements | Medically uninsured | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Nursing homes | Obesity | Persons with disabilities | Preparation for Adult Living | Rural health care | Services for persons with disabilities | Smoking bans | State supported living centers | Stem cell research | Umbilical cord blood |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 H349
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [379 pages  File size: 16,580 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor the Department of Aging and Disability Services' improvement plan for the system of care for individuals with developmental disabilities, focusing on efforts to improve state schools and provide more community care options. Evaluate the process for preventing, reporting, and investigating abuse and neglect in state schools, ICF/MRs and the Home and Community-Based Services (HCS) program. Determine the short-term and long-term financial impact of increasing the number of individuals served in home or community locations and the financial impact this shift has on state schools. Monitor the department's efforts to convert institutions to community care providers through the money-follows-the-person program designed to improve access to community care services. Specifically make recommendations on:
  • how to further improve the system of care for individuals with developmental disabilities;
  • preventing, reporting, and investigating abuse and neglect;
  • developing a transition plan for reducing waiting list for community care service;
  • incentives for converting institutions into community care providers; and
  • a long term plan to address issues that result from the current federal Department of Justice investigation.
2. Study and make recommendations related to creating an outcome-based reimbursement model in Texas' Medicaid program as a way to improve quality of care, reduce medical errors, and create cost savings. Develop a pilot health care program that pays for best practices, rather than only paying for actual procedures performed. Examine the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's (CMS) efforts to create an outcome-based system in the Medicare payment system that sanctions serious, preventable medical errors. Examine Pennsylvania's efforts to implement a similar outcome-based reimbursement model to make providers more vigilant about patient care, encourage best practices, and reduce costs in their Medicaid program. If necessary, examine other health care coverage models that have successfully incorporated an outcome-based reimbursement system. Consider pay-for-performance, options that reward good outcomes and the use of best practices, and changes to the reimbursement system that will reduce serious preventable medical errors and hospital acquired infections.
3. Study the effectiveness of the Resiliency and Disease Management (RDM) program in the mental health service delivery system, implementation of changes to the crisis care program, and recommendations for appropriate use of the mental health transformation grant. Identify strategies to increase access to services and meet future demand for services. Examine resource allocation and opportunities to maximize funding. Policy recommendations should maximize the number of inpatient psychiatric acute care beds, enhance access to outpatient services, promote the use of recovery-based services, and enhance access to community-based services.
4. Monitor the implementation of the Department of Family and Protective Services’ improvement plan to reduce caseloads for Child Protective Service caseworkers, and to provide family-based safety services and ongoing substitute care services. Evaluate the efficiency of Child Protective Services "functional units," and determine if other organizational models would allow for a reduction in caseworkers' caseloads, without increasing other administrative costs. Develop recommendations aimed at lowering individual caseloads, making casework more efficient, and improving the retention of caseworkers. Assess the viability of caseworker reimbursement as a manner to lower caseworker turnover.
5. Monitor the implementation of the Department of Family and Protective Services' plan to stabilize the foster care system and increase permanency options for children. Study placement capacity to determine how Child Protective Services can better develop the necessary adoptions or foster homes to meet the needs of children and families by increasing foster care capacity, recruiting and retaining more foster and adoptive parents, increasing the use of relative care, and developing best practices for reducing foster care placement breakdowns. This includes studying innovative ways to promote adoption and kinship care in Texas and best practices for foster/adoptive parents to improve their ability to care for abused and neglected children. Explore potential improvements and enhancements in the Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program to increase successful transitioning from foster care to adult living. Study current death review processes for children who die while in state care.
6. Examine Texas' current strategies for preventing child abuse. Specifically study the effectiveness of current programs and how these programs compare to other state efforts. Identify national research-based solutions, including best practices and programs addressing sexual abuse. Explore promising existing and emerging approaches to child abuse and neglect prevention, especially those with a strong evidence base. Identify additional funding sources for increased child abuse prevention activities by the state.
7. Study the changes in statute contained in SB 10, 80th R.S., as well as the state's current prevention and wellness efforts and chronic care management efforts, and identify opportunities for improvement in state policies and programs. Examine options for expanding and optimizing the state's current investment in wellness programs and management tools for individuals with chronic care conditions, including options that address childhood asthma. Review partnerships with the private sector that specifically address the following:
  • tobacco cessation, including the evaluation of a statewide smoking ban in public places;
  • reducing obesity;
  • availability and effectiveness of childhood and adult vaccines, including public education programs to promote the use of vaccines; and
  • more effective management of chronic care conditions.
8. Study the effectiveness and efficiency of nursing homes and home-based solutions/home care in Texas, and make recommendations to improve nursing homes and their funding. Identify and study successful nursing home funding models established by other states. Consider ways to fund infrastructure for nursing and therapists and home care. Examine the possibility of an incentive-based “pay for performance” rate plan for nursing facilities and consider factors that it could be based on, taking into account similar plans implemented in other states. Make recommendations on how best to use Medicaid to fund skilled nursing and home health care in Texas. Explore options for improving graduation rates for nurses in Texas.
9. Study and address ethical issues surrounding the impact of a pandemic influenza in this state, particularly focusing on the following:
  • the availability of human and material resources;
  • the benefits and burdens of mass vaccination plans;
  • the involvement of private sector professional organizations and businesses in the state's pandemic influenza preparedness and response plans; and
  • development and implementation of communication plans that will inform and prepare the public on risk reduction behaviors and local/state preparedness and response.
10. Study the potential for development of Health Enterprise Zones, which could offer tax incentives to medical providers who locate within the boundaries of designated medically underserved areas. Analyze similar legislation enacted in other states, specifically New Jersey, and estimate costs and benefits. Consider expanding incentives to medically related industries such as medical research facilities, laboratories and equipment manufacturers in order to spur economic development.
11. Monitor the collection and availability of cord blood stem cells for treatments and research in Texas. Review the current state of basic and clinical research using these and other types of adult stem cells. Assess the potential for clinical and economic benefits from current and increased adult stem cell research.
