Texas 81st Legislative Session: If at First You Don't Secede

Although the 81st regular session of the Texas Legislature began amid talk of secession, it proved to be remembered more for its lack of accomplishments rather than ground-breaking legislation. Lawmakers failed to pass critical sunset bills for the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), among other agencies, or to include the agencies in a sunset “safety net” resolution to ensure their continued existence until 2011. As a result, Governor Rick Perry, on June 25, 2009, issued a call for a special session to address their status going forward.

There was speculation that the special session might be used to address other issues such as the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which fell short during the regular session notwithstanding bipartisan support. The CHIP legislation, which would have expanded insurance coverage to an estimated 80,000 children, died when the House failed to consider the bill prior to adjournment. Several lawmakers asked Governor Perry to include CHIP expansion in the call for a special session, but apparently he declined to do so.

Another piece of legislation that met an untimely demise was Sen. Robert Duncan’s (R-Lubbock) corporate practice of medicine bill, SB 1500, which would have allowed certain hospitals in rural counties to employ physicians. The legislation, which passed both chambers as an amendment to Rep. Garnet Coleman’s (D-Houston) bill on rural public hospitals (HB 3485), was vetoed by the Governor.

Among the healthcare bills that successfully passed into law, a few to note include:

HB 1888 by Rep. John Davis (R-Houston) requires health benefit plan issuers to ensure that any physician ranking system uses standards implemented by TDI that are in accordance with nationally recognized standards and grants the physician due process rights to dispute the ranking before publication.

SB 6 by Sen. Duncan was saved after being attached to SB 78 in the waning hours of the session and signed by the Governor. The legislation creates the Healthy Texas program that would allow more small employers to provide low-wage employees access to health insurance with decreased premiums. Provided they meet certain conditions, small businesses may qualify to buy health insurance coverage through Healthy Texas.

HB 2256 by Rep. Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills) allows an enrollee of a preferred provider benefit plan to request mediation of an out-of-network claim provided at an in-network facility if the amount the enrollee owes a facility-based physician is over $1,000 after copayments, deductibles and coinsurance.

SB 476 by Sen. Jane Nelson (R- Flower Mound) seeks to strengthen the role of nurses in hospital staffing decisions by requiring hospitals to establish nurse staffing committees and written nurse staffing policies and prohibits a hospital from requiring nurses to work mandatory overtime, except in certain emergencies.