Texas Impact Legislative Agenda

7/29/2019 Texas Impact Legislative Agenda

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Strategies for BuildiCommunity Partnerships in 20

Promote familynancial stability

Lawmakers in 2011 laid the foundation of basic regulation for the small-dollar consumer loan industry(payday and similar types of loans) by requiring lenders to register with the state and report on their ac

Industry reported data shows that unlike traditional lenders, restrictive payment options and high montheectively prevent borrowers from making progress toward paying down loan principal trapping consuma cycle of debt. In addition to cycle of debt protection, legislators also should identify and remove any bpreventing traditional community lenders from extending credit to disadvantaged Texans thus increasingand product competition in the small dollar loan market.

2Improve access to healthy, aordable food

In a state where more than 18 percent of residents are at risk of hunger, the primary goal of food programshould be to ensure food gets to those who need it. Restricting foods available to SNAP recipients discostores from accepting SNAP creating barriers for individuals who already need help. Bureaucratic measusuch as drug testing for SNAP applicants create new costs and red tape that outweigh whatever other vamay have. Instead, lawmakers should focus on making healthy food easier to get and more aordable.

Its particularly important to increase the use of privately owned land for agricultural production, especiaand around population centers.e vast majority of Texas land is privately owned, so providing incentivelarge- and small-scale food production should be a key legislative goal.

1Establish reasonable regulation of short-term loan products sucas payday and auto-title loans to ensure that Texans have access

well-regulated, competitive credit market.

Get the most out of SNAP: oppose restrictions on food purchapromote use of SNAP benets at f armers markets, and liftunnecessary barriers to SNAP eligibility.

Get fresh produce to every community: provide incentives for fto-school and farm-to-food bank programs and study register

vendor issues for school gardens and farming non-prots.

Use Texas land and water to feed Texans: establish agriculturevaluation for urban farmers, allow unused or underused state-oland to be available f or food production, and authorize incentiv

private land owners t o allow gardening/farming on their prope

Texas faith communities know that government is essential, but for public programs tobe eective we need real partnershipsbetween local communities and state programs,between concerned individuals and institutions, and between for-prot service providersand the charitable community. Texas can prepare for the future by building robustpartnerships that ensure we are moving forward on a strong foundation, with an ethic ofshared responsibility and a true sense of community.

Legislators took positive steps toward community partnerships in 2011, and those steps arebearing fruit. Faith and community-based organizations, local governments, business andstate agencies are coming together to feed hungry Texans, support at-risk youth, conserveprecious resources, and other strategies to advance the common good.

Texas Impact urges the 83rd Texas Legislature to continue its investment in communitypartnership programs and policies.e following specic strategies will build the capacityof all Texans to work in partnership for a vibrant, prosperous and healthy Texas.

About Texas Impact

A critic once took the late 19th century preacher Dwight Moody to task for his involvement in political and social af-airs. Are you not a citizen of heaven? the detractor asked. Yes, someday I shall be, Moody responded, but right now

Im registered to vote in Cook County, Illinois.

Texas Impact is a public policy information and advocacy center for Texas faith communities. Its task is to ad-ocate, and help people of faith to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of their faith traditions.

Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other theological traditions teach that communities and individuals of faithshould be concerned about public policy.eologian John Calvin wrote, Civil magistery is a calling not onl y

holy and legitimate, but by far the most sacred and honorable in hu man life.

Ministry through public policy advocacy oers a chance to translate deep convictions about justice, peace andfreedom from words into reality.e political process is where decisions are made that help or harm people;

decisions that help to make the kind of world God intends.

Texas Impact stamembers visit policy-makers and their stas, testify before legislative committees and facili-tate the testimony of religious leaders.is involvement helps to clarify the moral and ethical issues at stake in

public policy.