12. Review Medicaid provider reimbursement rate methodologies, including the impact of factors such as infrastructure concerns, federal minimum wage changes, and cost reports. Study the impact on access to care, quality of care, and value, and make recommendations for legislative changes, taking into account rate increases contained in the current budget. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
13. Study the state's current and long-range need for physicians, dentists, nurses, and other allied health and long-term care professionals. Make recommendations on how the state can help recruit high-need professions, especially for primary care providers and long-term care professionals in the underserved regions of Texas. (Joint charge with the Senate Committee on International Relations and Trade)
14. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Health and Human Services Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, report on the implementation of SB 10, 80th R.S., to ensure meaningful improvement in access to quality care in the Texas Medicaid program, focusing on how to cover more uninsured in Texas with market-based plans or premium assistance for employer health plans, and monitor the creation of the Texas Cancer Research and Prevention Institute.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report
Subjects: Eight-liners | Election fraud | Employees Retirement System of Texas | Entergy Corporation | Gambling | Health care costs | Health insurance | Health maintenance organizations | Insurance industry | Investment of public funds | Legislative intent | Medical research | Medically uninsured | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Mentally ill persons | Privatization | Public retirement systems | Statutory revision | Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation | Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool | Texas Lottery | Tort reform | Voter identification | Voting systems | Workers' compensation |
Library Call Number: L1836.80 St29a
Session: 80th R.S. (2007)
Online version: View report [308 pages  File size: 43,740 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the factors that impact the transparency and efficiency of the health insurance market. Make recommendation to result in the use of best practices, lower health care costs, and better health outcomes, including the following:
  • Study factors contributing to the increasing cost of health care;
  • Study insurer and health maintenance organization (HMO) use of tiers, ratings, or classifications to differentiate among credentialed physicians already admitted to the insurer or HMO panel of preferred providers or network;
  • Examine methods to remediate incorrect tiering, ratings, or classifications;
  • Examine how physicians are notified of the standards against which they will be compared and whether they are notified of the standards prior to the evaluation period;
  • Improve transparency with respect to the marketing of prescription drugs; and
  • Study the use of certain nonprofit health corporations - approved under Chapter 162, Occupations Code, in Texas. Examine whether such entities operate on a statewide scale or on a limited scale, whether such entities adhere to the formalities required of corporations, whether the operation of such entities are influenced by owners or members who are not licensed to practice medicine, and whether such entities have ever been decertified or investigated for failure to maintain compliance with Texas law or regulations.
2. Study and make recommendations for reducing the number of uninsured Texans, focusing on the following:
  • Options to increase access to private health insurance, including 3 Share programs, employer sponsored plans and portable, individual insurance;
  • Incentives for encouraging counties and local governments to participate in private health insurance cost sharing for their respective residents;
  • Options to reduce health care premiums, including creation of special plans with increased deductibles and catastrophic coverage;
  • Implementation and possible expansion of health services districts;
  • Other state programs for increasing market-based coverage of the uninsured, including costs and effectiveness;
  • Options that will increase consumer choice and personal responsibility; and
  • Analysis of state and federal regulations that contribute to higher premium costs.
3. Study and make recommendations relating to the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool, including the current eligibility for coverage requirements, the economic profiles of participants and former participants, the affordability of the insurance products’ premiums and deductibles, and the public's awareness of the Pool.
4. Study the issue of security and accuracy in Texas elections. The study should include the benefits and risks of electronic voting technology, including the necessity of maintaining a paper record of each electronic vote. The study should also include an analysis of fraud in Texas elections, including prosecution rates for voter fraud, the processes for purging ineligible voters from voter lists, and the integrity of the mail-in and provisional ballot systems. Study the effectiveness of electronic voting technology and voter ID laws in other states. Monitor the implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, including the implementation of the Texas Election Administration Management system. Recommend statutory and regulatory changes designed to ensure that only eligible voters are allowed to vote in Texas elections and that each vote is accurately counted.
5. Review and make recommendations for requiring insurance coverage of routine medical care for patients with a life-threatening disease or condition who have elected to participate in a clinical trial.
6. Study the economic impact of recent civil justice reform legislation in Texas.
7. Study whether Texas should adopt the Restatement 2nd of Torts Sec. 674 (Wrongful use of Civil Proceedings) and whether a person should be allowed to recover court and attorneys fees when he has been forced to defend a lawsuit filed without probable cause or for intimidation purposes.
8. Monitor the Texas workers' compensation system, and the continued implementation of the reforms of HB 7, 79th R.S., by the Texas Department of Insurance and other state agencies. Specifically evaluate the recent decision by the Texas Supreme Court in Entergy v. Summers in terms of its impact and the impact of previous legislation on the workers' compensation system.
9. Study and make recommendations to reduce illegal gambling in Texas, including, but not limited to, the illegal use of Eight-Liners.
10. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of phasing in a defined-contribution pension for future employees versus the existing defined-benefit pension plan. Study options for transition or implementation issues and how the phase-in could be structured. Evaluate the possibility of requiring the state employee contribution rate to meet the annually required contribution for the statewide retirement funds each biennium in order to prevent unfunded liabilities.
11. Study the relationship between the public mental health system and the criminal justice and civil courts systems, including the identification and sharing of information regarding mentally ill offenders, including minors, among criminal justice and mental health agencies, the courts, state hospitals, and the Veterans Administration. Study how current confidentiality laws impact the exchange of information among groups described above. Study the sentencing of mentally ill offenders compared to non-mentally ill offenders, including minors, and the affect that has on statewide prison capacity and on the quality of health care provided to mentally ill offenders. (Joint charge with Senate Criminal Justice Committee)
12. Review and evaluate appropriate state regulation of a private operator of the state lottery should the state receive bids for a lease of the lottery that merit strong consideration. Provide recommendations for ensuring the security and integrity of the lottery and for adequate consumer protections. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
13. Study the feasibility and the advisability of establishing an investment policy that is consistent across all state trust funds, including the trust funds of the Employees Retirement System, the Teachers Retirement System, the Permanent University Fund, and the Permanent School Fund. Identify best investment policies for state trust funds. Examine recent portfolio diversification strategies and the effect they have on long-term fund performance. The recommendations should consider what is an acceptable rate of return, an acceptable degree of risk, the appropriateness of certain investments. (Joint charge with Senate Finance Committee)
14. Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the State Affairs Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. In particular, monitor and report on the effect of HB 2365, 80th R.S., which allows public entities to report "other post employment benefits" (OPEBs) on a statutory modified accrual basis, including any effect on auditor opinions, bond ratings, or other fiscal issues. Monitor the implementation of SB 1731, 80th R.S., relating to transparency of health information, and SB 1846, 80th R.S., relating to TRS.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report to the 80th Legislature
Subjects: 211 telephone system | Adult Protective Services | Caseworkers | Child nutrition programs | Child Protective Services | Children's Health Insurance Program enrollment and eligibility | Children's mental health | Diet and nutrition | Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of | Federally qualified health centers | Guardianship | Health care | Immunizations | Influenza | Medicaid | Medical assistants | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Mentally ill persons | Nurses | Nursing shortages | Obesity | Pharmacists | Physical fitness | Physicians | Services for persons with disabilities | Social service agencies | Stem cell research | Telemedicine | Texas Emerging Technology Fund |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 H349
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [201 pages  File size: 3,167 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study and make recommendations for improving delivery of Texas' mental health services; consider local and regional delivery systems including access to care, cost effectiveness, choice and competition, and quality of care.
2. Monitor state and federal Medicaid reform proposals, including their impact on the Medicaid program in Texas, as well as cost-containment measures in other states, and make recommendations for legislative action, as appropriate.
3. Study and make recommendations relating to filling shortages in the health care workforce and improving medical educational services. Evaluate the state's use of the National Health Service Corps and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to address the needs of the Medicaid/Medicare and underinsured populations
4. Examine the strategies used by other states that have had success with FQHCs and make recommendations for increasing the number of FQHCs in Texas.
