Human Services Caucus
. . . . . . . . . TSEU Organizer contact: Katie Romich

October 2009
Congress members, Texas legislators, & USDA: “Fix Food Stamps now!”
The near-total melt down in the Human Services eligibility system has come to the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, members of Congress, and key members of the Texas Legislature. The USDA controls the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly Food Stamps).

Key documents posted here:
1. September 24 letter from William Ludwig to HHSC Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs. Ludwig is the Regional Administrator for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
CLICK HERE

2. October 7 letter from 12 members of Congress from Texas to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (head of the USDA).
CLICK HERE

3. October 8 letter from eight Texas legislators to William Ludwig.
CLICK HERE

Overview of the 81st Legislature

Increased Human Services Staffing - Partial Victory
In Rider 61 of the HHSC budget, the maximum staffing levels (called “FTE cap”) for HHSC Integrated Eligibility and Enrollment services was provisionally raised from 9,039 to 9,861. Rider 61 gives HHSC ability to hire 822 more staff with Legislative Budget Board approval. We need even more new staff than this number, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Increased Funding - Victory!
There was a significant increase in the funding for Integrated Eligibility and Enrollment: $1.36 billion for Fiscal Years (FY) 2010/11 as compared to $1.07 billion for FY 2008/09. This is a 27% budget increase. For DADS Long Term Care Services Intake and Eligibility, there was an even bigger funding increase. The budget for upcoming FY 2010/2011 was $366,164,309 as compared to $274,526,905 for FY 2008/2009. This is a $91,637,404 for an increase of 33% in the budget. DADS Long Term Care Regulatory also got a budget increase of 6.9% to $132, 261,353 for the biennium.
TSEU is fighting so that the extra money is spent rebuilding the HHSC and DADS workforces, not wasted on continuing or expanding the failed privatized call center experiment. Our message is: “Give us the resources and we’ll do the job right!”

Bill to cancel AccessHR privatization falls short
Our bill to prohibit a renewal of the contract for the wasteful and dysfunctional AccessHR system had smooth sailing for several weeks after Rep. Garnet Coleman got it included in the overall budget bill. However, it was deleted in the last days of budget negotiations, leaving HHSC free to sign another contract with Convergys. The fight to rebuild quality Human Resources continues.

TIERS staffing analysis and rollout frozen – Partial victory
Although some important parts of our bill got eliminated, HB 3859 still requires HHSC to do a thorough analysis of staffing needs for the TIERS system. In a separate development, HHSC has recently announced that TIERS rollout will be frozen indefinitely.

Children’s Health Insurance Program Buy-in – Victory!
SB 841 by Sen. Kip Averitt passed. This bill creates a buy in option in the Children’s Health Insurance Program for families which earn $66,000 a year or three times the poverty level. This buy in option is 30 percent less expensive for families than private health insurance and comes with federal matching funds ($1.50) for every state dollar spent.

Bill to cancel privatization of Eligibility Support Services falls short
HB 2834 by Rep. Marisa Marquez was defeated. The bill would have discontinued current and future privatization of eligibility services. It would have returned the functions presently performed by contractors to field staff at the HHSC Office of Eligibility Services.

Legislators failed to pass expansion of Children’s Medicaid and CHIP
House Rider #52 was defeated. It would have allowed the state to use Federal Economic Recovery Funds for CHIP expansion and twelve-month Children’s Medicaid benefits with no cost to the state budget.