Find out more at www.texasimpact.org


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3Ensure Texans have access to quality, aordablehealth insurance

exas has more to gain than any other state from the implementation of the Aordable Care Act (ACA): oneut of every four Texans is uninsured.e ACA includes a host of provisions to address specic health concernsnd nancial barriers to insurance, but for Texans to get the most out of the new law, Texas legislators mustake certain state policy changes. First, legislators should allow low-income adults to receive health coveragerough Medicaid.e ACA provides for a full federal subsidy for this coverage for the rst two years, with a

0 percent state contribution required after that. Opting-in to the new federal subsidy would reduce the burdenn local taxpayers and charitable organizations, which currently foot the health care bill for many low-incomedults including county jail inmates.

or individuals at moderate income levels, the ACA provides subsidies to purchase health insurance in theivate market and important new quality controls on health insurance products. Texans will benet fromese provisions as well, but they will benet far more if lawmakers direct the Texas Department of Insuranceprotect health insurance consumers by intervening in rate increases and to ensure that consumer healthsurance information is accessible and useful.

Strengthen Texas public education system

ublic education is a core constitutional commitment. Legislators struggle regularly to maintain balance in ourowing state system, and in 2011 did not provide sucient funds to keep pace with enrollment growth. Now

Make all necessary state policy choices to ensure Texans complete access tothe health care benets provided for through the Aordable Care Act andother existing federal health programs.

Move quickly to ensure full data coordination between current state healthprograms and the upcoming Health Insurance Exchange.

Authorize the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to stop a healthinsurance rate increase it deems to beunreasonable.

Promote competition by leveling the playingeld for all health insurers and

ensure TDI, and not onlyfederal regulators, is empowered to protect consumers in a changing market.

Get insurance to those who need it quickly and eciently through expandedconsumer assistance and information.

4 Restore funds cut from public schools in 2011.

Reject policy proposals that would divert public funds assessed to supportpublic schools to other education providers or services.

that Texas revenues have improved, a primary legislative priority should be to restore cuts to schools mad2011, so that the system can move forward from the appropriate funding base. Maintaining the 2011 cutput the school system permanently behind.

With public education funding already tight, Texas can ill-aord to consider additional costs that woulddrain existing funding away from the public system. Vouchers and other programs for private schools or educational services that are funded with dollars previously allocated to public schools would only fragmfurther strain school system.

Build capacity for service in local communitie

Texas faith and community-based initiative is a successful national model that is providing the opportunpublic-private partnerships that would not otherwise be possible. In 2011, legislators established a 2-yeaForce on Strengthening Nonprot Relationships to work with state agencies. Results indicate that a stanadvisory committee is needed to maintain a consistent relationship between the two sectors and leveragemost benet from existing investments.

Improve law enforcement and criminal justiceoutcomes for individuals with mental illness

In part because Texas invests relatively little in mental health treatment programs, the states criminal jussystem ends up the default mental health provider for many individuals with mental illness. In recent yeaincreasing use of administrative segregation (a form of solitar y connement) has presented a new mentchallenge. Prolonged administrative segregation is counterproductive for individuals with existing mentaand can produce mental illness in individuals who previously had no mental health concerns.

5 Establish a permanent advisory committee on improving nonprot-stpartnerships.

Restore funding for the Renewing Our Communities capacity-buildigrant program for small nonprots.

6Expand Serious and Violent Oenders Reentry Initiative Program.

Monitor and limit use of administrative segregation: require third parreview of administrative segregation placements in TDCJ, and restricuse of administrative segregation for youth under 25 in all state and cfacilities.

Establish a task force on adult and juvenile administrative segregatiodevelop policy analysis and recommendations for the 84th Legislatur

Establish a task force to examine Texas progress in community-orienpolicing and recommend strategies for improving law enforcementinteractions with individuals with mental illness.


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When individuals are released from administrative segregation, they frequently exhibit anti-social behaviorsnd require re-acclimation to social life before returning to the community. Improving accountability andansparency in administrative segregation practices and increasing support for individuals being releasedom administrative segregation would improve successful reintegration and safety for the entire community.xamining Texas community-oriented policing policies and identifying best practices in law enforcement

ngagement with individuals experiencing mental illness could also help to make communities safer.