5. Study and make recommendations relating to policy issues surrounding the use of emerging skin cell research, and other technologies.
6. Study and make recommendations for improving vaccination rates and ensuring an adequate vaccination supply in the state. Include an analysis of vaccine manufacturing and purchasing policies.
7. Evaluate and make recommendations relating to the creation of a comprehensive and statewide nutrition and physical activity plan to address obesity and chronic diseases. Examine options for funding components of such a plan.
8. Monitor the implementation of SB 6, 79th R.S., relating to Child and Adult Protective Services. Study and make recommendations for development and enhancements to protocols for joint investigations by child protective service workers and law enforcement and for interviews with children for disclosure of abuse.
9. Study the current use of the 2-1-1 network to provide access to information on federal, state, and local resources. Examine and make recommendations on strategies that improve the coordination of service information and expand the availability of information on services currently provided by community and faith-based organizations.
10. Monitor the implementation of HB 2292, 78th R.S., relating to health and human services. Focus on implementation of service coordination and consolidation efforts to assess the impact on service quality, while reducing costs.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report - Joint with Committee on State Affairs
Library Catalog Title: Joint interim report to the 80th Legislature
Subjects: Competency to stand trial | Criminally insane | End of life issues | Long-term care | Long-term care insurance | Medicaid | Medical savings accounts | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Prescription drug costs | Prescription drugs | Reverse mortgages | State hospitals |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 H349sa
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [82 pages  File size: 3,061 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine and make recommendations, if necessary, regarding the state's role in regulating pharmacy benefit managers in the interest of consumer protection. Examine alternative methods of dispensing maintenance drugs, including mail service and retail pharmacies, and provide an analysis of the state's role in protecting consumers. Joint Charge with State Affairs Committee.
2. Study how to reduce dependence on Medicaid for the provision of long term care by increasing use of long-term care insurance and health savings accounts. Include a study of options for increasing the use of advance planning tools, such as health care power of attorney and living wills, to ensure more effective decision-making regarding critical end-of-life and other health care decisions. Finally, study the feasibility of implementing innovative models of nursing facility services that encourage autonomy, choice and dignity of residents. Joint Charge with State Affairs Committee.
3. Study the current laws/policies relating to forensic patients in our State Hospitals and Community Mental Health Organizations. Include analysis of and recommendations relating to pre- and post-trial forensic patients, competency laws and procedures, current treatment policies and guidelines, cost and placement considerations for creating specialty units for forensic patients, judicial discretion and medical best practices. Joint Charge with State Affairs Committee.
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Human Services, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2006 : a report to the House of Representatives, 80th Texas Legislature
Subjects: Aging and Disability Services, Texas Department of | Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Texas Department of | Call centers | Family and Protective Services, Texas Department of | Food stamps | Foster care | Health and Human Services Commission, Texas | Mental health services | Privatization |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 H88
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [59 pages  File size: 6,948 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine ways foster care provides, or does not provide, preparation for adult living to foster children. Review programs other states have adopted to enhance the likelihood that foster care alumni will complete a secondary education or maintain trade skills learned while in foster care. Examine the correlation between the school drop-out pattern, job maintenance and poverty, and foster care preparation programs for adult living.
2. Study the effectiveness, efficiency and funding mechanisms of mental health and mental retardation services. Identify and study best practices in crisis intervention, residential treatment and aftercare. Identify and study successful mental health services delivery models established by other states.
3. Monitor how changes in the Food Stamp Program at the federal level affect participation in Texas, including proposed changes in the 2006 Federal Farm Bill.
4. Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee: Senate State Affairs
Title: Interim Report - Joint with Committee on Health and Human Services
Library Catalog Title: Joint interim report to the 80th Legislature
Subjects: Competency to stand trial | Criminally insane | End of life issues | Long-term care | Long-term care insurance | Medicaid | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Nursing homes | Prescription drug costs | State hospitals |
Library Call Number: L1836.79 H349sa
Session: 79th R.S. (2005)
Online version: View report [82 pages  File size: 3,061 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Examine and make recommendations, if necessary, regarding the state's role in regulating pharmacy benefit managers in the interest of consumer protection. Examine alternative methods of dispensing maintenance drugs, including mail service and retail pharmacies, and provide an analysis of the state's role in protecting consumers. Joint Charge with Health and Human Services Committee
2. Study how to reduce dependence on Medicaid for the provision of long term care by increasing use of long-term care insurance and health savings accounts. Include a study of options for increasing the use of advance planning tools, such as health care power of attorney and living wills, to ensure more effective decision-making regarding critical end-of-life and other health care decisions. Finally, study the feasibility of implementing innovative models of nursing facility services that encourage autonomy, choice and dignity of residents. Joint Charge with Health and Human Services Committee.
3. Study the current laws/policies relating to forensic patients in our State Hospitals and Community Mental Health Organizations. Include analysis of and recommendations relating to pre- and post-trial forensic patients, competency laws and procedures, current treatment policies and guidelines, cost and placement considerations for creating specialty units for forensic patients, judicial discretion and medical best practices. Joint Charge with Health and Human Services Committee.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report - Charge 5
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 78th Legislature : charge five / Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.
Subjects: Child crimes | Inmate health | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.77 c868 5
Session: 77th R.S. (2001)
Online version: View report [18 pages  File size: 3,482 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Monitor efforts to increase the availability and effectiveness of state and local mental health services for adult and juvenile offenders, and recommend improvements where applicable.
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the 78th Legislature / Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.
Subjects: Biological weapons | Child care | Children's health care | Disability benefits | Immunizations | Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons | Organ and tissue donations | Patient restraints | Public health | Rehabilitation Commission, Texas | Terrorism | Welfare | Welfare reform | Welfare-to-work |
Library Call Number: L1836.77 h349
Session: 77th R.S. (2001)
Online version: View report [714 pages  File size: 8,454 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review, evaluate, and make recommendations on the following mental health and mental retardation issues: a. Availability and adequacy of mental health services for children and adolescents and their families, including services funded through the mental health system, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and other funding sources the Committee considers relevant. b. Community mental health services delivery structure, including evaluating the efficacy of continuation or expansion of the NorthStar managed care pilot and the role of local community MHMR centers as mental health authorities. c. Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation's allocation formulas for distributing mental health and mental retardation funds to local communities.
2. Review, evaluate and make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the state's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Welfare-to-work, child care and related programs in moving families out of poverty to self-sufficiency, with special focus on expiration of the state's federal waiver in FY 2002. Monitor federal reauthorization activities on these programs.
3. Review, evaluate and make recommendations to improve Texas' Supplemental Security Income disability determination procedures. The Committee should compare Texas' denial rate with other states' rates, analyze any changes in Texas' rate, and examine the impact of Texas' system on Medicaid coverage for the uninsured.
4. Evaluate and make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the state's public health response to bioterrorism.
5. Make recommendations for improving the state's organ donatation and allocation system.
6. Study and make recommendations for increasing Texas' rates of immunization against childhood communicable diseases.
7. Study and make recommendations for improving reporting and training regarding the use of restraints and seclusions in facilities.
