Contents tagged with legislature
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Capitol Update: Senate budget draft cuts spending by $28.8 billion
Capitol Update: Senate budget draft cuts spending by $28.8 billion
posted 01.26.11
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Hancock files session’s first nurse practitioner scope bill
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Join TAFP for Legislative Action … more
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Capitol Update: House releases stark budget draft
Capitol Update: House releases stark budget draft
posted 01.19.11
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, laid out the first draft of the state budget Wednesday as he … more
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Bleak House: Family medicine and the great budget debate, day one
Texas lawmakers got their first chance to comment on the first draft of the House budget for 2012-2013 today, when Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts took questions on the floor. The draft budget is $31.1 billion slimmer than the state’s current budget, coming in at $156.5 billion in all funds. That means general revenue plus federal matching funds.
The capitol press corps was in fine form, tweeting and texting a constant stream of budget-related news, and filing stories at a fevered pace. Check out the Texas Tribune’s coverage for a healthy dose.
Several lawmakers were upset over the proposed closure of four community colleges, and massive cuts to public education got a lot of play as well. Lost amid the critiques and complaints was the proposed fate of a set of programs designed to strengthen primary care.
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It’s a budget session
The biggest and toughest challenge legislators will face in the 82nd Texas Legislature will be balancing the budget. Comptroller Susan Combs announced that general revenue for the 2012-2013 biennium will likely be $72.2 billion, $14.8 billion less than the general revenue budget for the current biennium, and the shortfall in the current biennium would be $4.3 billion. She did not quantify the size shortfall expected in the next biennium, but the state would be about $27 billion short if lawmakers decided to continue current service levels in all programs.
Understanding the budget means looking at the two largest spending areas, articles II and III, otherwise known as education and health and human services, respectively. In his acceptance speech as president pro tempore of the Texas Senate, Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, told those in attendance to that it is “impossible to balance the budget” without making cuts to Medicaid and education.
At more than 1,000 words, the excerpt of the speech is lengthy, but it’s a must-read if you want to understand the next 140 days of the session.
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Capitol Update: 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin
Capitol Update: 82nd Texas Legislature convenes in Austin
posted 01.12.11
Day one of the 82nd Texas Legislature is in the books, and after weeks of political posturing and boisterous calls by … more
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Congress approves 12-month SGR extension, AAFP calls for permanent fix
Congress approves 12-month SGR extension, AAFP calls for permanent fix
posted 12.09.10
Congress has passed a 12-month extension of the Medicare physician payment rate. The U.S. Senate approved … more
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Congress approves 12-month SGR extension, AAFP calls for permanent fix
Congress approves 12-month SGR extension, AAFP calls for permanent fix
posted 12.09.10
Congress has passed a 12-month extension of the Medicare physician payment rate. The U.S. Senate approved … more
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A small investment for a large return: The Texas Statewide Preceptorship Program
A small investment for a large return: The Texas Statewide Preceptorship Program
By Kate McCann
With federal health care reform expanding insurance coverage to an estimated 4.2 million Texans … more
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Latest Medicare cut looms
Latest Medicare cut looms
MGMA study predicts sharp physician reaction to pay cut
posted 11.02.10
Unless Congress acts before the end of the month, payments to physicians for the services they … more
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Physicians: Register to file death records electronically or face fines
Physicians: Register to file death records electronically or face fines
posted 09.16.10
Doctors must fill out and file death certificates electronically with the Texas Department of State Health … more