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TMA President William H. Fleming III, MD, urged Gov. Rick Perry to add legislation expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to the agenda for the special session of the Texas Legislature that begins today, July 1.
Dr. Fleming issued the statement after Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) and Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) held a news conference to ask the governor to allow lawmakers to consider CHIP expansion.
Dr. Fleming said Texas physicians applaud Senator Shapleigh and Representative Coleman "for standing up for Texas' uninsured children." He said CHIP expansion "would insure more than 80,000 children from working families who cannot afford to buy health insurance coverage," adding that TMA "believes that providing children with a regular physician who can deliver essential health care services in an appropriate setting is not only good medicine, but also smart business."
Governor Perry called the special session to allow the legislature to finish the business it didn't get to in the regular session. This includes:
- Extending the existence of five state agencies subject to sunset review that would otherwise be abolished without legislative action and to change the review schedule for certain state agencies to balance the Sunset Advisory Commission’s workload. These agencies include the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), Texas Department of Insurance, Texas Racing Commission, Office of Public Insurance Counsel, and Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation.
- Allowing TXDOT to issue general obligation bonds, which have already been approved by voters, for highway improvement projects and for the creation, administration, financing, and use of a Texas Transportation Revolving Fund to provide financial assistance for transportation projects.
- Extending the authority of TXDOT and a regional mobility authority to use comprehensive development agreements to design, finance, build, and maintain transportation infrastructure.
Action, July 1, 2009
Last Published: 7/1/2009 Print this page
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