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Human Services, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2002 : a report to the House of Representatives, 78th Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Americans with Disabilities Act | Child care | Disability benefits | Food stamps | Human Services, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Rehabilitation Commission, Texas | Services for persons with disabilities | Social Security | Suicide | Welfare | Welfare reform | Welfare-to-work |
Library Call Number: L1836.77 h88
Session: 77th R.S. (2001)
Online version: View report [148 pages  File size: 2,381 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Monitor congressional reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, the Food Stamp program, and the Child Care Development Fund Block Grant.
2. Consider ways the state and local governments can promote asset development in low-income households and facilitate increased independence from public assistance. Examine any difficulties public assistance clients may encounter because of asset test standards.
3. Review the organization and administration of the Texas Rehabilitation Commission, including but not limited to eligibility determinations for social security disability benefits.
4. Study the extent and causes of suicide and consider whether Texas should implement a suicide prevention program.
5. Evaluate the adequacy of staffing levels at the Department of Human Services. Examine staff workloads and responsibilities in light of new and altered responsibilities at the department, including implementation of CHIP, eligibility policy changes and welfare reform. Explore options that might increase efficiency of staff, including enhanced technology and public-private partnerships for application and recertification of benefits.
6. Actively monitor agencies and institutions under the committee's oversight jurisdiction, including compliance with legislative direction on "Olmstead" issues.
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: House Committee on Public Health, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2002 : a report to the House of Representatives, 78th Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Alternative medicine | Biological weapons | Drug rehabilitation programs | Health, Texas Department of | Homeland security | Hospital districts | Immunizations | Medical licensing | Medical reimbursements | Mental health services | Prescription drug costs | Public health | Substance abuse | Terrorism | Undocumented immigrants |
Library Call Number: L1836.77 h349h
Session: 77th R.S. (2001)
Online version: View report [119 pages  File size: 429 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Assess the state of the healthcare infrastructure in Texas in light of hospital closures, rising costs, constrained reimbursement rates, workforce issues and any other pertinent factors. Consider differences in regions or localities that might adversely affect healthcare delivery to specific groups of Texans.
2. Conduct an extensive review of access to programs and treatment options for mental illness and substance abuse. Identify barriers to access and any gaps in existing programs.
3. Examine the costs and benefits of allowing state and local governments to provide health and preventive care without regard to the immigration status of the patient.
4. Gather information about the production, distribution, use and disposal of biological agents that could be used in terrorist actions, as well as vaccines that would be used to respond to biological attacks. Review hospital plans for responding to large-scale emergencies. Review government regulations and business practices to determine whether legislation is needed to protect life and property and to detect, interdict and respond to acts of terrorism.
5. Study the use of complementary and alternative medicines in Texas. Is there a need for the state to develop a regulatory framework for their use?
6. Assess the procedures of health-related licensing agencies regarding the intake of complaints, investigation procedures and timetables, and enforcement of laws and rules. Comment on any factors involving the use or abuse of patient information by healthcare agencies or institutions.
7. Actively monitor agencies and programs under the committee's oversight jurisdiction. Pay particular attention to implementation of recommendations to restructure the Department of Health including the childhood immunization program; and implementation of pharmaceutical legislation passed by the 77th Legislature.
Committee: Senate Border Affairs, Special
Title: Interim Report - Health
Library Catalog Title: Health interim report : Texas border health.
Subjects: Air pollution | Air quality | Birth defects | Border health | Border Health Institute | Children's Health Insurance Program | Dengue Fever | Dental hygienists | Dentists | Diabetes | Drinking water | Immunizations | Indigent health care | Medicaid | Medicaid application process | Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital Program, Texas | Medical reimbursements | Medical research | Mental health services | Mosquitoes | Sewer service | Surface water pollution | Texas Center for Infectious Disease | Tire disposal | Tuberculosis | Wastewater management | Water quality management | Water supplies |
Library Call Number: L1836.76 b644h
Session: 76th R.S. (1999)
Online version: View report [108 pages  File size: 503 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Assess the Border Region's water and wastewater system infrastructure needs and the impact of the lack of adequate water and wastewater systems on health conditions along the Border. The Committee shall develop both short-term and long-term recommendations to address these infrastructure needs.
2. Assess the health conditions in the Border Region, including childhood diseases and chronic health problems endemic to the Border such as diabetes and tuberculosis. Included in this assessment shall be an evaluation of the utilization of immunization and prevention programs and of collaborative efforts on common health issues between Texas and the Mexican Border States. The Committee shall develop health care strategies to improve Border health conditions and recommendations for their implementation.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report - Juvenile justice
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 77th Legislature : charge four.
Subjects: Child crimes | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.76 c868 4
Session: 76th R.S. (1999)
Online version: View report [57 pages  File size: 2,050 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Review the need for legal procedures and programs for children under the age of 10 who commit violent crimes so that they may receive necessary treatment and sanctions as part of the juvenile justice system (except for placement in the Texas Youth Commission) or a newly-created separate system. The Committee shall consider whether a system, similar to the adult certification process for certain juvenile offenders, should be established that would certify a person under 10 years of age into the juvenile justice system.
Committee: Senate Criminal Justice
Title: Interim Report - Mental health & criminal justice
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 77th Legislature : charge two.
Subjects: Criminal justice | Mental health services | Mentally disabled inmates | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.76 c868 2
Session: 76th R.S. (1999)
Online version: View report [76 pages  File size: 2,740 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Review information-sharing between law enforcement agencies, mental health professionals, and mental health agencies about individuals, both adults and juveniles, who are identified or considered a risk to the public's safety and whether additional cooperative efforts are needed. The Committee also shall recommend how best to conduct a comprehensive review of the relationship between mental health and the criminal justice system to assure that the criminal justice system does not become the alternative placement for such individuals.
Committee: House Criminal Jurisprudence
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 1992 : a report to the House of Representatives, 73rd Texas Legislature.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Bail | Crime Victims' Compensation Fund | Elder abuse | Fraud | Gangs | Juries | Juvenile crime | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services | Penalties and sentences (Criminal justice) | School safety | School violence | Senior citizens | Trial by jury | Youth Commission, Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.72 c868hj
Session: 72nd R.S. (1991)
Online version: View report [74 pages  File size: 3,239 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the feasibility of developing and implementing a uniform method of reporting gang activity (crime reporting program). Study ways of suppressing gang activity (alternative programs, enhanced penalties, vertical proesecution, parental responsibility, etc.) Study methods to remove hard core gang members from the street (training developing job skills and placement, counseling, community activities). Develop definition of "gang member" to apply on a state-wide basis.
2. Review and compare rules of the 36 County Bailbond Boards. Compare bail bonds and personal bonds as used in the counties; the rate of collection on forfeitures; the cost of forfeitures to the county; and the rearrest rates. make recommendations for improvements to both systems.
3. Review the grand jury process. Consider the jury wheel system versus the jury commission.
4. Study the prevalence of fraud perpetrated upon the elderly in the state. Make recommendations for prevention and protection.
