Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas With Texas facing multi-billion dollar shortfalls for public education and health care specifically Medicaid Rep. Sergio Muoz Jr. D-Mission has voted for a $5.1 billion emergency spending bill that includes $4.5 billion to help protect Medicaid and CHIP the Childrens Health Insurance Program in Texas.
As a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee Muoz on Monday February 11 voted for the supplemental funding bill which now goes to the full House of Representatives for its debate and final vote.
The most important job of the Texas Legislature is to approve the two-year state budget and Texas state budget is decided by the work of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee.
Without our committees action Medicaid would have to stop paying physicians hospitals nursing homes and a host of other health-care providers by mid-March. I am very pleased we are in a position to avoid such drastic action to help protect Medicaid and CHIP" said Muoz. As we await final approval from the full Legislature my colleagues and I on the House Appropriation Committee will continue developing the funding strategies for Medicaid education and the rest of the next two-year state budget which goes into effect on September 1."
The $4.5 billion portion of the $5.1 billion emergency state funding measure will pay for Medicaid when coupled with federal matching funds through August 31 giving the Legislature led by the House Appropriations Committee enough time in the next few months to prepare and fund the new two-year state budget.
When combined with the $6.6 billion in federal matching funds the actual Medicaid shortfall for the current biennium adds up to $11.5 billion. The enormous total is an indication of the services needed and the commitment the state and Muoz have to the less-fortunate.
Medicaid is a state and federal partnership according to HealthCare.gov. that provides health insurance for people with lower incomes older people people with disabilities and some families and children.
CHIP is health insurance for children designed for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid yet cannot afford to buy private health insurance. To qualify for CHIP a child must be under age 19 a Texas resident and a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
The emergency appropriation was needed because the Texas Legislature in 2011 only set aside enough money for the states funding portion of Medicaid to last through the beginning of this spring.
As part of the budget maneuvering in the spring of 2011 the Legislature had approved a state budget that only paid for the first 18 months of the states share of Medicaid. This forced state lawmakers at the beginning of this legislative session to deal with finding the money this spring to cover the $4.5 billion shortfall for Medicaid.
In 2011 Muoz voted against the legislative plan that wound up cutting billions from the state budget. Muoz had favored tapping into the so-called Texas Rainy Day Fund to reduce the amount of budget cuts to health care including Medicaid and public education.
Currently the Texas Rainy Day Fund which is an emergency savings account for the state has more than $8 billion and is expected to grow.
Two years ago the Texas economy was still reeling from the severe national recession which reduced the amount of state money much of it generated through a variety of state sales taxes which is used to pay for all state programs especially education and health care" he explained. The Texas economy has improved since then so I will work diligently with my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to begin reversing the damaging impact of those multi-billion dollar budget cuts which I had opposed."
Muoz also will work to help begin restoring some of the $5.4 billion in budget cuts to public education approved in 2011 by the Texas Legislature.
It is going to take several legislative sessions to recover from these major budget cuts which I had opposed because we could have lessened the amounts of those cuts" Muoz said. We can achieve those goals and still produce a state budget that is fiscally-responsible."
Muoz legislative influence grew significantly on Thursday January 31 when he was appointed by Speaker of the House Joe Straus R-San Antonio to the House Appropriations Committee which writes the proposed two-year state budget for the House of Representatives.
The two-term lawmaker also secured appointments to two other important legislative panels: the House Committee on Insurance which controls the insurance industry in Texas including influencing insurance rates paid by millions of Texans and the House Local and Consent Calendars Committee which controls the fate of hundreds of pieces of legislation including numerous ones from the Valley that become state laws.
According to House Resolution 4 which lays out the rules and responsibilities of the House of Representatives Muoz three committee appointments come with the following jurisdiction:
APPROPRIATIONS
The committee shall have 27 members with jurisdiction over:
(1) all bills and resolutions appropriating money from the state treasury;
(2) all bills and resolutions containing provisions resulting in automatic allocation of funds from the state treasury;
(3) all bills and resolutions diverting funds from the state treasury or preventing funds from going in that otherwise would be placed in the state treasury; and
(4) all matters pertaining to claims and accounts filed with the legislature against the state unless jurisdiction over those bills and resolutions is specifically granted by these rules to some other standing committee.
The appropriations committee may comment upon any bill or resolution containing a provision resulting in an automatic allocation of funds.
INSURANCE
The committee shall have nine members with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to:
(1) insurance and the insurance industry;
(2) all insurance companies and other organizations of any type writing or issuing policies of insurance in the State of Texas including their organization incorporation management powers and limitations; and
(3) the following state agencies: the Texas Department of Insurance the Texas Health Benefits Purchasing Cooperative and the Office of Public Insurance Counsel.
LOCAL AND CONSENT CALENDARS (PROCEDURAL)
The committee shall have 13 members with jurisdiction over:
(1) the placement on appropriate calendars of bills and resolutions that in the opinion of the committee are in fact local or will be uncontested and have been recommended as such by the standing committee of original jurisdiction; and
(2) the determination of priorities for floor consideration of bills and resolutions except those within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Calendars.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas With Texas facing multi-billion dollar shortfalls for public education and health care specifically Medicaid Rep. Sergio Muoz Jr. D-Mission has voted for a $5.1 billion emergency spending bill that includes $4.5 billion to help protect Medicaid and CHIP the Childrens Health Insurance Program in Texas.