Promote clean, reliable, aordable energy

exas continues to have more renewable energy potential than any other state, but clean energy discussions haveken a back seat to concern about electric reliability. Texas families and communities need reliable electricitywell as good health and economic security. Lawmakers should ensure Texas has a long-term plan for electricliability including a commitment ot clean energy which promotes long-term energy independence, humanealth, and care for Gods creation.

e states focus on electricity supply has elevated interest in energy eciency and other demand reducingeasures. Lawmakers should place particular emphasis on consumer-directed eciency programs that yield

enets for the grid and the individual ratepayer. Too often, energy eciency programs take a one-size-ts-l approach that rewards the heaviest users while minimizing the signicance of small consumers. Legislators

hould arm that energy eciency is a community-wide eort, and craft policies that make energy eciencytractive and eective for all r atepayers, including those who are low-income or otherwise d isadvantaged.

Build an accountable-stewardship foundation

for water policy

Texas water future has come into sharp focus as a result of the recent drought, but addressing our long-twater needs in a piecemeal, crisis-driven fashion risks our economic vitality and the stability of our commIn 2013, lawmakers should commit to a systematic approach to ensuring the safety, reliability and aordof Texas future water supply, beginning with an examination of current water-related funding streams anto-date project priorities. Legislators should demand realistic, accountable water conservation measures athe economy, andas with energyconsumer-directed conservation programs should honor the capacitevery Texan, even very small or disadvantaged consumers, to be part of a collective strategy.

Take an appropriate and balanced approach timmigration issues

After harsh and unproductive immigration policy debates in 2011, Texas legislators should understand timmigration is a complex issue appropriately addressed at the federal level, and not an appropriate topic state legislative posturing. Lawmakers should focus on ensuring the safety and security of Texas communthrough adequate investment in law enforcement and building trust between law enforcement agencies acommunities. Local charitable organizations such as faith communities can be key players in developing community-law enforcement partnerships, but should not be deputized to perform immigration enforce

Strengthen the state revenue system

Over the past decade, legislators have cut billions of dollars from social services and education in responsto anticipated revenue shortfalls. In some cases, those cuts have been restored after months or years becathe anticipated shortfalls did not materialize; often the restorations have been bittersweet for individualscommunities whose lives have been permanently disrupted. At the beginning of the 2013 session, lawma

nd themselves with a $10 billion Rainy Day Fund balance while school districts across the state are scrato save teachers jobs and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has launched a private fundraising cathat competes directly with state and local nonprot donation drives.Lawmakers should subject the Tax Code to Sunset review to identify opportunities for modernizing andstabilizing the revenue system protecting the state from budget see-sawing. Lawmakers also should oerTexans an opportunity to consider adopting a state personal income tax to reduce property taxes and volconsumption taxes.

7Update Texas clean energy goals.

Ensure that Texas electric reliability plans include strong consumer-directed energy conservation measures and that consumer-directedprograms are structured to provide accountability in their savings to the gridand to consumers.

Ensure funds intended for low-income energy assistance are used fortheir intended purpose, and that consumer-directed energy conservationprograms include measures to enable low-income and other disadvantagedratepayers to participate.

8 Align funding and programs with the most current data and strategies.

Ensure that any state investment in future water infrastructure sets clearpriorities, including strong demonstrated conservation.

Fully account for and create strategies to reduce use of water used in energyproduction and vice versa.

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Ensure that Texas law enforcement systems are dedicated to protectinTexans, not to enforcing federal civil laws.

Insist that all people in Texas are treated with equal respect and comp

Reject proposals to co-opt faith and community-based organizationsimmigration enforcement.

10 Modernize the state tax system to stabilize revenues and prevent polidistorting budget swings.


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Documents

Texas Impact Legislative Agenda