5. Study the impact of mental health care on the Texas Crime Victims Compensation fund.
6. Monitor the Texas Punishment Standards Committee.
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim report - Vol 1
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 1992 : a report to the House of Representatives, 73rd Legislature / Committee on Human Services, Texas House of Representatives.
Subjects: Child abuse | Child Protective Services | Children with disabilities | Emergency medical services | Foster care | Hospital emergency rooms | Inmate health | Medicaid | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons | Nursing homes | Persons with disabilities | Protective and Regulatory Services, Texas Department of | Quality of care | Services for persons with disabilities | Trauma centers | Women's health |
Library Call Number: L1836.72 h88 1
Session: 72nd R.S. (1991)
Online version: View report [370 pages  File size: 18,729 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Study the implementation of the Pre-admissions Screening and Annual Resident Review (PASAAR) (OBRA '87 mandate) including the areas of program design, Alternate Disposition Plan (ADP), accountability, and residents' rights and training.
2. Monitor child protective services in the proposed structure of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services including criteria used in "priority" classifications and intervention methods and response time per classification; services provided to children over the age of 10 and to special needs children; value of family preservation services; and problems associated with abuse or neglected children in one-parent homes.
3. Study health care in women's correctional facilities.
4. Monitor and Coordinate with the Texas Health Policy Task Force as it relates to trauma care in Texas.
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim report - Vol 2
Library Catalog Title: Interim report, 1992 : a report to the House of Representatives, 73rd Legislature / Committee on Human Services, Texas House of Representatives.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Suicide |
Library Call Number: L1836.72 h88 2
Session: 72nd R.S. (1991)
Online version: View report [225 pages  File size: 14,192 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study inappropriate admissions and dismissal of adolescents to psychiatric hospitals (in coordination with Committee on Insurance's study of effects of mental health insurance).
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services Subcommittee on Health Services
Title: Interim report - Intermediate care facilities
Library Catalog Title: Interim study on ICF-MR (Intermediate Care Facilities - Mental Retardation) : findings and recommendations.
Subjects: Community care | Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Services for persons with disabilities |
Library Call Number: L1836.70 h349s
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View report [103 pages  File size: 4,219 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Monitor the development of the joint long-range plan for services to persons with developmental disabilities; identify problems relating to the ICF-MR (Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded) survey process, reimbursement rates, availability of services, and the effects of the prospective payment program; examine the feasibility of consolidating publicly funded health care services for children; and determine the needs of medically fragile, chronically ill children and their families.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate Health and Human Services Subcommittee on Health Services
Title: SR 127, 70th Leg., 2nd C.S.
Library Call Number: SR 127
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View document [3 pages  File size: 688 kb]
Committee: Senate Juvenile Justice System, Select
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Blueprint for prevention: the future of juvenile justice in Texas : the report of the Senate Select Committee on the Juvenile Justice System, the Senate of Texas.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Child abuse | Child safety | Crime prevention | Juvenile crime | Juvenile justice system | Juvenile Probation Commission, Texas | Mental health services | Runaway children | School dropouts | Substance abuse | Teenage pregnancy | Youth Commission, Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.70 j988
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View report [68 pages  File size: 3,096 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the state's juvenile justice system, emphasizing improved coordination between state and local service.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate Juvenile Justice System, Select
Title: SR 572
Library Call Number: SR 572
Session: 70th R.S. (1987)
Online version: View document [4 pages  File size: 1,062 kb]
Committee: House Human Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Interim report of the Committee on Human Services, Texas House of Representatives to the Seventieth Legislative Session, 1986.
Subjects: Assisted living facilities | Child care | Child Protective Services | Criminal records | Long-term care | Medicaid | Medical reimbursements | Medicare | Mental health services | Nursing homes | Poverty | Preferred provider organizations | Privatization | Senior citizens | State employee turnover | Teenage pregnancy | Welfare | Welfare-to-work |
Library Call Number: L1836.69 h88
Session: 69th R.S. (1985)
Online version: View report [178 pages  File size: 9,803 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. To study the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC), including the problems of needy children and their families, the various employment, training and education programs, and other options designed to help Texas families become self-supporting.
2. To study the problems encountered by the elderly in gaining access to appropriate post-hospital health care services, including skilled nursing and custodial services.
3. To study the Child Protective Services Program of the Department of Human Services regarding case workloads and staffing requirements.
4. To study the implementation of criminal background check legislation for child-care workers including the use of federal funds for caregiver training.
5. To study continuing care communities and other options for the well-elderly.
6. To study the problems of preventing unwanted teenage pregnancy, preventing poor parenting by teenagers, and preventing unemployment and poverty in teen-headed families.
7. To study the advantages and disadvantages of the preferred provider insurance plan, with particular emphasis on consideration of quality of services, access to services, cost of care rendered, the effect on existing physician-patient relationships, and a proposed legislative/regulatory structure for such medical care delivery and financing arrangements; in conjunction with Insurance and Public Health Committees.
8. To study the utilization of and potential for further development of privatization of care for the mentally ill and mentally retarded in the State, in conjunction with Appropriations and Law Enforcement committees.
9. To study the impact on Medicare-Medicaid and associated state health and welfare costs of the elimination of the certificate of need process in Texas.
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the Committee on Public Health.
Subjects: Health insurance | Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Preferred provider organizations |
Library Call Number: L1836.69 h349
Session: 69th R.S. (1985)
Online version: View report [24 pages  File size: 694 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. To study the development and administration of master plans for mental health and mental retardation by the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardations (MHMR).
2. To study the advantages and disadvantages of the preferred provider organization (PPO) insurance plan, with particular emphasis on consideration of quality of services, access to services, cost of care rendered, the effect on existing physician-patient relationships, and a proposed legislative/regulatory structure for such medical care delivery and financing arrangements; in conjunction with Insurance and Human Services Committees.
3. To study the statewide need for expanded respite care programs for the mentally retarded.
Committee: Joint Autism Task Force
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the 69th Texas Legislature / Texas Autism Task Force.
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 au81
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [55 pages  File size: 2,711 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Serve as a forum for improving the coordination of existing and future services and policies concerning persons with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders in Texas; Review implementation of the recommendations adopted by the Joint Committee on Autism; Recommend state funding priorities for developing services for persons with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders; Suggest strategies for further implementation of the recommendations proposed by the Joint Committee on Autism.
Committee: Joint Autism Task Force
Title: Status report
Library Catalog Title: Status report to the 68th Texas Legislature
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 AU81I
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [13 pages]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Serve as a forum for improving the coordination of existing and future services and policies concerning persons with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders in Texas; Review implementation of the recommendations adopted by the Joint Committee on Autism; Recommend state funding priorities for developing services for persons with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders; Suggest strategies for further implementation of the recommendations proposed by the Joint Committee on Autism.
