House Republicans Reject Medicaid Expansion
Texas has the highest rate and number of uninsured people in the country, by far. Hundreds of thousands more Texans lost their coverage during the pandemic. Rural health care is in crisis across the state, with the most rural hospital closures in recent years anywhere in the county in large part because they can’t continue footing the bill for uncompensated care of uninsured people. Yet Texas lawmakers again rejected a proposal on Thursday to draw down billions in federal funds to expand insurance coverage to more than 1 million Texans.
After just a few minutes of debate on the House floor on Thursday, Republican members voted down a budget amendment from Representative Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, to accept the federal funds available under the Affordable Care Act and create a version of Medicaid expansion modeled after plans in other conservative states.
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Permitless Carry
After several hours of debate on the floor, the Texas House passed legislation that would allow almost anyone to carry handguns without a permit. House Bill 1927, authored by Tyler Republican Matt Schaefer, would permit all Texans over the age of 21 to carry a handgun openly or concealed so long as they are not otherwise prohibited from doing so under current state or federal law. While the bill would exempt members of a “criminal street gang,” Republicans voted down Democrats’ amendments that would also ban domestic terrorists and white supremacists from carrying unlicensed handguns. The controversial measure known as “constitutional carry” among gun-rights advocates passed on a 84-56 vote Thursday.
Budget battles and federal aid
The Texas Senate unanimously passed its budget bill, Senate Bill 1, which maintains the Legislature’s commitment to boost state spending on public schools and property tax relief a top priority in the 2019 session. The budget also commits nearly $800 million to the state’s border security forces, and about $8 billion for mental health programs. Beyond that, the bill includes substantial belt-tightening for other government services and agencies a response to Governor Greg Abbott’s call last year for 5 percent budget cuts for most parts of the state government. Still, the budget largely avoids catastrophic cuts that many feared were coming after the pandemic threw the state’s finances into chaos.
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