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State Legislature: Bill aims to lower health insurance costs for small business
By BRIAN PORTER, Staff Writer
Editor’s note: This weekly report on the state legislature is compiled from daily informational reports supplied by Richard Lee and other sources.
The growing number of employed Texans who are uninsured has struck a chord with lawmakers in Austin.
A 2007 report issued by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) found that while 89 percent of large firms in Texas offer group health insurance, only 32 percent of small firms, those with fewer than 50 employees, offer health coverage to employees. Small business owners are less able or less willing to pay high premiums; according to a 2004 TDI survey, only 37 percent of these owners are willing to pay more than $100 a month per employee for health insurance.
The report recommended the creation of a reinsurance plan, insuring insurers against overly high claims or a large number of claims. This reduces risk, increases market predictability, and should lead to lower premiums. Senate Bill 6, co-authored by Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) and Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), would create a fund to offer partial reimbursement to insurers for claims made by employees at small businesses.
"There are employed Texans who are uninsured, and I think it's time to address this problem," Duncan said.
The bill, titled the Healthy Texas Act, would create the Small Employer Premium Stabilization Fund, funded by the state. This fund would reimburse insurers for large insurance claims made by individuals who have group insurance under the Healthy Texas Act. Insurers would have to pay the first $5,000 of a claim, but could seek reimbursement for 80 percent of the cost of claims ranging from $5,000 to $75,000.
In order to qualify for the program, a business must not have offered group health insurance to employees in the last year. Thirty percent of employees must be at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, and to join the program, 60 percent of employees must agree to purchase the insurance. The bill is estimated by the Legislative Budget Board to cost $122.5 million over the next biennium.
The Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would give more freedom for Texans to keep guns in their cars. Current law allows employers to prohibit employees from keeping a gun in their vehicles on the employers’ parking lot, which Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) thinks violates their Second Amendment rights. Senate Bill 730 would allow an employee to keep a gun, locked up and out of sight, in a car despite an employers' mandate.
Senate Bill 476, authored by Nelson, seeking to reduce nursing vacancies in hospitals and improve the work environment for Texas nurses, was approved this week.
"We need to retain our best and brightest nurses, who are unfortunately turning over at an annual rate of 18 percent, due in part to mandatory overtime policies and stressful working conditions," Nelson said.
The bill prohibits mandatory overtime policies and requires each Texas hospital to establish a nursing staffing committee.
The Senate Committee on Health & Human Services approved three bills authored by Nelson to improve outcomes for abused and neglected children and to provide better support for individuals aging out of the foster system.
"These are children who have been through unimaginable hardships," said Senator Nelson. "Far too many of our foster children are becoming homeless after they age out of the foster system."
Specifically, the committee approved SB 69, supporting foster families and for foster children aging out of the system, SB 493, improving services for children in the CPS system and expanding tuition benefits; and SB 1332, requiring courts to consider previous foster placements for children re-entering the system.
The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would cap the number of automatic admissions to state universities under the top-10 percent rule. The legislation was spurred by complaints from officials at the University of Texas at Austin, who say the rule that grants automatic admission to high-schoolers that graduate in the top 10 percent of their class to a state college of their choice has filled incoming classes almost entirely with students admitted under this rule. UT officials estimate 81 percent of the 2008 incoming freshman class were top 10 percent students, and worry that soon it will be the only criterion under which students get into the university.
SB 175, authored by Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), would cap admissions under the top 10 rule at 60 percent of an incoming class. The remainder of students would be admitted using a holistic review process. The bill was amended by Senators Steve Ogden and Eddie Lucio to include a scholarship program for poorer students that graduate in the top 10 percent.
A Dallas federal judge Friday ruled that the phrase “under God” in the Texas Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional. The court’s decision rejected a lawsuit filed by a Dallas couple, who unsuccessfully argued that the state pledge violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The Texas pledge, amended in 2007, reads: “Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.”
Voluntary, teacher-led recitations of the Texas Pledge typically follow the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms across the state. The Attorney General argued that the Pledge reflects the constitutionally protected freedom of religion.
The office of Secretary of State Hope Andrade issued a release to correct an erroneous report concerning the ballot for the May election. There will be no statewide propositions to decide.
An e-mail has reportedly circled throughout the state indicating a constitutional amendment was on the ballot concerning the homestead tax.
“Our office has been contacted by many citizens that received or heard of the e-mail,” Andrade said.
The deadline to register to vote in the May election is April 9.
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