Supporting documents
Committee: Joint Autism Task Force
Title: SCR 98
Library Call Number: SCR 98
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View document [2 pages  File size: 117 kb]
Committee: Joint Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Oversight
Title: Interim report - Volume 1
Library Catalog Title: Report to the Texas Legislature / Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Subjects: Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 m528 1
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [103 pages  File size: 3,615 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the mental health and mental retardation services system in Texas and make recommendations concerning the use of available resources to address the current demands for improved patient care and concerning policies and funding that will effectively provide for clients needs not only now but in the future.
Committee: Joint Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Oversight
Title: Interim Report - Volume 2
Library Catalog Title: Report to the Texas Legislature / Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Subjects: Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 m528 2
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [149 pages  File size: 3,958 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the mental health and mental retardation services system in Texas and make recommendations concerning the use of available resources to address the current demands for improved patient care and concerning policies and funding that will effectively provide for clients needs not only now but in the future.
Committee: Joint Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Oversight
Title: Interim Report - Volume 3
Library Catalog Title: Report to the Texas Legislature / Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Subjects: Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 m528 3
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [83 pages  File size: 3,012 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the mental health and mental retardation services system in Texas and make recommendations concerning the use of available resources to address the current demands for improved patient care and concerning policies and funding that will effectively provide for clients needs not only now but in the future.
Committee: House Public Health
Title: Interim report
Library Catalog Title: To the Speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 69th Legislature : report of the Committee on Public Health.
Subjects: Alcohol-related deaths | Alcoholism | Alternative medicine | Border health | Health care costs | Indigent health care | Mental health services | Mentally ill persons | Psychologists | South Texas |
Library Call Number: L1836.68 h349
Session: 68th R.S. (1983)
Online version: View report [31 pages  File size: 1,116 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. To study, in cooperation with the House-Senate Joint Committee in Indigent Health Care, health care needs in South Texas.
2. To study chelation therapy, acupuncture, and the practice of human ecology, in cooperation with the House Committee on Human Services.
3. To study alcoholism in women.
4. To study the role of psychologists in mental health commitment process and in the delivery of health services.
5. Study the issues of rising medical costs and medical cost containment. *
Committee: Joint Autism
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Autism : an intricate dilemma : Joint Committee on Autism report to the Texas Legislature.
Subjects: Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.67 au81
Session: 67th R.S. (1981)
Online version: View report [51 pages  File size: 2,442 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the needs of autistic citizens of Texas, and make recommendations regarding the State's role in providing for autistic citizens needs. Consider alternative noninstitutional environments which have proven effective in other states. Evaluate the appropriateness of existing institutional programs for autistic citizens of Texas. Examine the current lack of specialized developmental counseling programs for parents and foster parents of autistic persons. Review the need for additional specialized inservice and undergraduate training in autism and other behavioral disorders.
Supporting documents
Committee: Joint Autism
Title: SCR 100
Library Call Number: SCR 100
Session: 67th R.S. (1981)
Online version: View document [5 pages  File size: 837 kb]
Committee: House Health Services
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: To the speaker and members of the House of Representatives, 68th Legislature : interim report / of the Health Services Committee, Texas House of Representatives, 67th Legislature.
Subjects: Alcoholism | Autism | California | Drug rehabilitation programs | Drug trafficking | Hazardous substances | Health care providers | Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Patients' rights | Pesticides | Services for persons with disabilities | State agency budgets | Substance abuse | Underage drinking | Veterans | Veterans health care |
Library Call Number: L1836.67 h349
Session: 67th R.S. (1981)
Online version: View report [103 pages  File size: 4,438 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Investigate the problems of alcohol addiction and drug abuse among youth.
2. Oversight functions shall be conducted for all appropriations-related actions of those agencies assigned to this committee for appropriative purposes during the 67th Regular Session of the Legislature. In addition, a study should be made of the impact of any federal cuts, and the differences in the operational aspect of the agencies under block vs. categorical grants. Close scrutiny should be given to each agency to ascertain if legislative intent is being carried out in the rules promulgated by the agency and if the rules are feasible and practical in their application. These agencies include: Department of Health Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness Health Facilities Commission Texas Commission on Alcoholism Board of Morticians Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners Texas Board of Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids Board of Nurse Examiners Texas Optometry Board State Board of Pharmacy Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiners Texas Board of Podiatry Examiners Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists State Board of Dental Examiners State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.
3. Study the operations of the Health Systems Agencies in Texas.
4. Examine California's statutes relating to freedom of choice in selecting health care services and providers and determine if similar changes should be made in Texas' statutes.
5. Coordinate efforts with the Joint Committee on Autistic Citizens to develop possible alternatives to institutionalization of mentally retarded and autistic persons.
6. Monitor the activities and progress of the programs designed to provide aid to veterans suffering from Agent Orange. Look at number of veterans served, percentages with abnormalities, costs, etc.
7. Study the impact of pesticides on health in Texas.
8. Study the proposed construction of the Houston Psychiatric Hospital.
Committee: Senate Human Resources
Title: Revision of the Texas Mental Health Code
Library Catalog Title: Resource paper on the revision of the Texas Mental Health Code / prepared under the auspices of the Senate Committee on Human Resources for the lieutenant governor of Texas and the Texas Legislative Council.
Subjects: Mental health services | Mentally ill persons |
Library Call Number: L1836.66 m528
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View report [23 pages  File size: 920 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Conduct a study of the mental health commitment process and the possible need for revision of related laws as set out in the Texas Mental Health Code.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate Human Resources
Title: SR 692
Library Call Number: SR 692
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View document [3 pages  File size: 1,718 kb]
Committee: Senate Security at San Antonio State Hospital
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the 67th Legislature / Senate Interim Committee to Study Security at San Antonio State Hospital.
Subjects: Criminally insane | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.66 sa51
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View report [25 pages  File size: 674 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study security problems at the San Antonio State Hospital.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate Security at San Antonio State Hospital
Title: SR 462
Library Call Number: SR 462
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View document [3 pages  File size: 871 kb]
Committee: House Urban Needs, House Joint
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: To the speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 67th Legislature : report / of the Joint Committee on Urban Needs, Texas House of Representatives, 66th Legislature.
Subjects: Crime prevention | Energy policy | Health care providers | Mental health services | Municipal budgets | Municipalities | Population growth | Social service agencies | Transportation | Transportation planning | Workforce |
Library Call Number: L1836.66 ur1n
Session: 66th R.S. (1979)
Online version: View report [154 pages  File size: 6,492 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Investigate developments in Texas in the next decade and corresponding needs which the Legislature could address.
2. Investigate developments in Texas for the rest of the 20th century, including: the needs of Texas cities; energy needs; human services; transportation; the effect of growth on labor availability; and crime prevention. *
3. Consider the effects of population growth on the demand for government services, and review possible sources of additional revenue. *
4. Study the economics of Texas' cities, including such issues as revenue projections, expenditure levels, grants, etc.
5. Study Texas' energy needs for industrial, commercial and residential purposes.
6. Study the need for expanded human resources, such as mental and physical heath services, social service availability and related issues. Forecast future needs.