As a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee Muoz on Monday February 11 voted for the supplemental funding bill which now goes to the full House of Representatives for its debate and final vote.
The most important job of the Texas Legislature is to approve the two-year state budget and Texas state budget is decided by the work of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee.
Without our committees action Medicaid would have to stop paying physicians hospitals nursing homes and a host of other health-care providers by mid-March. I am very pleased we are in a position to avoid such drastic action to help protect Medicaid and CHIP" said Muoz. As we await final approval from the full Legislature my colleagues and I on the House Appropriation Committee will continue developing the funding strategies for Medicaid education and the rest of the next two-year state budget which goes into effect on September 1."
The $4.5 billion portion of the $5.1 billion emergency state funding measure will pay for Medicaid when coupled with federal matching funds through August 31 giving the Legislature led by the House Appropriations Committee enough time in the next few months to prepare and fund the new two-year state budget.
When combined with the $6.6 billion in federal matching funds the actual Medicaid shortfall for the current biennium adds up to $11.5 billion. The enormous total is an indication of the services needed and the commitment the state and Muoz have to the less-fortunate.
Medicaid is a state and federal partnership according to HealthCare.gov. that provides health insurance for people with lower incomes older people people with disabilities and some families and children.
CHIP is health insurance for children designed for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid yet cannot afford to buy private health insurance. To qualify for CHIP a child must be under age 19 a Texas resident and a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
The emergency appropriation was needed because the Texas Legislature in 2011 only set aside enough money for the states funding portion of Medicaid to last through the beginning of this spring.
As part of the budget maneuvering in the spring of 2011 the Legislature had approved a state budget that only paid for the first 18 months of the states share of Medicaid. This forced state lawmakers at the beginning of this legislative session to deal with finding the money this spring to cover the $4.5 billion shortfall for Medicaid.
In 2011 Muoz voted against the legislative plan that wound up cutting billions from the state budget. Muoz had favored tapping into the so-called Texas Rainy Day Fund to reduce the amount of budget cuts to health care including Medicaid and public education.
Currently the Texas Rainy Day Fund which is an emergency savings account for the state has more than $8 billion and is expected to grow.
Two years ago the Texas economy was still reeling from the severe national recession which reduced the amount of state money much of it generated through a variety of state sales taxes which is used to pay for all state programs especially education and health care" he explained. The Texas economy has improved since then so I will work diligently with my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to begin reversing the damaging impact of those multi-billion dollar budget cuts which I had opposed."
Muoz also will work to help begin restoring some of the $5.4 billion in budget cuts to public education approved in 2011 by the Texas Legislature.
It is going to take several legislative sessions to recover from these major budget cuts which I had opposed because we could have lessened the amounts of those cuts" Muoz said. We can achieve those goals and still produce a state budget that is fiscally-responsible."
Muoz legislative influence grew significantly on Thursday January 31 when he was appointed by Speaker of the House Joe Straus R-San Antonio to the House Appropriations Committee which writes the proposed two-year state budget for the House of Representatives.
The two-term lawmaker also secured appointments to two other important legislative panels: the House Committee on Insurance which controls the insurance industry in Texas including influencing insurance rates paid by millions of Texans and the House Local and Consent Calendars Committee which controls the fate of hundreds of pieces of legislation including numerous ones from the Valley that become state laws.
According to House Resolution 4 which lays out the rules and responsibilities of the House of Representatives Muoz three committee appointments come with the following jurisdiction:
APPROPRIATIONS
The committee shall have 27 members with jurisdiction over:
(1) all bills and resolutions appropriating money from the state treasury;
(2) all bills and resolutions containing provisions resulting in automatic allocation of funds from the state treasury;
(3) all bills and resolutions diverting funds from the state treasury or preventing funds from going in that otherwise would be placed in the state treasury; and
(4) all matters pertaining to claims and accounts filed with the legislature against the state unless jurisdiction over those bills and resolutions is specifically granted by these rules to some other standing committee.
The appropriations committee may comment upon any bill or resolution containing a provision resulting in an automatic allocation of funds.
INSURANCE
The committee shall have nine members with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to:
(1) insurance and the insurance industry;
(2) all insurance companies and other organizations of any type writing or issuing policies of insurance in the State of Texas including their organization incorporation management powers and limitations; and
(3) the following state agencies: the Texas Department of Insurance the Texas Health Benefits Purchasing Cooperative and the Office of Public Insurance Counsel.
LOCAL AND CONSENT CALENDARS (PROCEDURAL)
The committee shall have 13 members with jurisdiction over:
(1) the placement on appropriate calendars of bills and resolutions that in the opinion of the committee are in fact local or will be uncontested and have been recommended as such by the standing committee of original jurisdiction; and
(2) the determination of priorities for floor consideration of bills and resolutions except those within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Calendars.