7. Study the future of transportation in urban areas.
8. Determine crime prevention needs in terms of law enforcement, neighborhood efforts and other related matters.
9. Study industrial and commercial growth and its effect on labor availability.
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: The potential in the patchwork : a future pattern for human services in Texas / the report of the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons | Senior citizens | Social service agencies | Welfare |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [95 pages  File size: 6,056 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Make a thorough study of the human services delivery system in Texas, including Texas and federal laws relating to human services, existing human services provided by both state-supported entities and the private sector, populations served by the services, and the effective use of state funds.
2. 1. To recognize that long range planning is needed because human needs change as people and their environments change; 2. To provide the means for systematic review, evaluation and modification of the delivery of human services to cope with population growth and change; 3. To examine in depth the lack of coordination of human services and to recommend solutions; 4. To plan now for the use of all the resources of the state - human, natural, and economic - in order to avert pitfalls experienced by other states; and 5. To assist in developing plans and priorities for improving the delivery of human services beginning with the Sixty-seventh Legislature and continuing through successive sessions.
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Action report
Library Catalog Title: Action report / Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Mentally ill persons | Senior citizens | Social service agencies | Welfare |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88a
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [72 pages  File size: 2,104 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Make a thorough study of the human services delivery system in Texas, including Texas and federal laws relating to human services, existing human services provided by both state-supported entities and the private sector, populations served by the services, and the effective use of state funds.
2. 1. To recognize that long range planning is needed because human needs change as people and their environments change; 2. To provide the means for systematic review, evaluation and modification of the delivery of human services to cope with population growth and change; 3. To examine in depth the lack of coordination of human services and to recommend solutions; 4. To plan now for the use of all the resources of the state - human, natural, and economic - in order to avert pitfalls experienced by other states; and 5. To assist in developing plans and priorities for improving the delivery of human services beginning with the Sixty-seventh Legislature and continuing through successive sessions.
Supporting documents
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: State provider questionnaire
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1836.65 H88M
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View document [401 pages]
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Recommendations and support information
Library Catalog Title: Recommendations and support information / submitted to the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas by the Subcommittee Studying Services for the 65-and-over age group.
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88wo
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Recommendations and support information
Library Catalog Title: Recommendations and support information / submitted to the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas by the Subcommittee Studying Services for the 0-17 Age Group.
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88ws
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Recommendations and support information
Library Catalog Title: Recommendations and support information / submitted to the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas by the Subcommittee Studying Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services.
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88mm
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Recommendations and support information
Library Catalog Title: Recommendations and support information / submitted to the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services in Texas by the Subcommittee Studying Service Distribution Patterns.
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88wd
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Recommendations and support information
Library Catalog Title: Recommendations and support information / submitted to the Special Committee on Delivery of Human Services inTexas by the Subcommittee Studying Planning and Coordination.
Library Call Number: L1836.65 h88wp
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Committee: Senate Delivery of Human Services in Texas
Title: Publication subcommittee's current version of recommendations of Senate Special Committee on the Delivery of Human Services, June 11, 1980
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1836.65 H88M
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View document [90 pages]
Committee: House Health and Welfare
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: To the speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 66th Legislature : report of the Committee on Health and Welfare, the Texas House of Representatives, 65th Legislature.
Subjects: Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Mentally disabled persons | Nursing homes | Persons with disabilities | Social service agencies | State agencies | State agency budgets |
Library Call Number: L1836.65 H349
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View report [38 pages  File size: 1,175 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Oversight responsibility of agency expenditures and related transactions. This function shall encompass a review and monitoring of all appropriations-related actions of those agencies assigned to this committee for appropriative purposes during the 65th Regular Session of the Legislature, to wit: Department of Health Resources (less Meat Inspection), Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Board of Examiners in the Basic Sciences, Board of Chiropractic Examiners, Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness, Board of Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids, Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners, Board of Nursing Home Administrators, Board of Physical Therapy Examiners, Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Office of the Governor Committee on Aging, Department of Public Welfare, Health Facilities Commission, Board of Dental Examiners, Board of Medical Examiners, Texas Optometry Board.
2. A study of the possible need for reorganization of the State's human resources delivery agencies: the Texas Department of Human Resources, the Governor's Committee on Aging, the Texas Youth Council and the Texas Department of Community Affairs. This study should include a review of the functions of and operations of these agencies and should make recommendations as to necessary legislative changes, if any.
3. Review the implementation of SB 700, 65th R.S., (the legislation detailing the legal rights of the retarded) by MHMR and make recommendations as to further legislative action needed, if any.
4. Review and monitor the effect and impact on the state of the passage of and judicial interpretations of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, dealing with rights of the handicapped. This study should include specific recommendations as to possible state action, legislative or judicial, to protect the state's best interests in this manner as well as recommended legislation designed to meet criteria for state implementation of the federal law.
5. A study of the Texas Health Facilities Commission to determine the effectiveness of that agency and of health systems agencies in health facility planning including a review of the current fee schedule and of the necessity, if any, for the Department of Health Facilities to have input into nursing home expansion requests and decisions.
Supporting documents
Committee: House Health and Welfare
Title: Committee Documentation: Bill Statistics, Lists of House Bills, Senate Bills
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1801.9 H349 65
Session: 65th R.S. (1977)
Online version: View document [22 pages]
Committee: House Emotionally Disturbed Youth, Special
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report to the speaker and the Texas House of Representatives, Sixty-fifth Legislature / by the Special Committee on Emotionally Disturbed Youth.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Children's mental health | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: L1836.74 em69
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Online version: View report [7 pages  File size: 345 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Review state and local programs to assist emotionally disturbed juveniles. *
Committee: House Health and Welfare
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the Committee on Health and Welfare, Texas House of Representatives, 64th Legislature, to the Speaker and members of the Texas House of Representatives, 65th Legislature.
Subjects: Medicaid | Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Department of | Mental health services | Public Welfare, Texas Department of | San Antonio State Hospital | State supported living centers |
Library Call Number: L1936.64 h349
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Online version: View report [37 pages  File size: 1,070 kb]
Charges: This report should address the charges below.
1. Review the operations at the San Antonio State Hospital and the Lubbock State School, *
2. Review the procedures used by the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation when placing patients in nursing homes. *
3. Review the operations of the Bexar County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center. *
4. Review the operations of the Department of Public Welfare. *
5. Review the Medicaid contract between the Texas Department of Public Welfare and Blue Cross. *
Supporting documents
Committee: House Health and Welfare
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: Texas Department of Mental Health Mental Retardation background : need for planning
Library Call Number: M1000.1 B126
Session: 64th R.S. (1975)
Online version: View document [43 pages]
Committee: House Facility for the Criminally Insane
Title: Transcript, June 26, 1970
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1836.61 F118M 6/26/70
Session: 61st R.S. (1969)
Online version: View document [10 pages  File size: 4,551 kb]
Committee: House Facility for the Criminally Insane
Title: Transcript, October 6, 1970
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1836.61 F118M 10/6/70
Session: 61st R.S. (1969)
Online version: View document [40 pages  File size: 17,996 kb]
Committee: House Psychiatric Problems of Youth
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the Committee to Study the Psychiatric Problems of Youth.
Subjects: At-risk youth | Children's mental health | Drug rehabilitation programs | Mental health services | Substance abuse |
Library Call Number: L1836.61 p959
Session: 61st R.S. (1969)
Online version: View report [15 pages  File size: 682 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Study the psychiatric problems of youth, including mental health issues related to drug abuse. Determine the extent of the need for mental health services for young people, and make recommendations for improving the services available to at-risk youth. *
Supporting documents
Committee: House Psychiatric Problems of Youth
Title: Transcript and Exhibits, October 16, 1970, Dallas (Testimony of W. Forrest Smith)
Library Catalog Title: Minutes
Library Call Number: L1836.61 P959M 10/16/70
Session: 61st R.S. (1969)
Online version: View document [142 pages  File size: 12,453 kb]
Committee: House State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of Committee on State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions.
Subjects: Abilene State Supported Living Center | Austin State Hospital | Austin State Supported Living Center | Big Spring State Hospital | Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth | Gainesville State School | Gatesville State School for Boys | Mental health services | San Antonio State Hospital | State Orphans' Home | Terrell State Hospital | Wichita Falls State Hospital |
Library Call Number: L1836.48 EL25 / H.J. of Tex., 48th Leg. 2609 (1943)
Session: 48th R.S. (1943)
Online version: View report [11 pages  File size: 635 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Inspect the state's eleemosynary and reformatory institutions.
Committee: House State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions, Investigation
Title: Interim Report
Library Catalog Title: Special Committee Report.
Subjects: Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Social service agencies | Texas Confederate Home |
Library Call Number: L1836.48 EL25R 1945 / H.J. of Tex., 49th Leg. R.S. 219 (1945)
Session: 48th R.S. (1943)
Online version: View report [11 pages  File size: 577 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Continue oversight and investigation of the state's eleemosynary and reformatory institutions. *
Committee: House State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions Subcommittee on State Institutions for Insane, Special
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: Report of the subcommittee [to the Committee] on Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions
Subjects: Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | State hospitals |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 44th Leg., 3rd C.S. 235 (1936)
Session: 44th R.S. (1935)
Online version: View report [4 pages  File size: 162 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Investigate the conditions existing in the State Insane Institutions and the conditions of various county jails throughout Texas wherein insane patients are incarcerated, and investigate into the needs of such State Institutions, and the proper appropriation necessary to adequately provide for these unfortunates.
Committee: House Accommodating the Insane, Provisions for
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: Report
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | County jails | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Mentally ill persons | Racial discrimination | San Antonio State Hospital | Terrell State Hospital |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 34th Leg., 1st C.S. 441 (1915)
Session: 34th R.S. (1915)
Online version: View report [1 pages]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Inquire into and ascertain as to whether or not sufficient appropriation has been made and ample quarters provided for the properly caring for these insane of our state in a humane manner.
Committee: House State Lunatic Asylum, Condition of Colored Inmates
Title:
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Blacks or African Americans | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 20th Leg., C.S. 188 (1888)
Session: 20th R.S. (1887)
Online version: View report [3 pages  File size: 50 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Examine into the condition of the negro inmates of the Insane Asylum, and report on the advisability of providing separate accomodations for the negro patients.
Committee: Joint Lunatic Asylum, North Texas Insane Asylum at Terrell
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Mental health services | Terrell State Hospital |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 19th R.S. (1885)
Online version: View report [9 pages  File size: 710 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit the North Texas Lunatic Asylum, at Terrell, Texas, and examine its condition, and report to each House upon what is necessary in the way of appropriations and otherwise for and in behalf of said institution.
Committee: Senate Lunatic Asylum
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 18th R.S. (1883)
Online version: View report [3 pages  File size: 226 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit and inspect the Lunatic Asylum and make a report. *
Committee: House State Asylums
Title: Lunatic Asylum
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 18th Leg., C.S. 78 (1884)
Session: 18th R.S. (1883)
Online version: View report [4 pages  File size: 166 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit and make a complete and careful inspection of the Lunatic Asylum. *
Committee: House State Asylums
Title: State Lunatic Asylum
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services | Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired | Texas School for the Deaf |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 17th Leg., R.S. 115 (1881)
Session: 17th R.S. (1881)
Online version: View report [6 pages  File size: 254 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit and examine the institutions for the blind, deaf and dumb and lunatics. *
Committee: House State Asylums
Title: Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylums
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services | Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired | Texas School for the Deaf |
Library Call Number: H.J of Tex., 17th Leg., R.S. 148 (1881)
Session: 17th R.S. (1881)
Online version: View report [4 pages  File size: 146 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit and examine the institutions for the blind, deaf and dumb and lunatics. *
Committee: House State Asylums
Title: Blind, Deaf and Dumb and Lunatic Asylums
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services | Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired | Texas School for the Deaf |
Library Call Number: H.J. of Tex., 17th Leg., C.S. 109 (1882)
Session: 17th R.S. (1881)
Online version: View report [2 pages  File size: 127 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Visit and examine the institutions for the blind, deaf and dumb and lunatics. *
Committee: Joint Lunatic Asylum
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 15th R.S. (1876)
Online version: View report [10 pages  File size: 539 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Investigate the books and accounts of the State Lunatic Asylum, and be authorized to send for persons and papers.
Committee: House Asylums
Title: Condition of the Lunatic Asylum
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Austin State Hospital | Mental health services |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 14th R.S. (1874)
Online version: View report [2 pages  File size: 168 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Investigate the condition of the Lunatic Asylum. *
Committee: Senate Asylums
Title: Visitation of the Lunatic Asylum
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 14th R.S. (1874)
Online version: View report [4 pages  File size: 157 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Investigate the condition of the State Lunatic Asylum. *
Committee: Senate State Lunatic Asylum
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: S.J. of Tex., 13th Leg., R.S. 289 (1873)
Session: 13th R.S. (1873)
Online version: View report [2 pages  File size: 88 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. A special commmittee of three be appointed to visit the State Lunatic Asylum, in company with the committe of the House, to make an examination of said institution, and that said committee be authorized to investigate the management and conduct of the institution and report thereon to the Senate.
Committee: Senate Lunatic Asylum, Select
Title: Condition and management of the Lunatic Asylum
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: S.J. of Tex., 11th Leg., R.S. 249 (1866)
Session: 11th R.S. (1866)
Online version: View report [3 pages  File size: 149 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. Examine and report upon the condition and management of the State Lunatic Asylum, and state what legislation, if any, is necessary for the future conduct and management of that institution.
Committee: House Lunatic Asylum
Title: Report
Library Catalog Title: [Report].
Subjects: Mental health services |
Library Call Number: LRL
Session: 10th R.S. (1863)
Online version: View report [4 pages  File size: 428 kb]
Charge: This report should address the charge below.
1. To examine the condition of the inmates of the Lunatic Asylum, their number, and the number of vacancies.

* This represents an abstract of the report contents. Charge text is incomplete or unavailable.

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