A Capitol Recap:

Disability Policy in the

88th Legislature
June 14, 2023
Presentation Outline

• Overview of TCDD
• TCDD Legislative Resources
• TX Lege Basics
• Bills/Issues Considered
• Next Steps/Post-Session
• Questions?
Overview of
TCDD!
What’s our deal, exactly?
TCDD is a federally-
funded state agency

TCDD MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to create

change so that all people with
disabilities are fully included
in their communities and
exercise control over their
own lives.
 TCDD Council Members

27 Members Appointed by the Governor

AT LEAST 60% of the members are:
• adults with developmental
disabilities
OR
• family members of people with
developmental disabilities
One person must live in or must have
lived in an institution in the past.
(or be a family member
of such a person)
 TCDD’s Organization/Agency Members
Five members represent state agencies:
⮚ The Older Americans Act – HHSC
⮚ Title V of the Social Security Act – DSHS
⮚ Title XIX of the Social Security Act – HHSC
⮚ The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – TWC
⮚ The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act –
TEA
State Protection & Advocacy System:
⮚ Disability Rights Texas
University Centers for Excellence in Developmental
Disabilities:
⮚ Texas Center for Disability Studies
(University of Texas)
⮚ Center on Disability & Development
(Texas A&M)
What We Do

Inform Evaluate and Build Connect Influence

Tell others about Fund statewide Establish Change the way

issues, needs, grant projects to partnerships government, state
gaps, and possible evaluate solutions across silos and agencies, and
solutions and help funding streams other
individuals and organizations do
communities build business to
resources to be improve support
independent for people with
disabilities.
 TCDD Public Policy Priorities

Personal and Civil Rights

Accessibility

Early Childhood and Inclusive Education

Employment

Health and Safety

Funding for Services

Attendant Wages and Training

TCDD Legislative
Resources
We did what, now?
TCDD Resources

ID: Screenshot of the Texas Legislative Session page on the TCDD

website. Resources are (top to bottom) “Texas Legislative
News,” “Updates from the TCDD Public Policy Director,” and
“Bill of the Week.”
Weekly
E-Blasts
and
Postings
TCDD
Video
Updates
Testimony
Made Easy
 Sign up for alerts at
the TCDD website:

https://tcdd.texas.gov/stay
-connected/
 Acknowledgments –
Nobody can do this work alone!

Thanks to other disability advocacy organizations,

including:
 ADAPT of Texas
 The Arc of Texas
 The Autism Society of Texas
 Coalition of Texans with Disabilities
 Disability Rights Texas
 Epilepsy Foundation of
Central & South Texas
 EveryChild
 Governor’s Committee on
People with Disabilities
 NAMI Texas
 Texas Council of Community Centers
 Texas Parent to Parent
 And more!
 Enough about TCDD!

Let’s talk about the Capitol!

TX Lege Basics
Can I get a refresher?
 The Two Chambers of the Texas Legislature

The Texas Senate The Texas House

is comprised of is comprised of
31 members and presided 150 members and presided
over by the over by the Speaker of the
Lt. Governor of Texas. House.

Members are generally Members are elected to 2-

elected to 4-year terms and Image Swiped From The Texan/Daniel Friend year terms and represent
represent over 940,000 over
constituents. 194,000 constituents.
 Lawmakers meet for 140 days every 2 years.

In 2023, the TX Legislature

convened on Tuesday, January
10th.

It finally adjourned
on Monday, May 29th.
Bills/Issues
Considered
What happened in Austin?
 Bills, Bills, and More Bills
Bill filings in the past two legislative sessions:
87th Session (2021): 6927
86th Session (2019): 7,324

For the 88th Regular Session, they filed

8,046 bills
This is the most ever in a session!!!
Texas State Budget, HB 1
Total Expenditures, All Funds = $321.3 billion

This is just over $18 billion more than the current budget.
Texas State Budget
Additional Notes
Texas began the session with an anticipated
$32.7 billion surplus
In 2025, the Economic Stabilization Fund
(Rainy Day Fund) is expected to reach its
maximum constitutional balance.
At that point, it will have $27.1 billion.
 Medicaid Waiver
Interest List Reduction
The 88th Legislature approved just 1,831 new waiver slots for
the 2024-25 biennium.
Programs Biennium Number on the Interest List
(as of April 30, 2023)
MDCP 161  6,266
HCS 1,144  115,121
CLASS 213  80,796
DBMD 8  1,588
TxHmL 305  104,046
Total 1,831  
HHSC indicates that the current unduplicated count on the
interest lists is 158,375.
 ID Terminology
HB 446, Craddick – 
Respectful Language for Intellectual
Disability
 Special Education
HB 166, González –  Appointment of Educational
Representative

HB 773, Allen – Early Pickups

HB 195, González - IEP Emergency Plans

HB 272, J. Johnson – IEP Team Terminology

SB 2304, LaMantia – Drivers with Disabilities 

 School Safety
HB 3, Burrows et al – Omnibus School
Safety
• TEA disability safety guidance for inclusive Multihazard Emergency
Operation Plans
• Authorizes ESCs to provide Positive Behavior Interventions and
Supports (PBIS)
• School Safety Allotment funds allowance for cameras in special
education classrooms
• Texas Elimination of Architectural Barriers Act adherence 

• Armed personnel on every school campus mandate

 Discipline & Restraint
SB 133, West – No Kids in Cuffs

HB 516, Wu – Discipline Reporting

HB 2126, Goodwin – Discipline Reporting

HB 4449, Reynolds – School Discipline Taskforce

 Private School Vouchers
SB 8, Creighton SB 2483, Paxton
SB 176, Middleton HB 4340, Frank
SB 2354, Bettencourt HB 4807, Harrison

Proposals with Special Education Funding Commission

recommendations:
HB 3781, Jetton 
SB 1474, Bettencourt

School funding bill amended to include voucher program: 

HB 100, King
 Higher Education
SB 55, Zaffirini – 
THECB Study on Assisting 
Students with Autism
HB 1604, González – 
THECB Report on Enrollment and Success of
Students with Disabilities

HB 5146, Raney – Building Better Futures

Program
 Commitment Orders

SB 944, Kolkhorst

Not New--Parents can petition court to commit child to long term placement in
residential care.

NEW—Expert assessment by interdisciplinary team and consideration of LIDDA

recommendation not needed. Opinion of court, "beyond a reasonable doubt," suffices.
There is no independent determination of Least Restrictive Environment.

Stay tuned: Some advocates suggest this may be in violation of US Constitution (refer
to Olmstead).
 Emergency Detention (ED)
HB 1464, Campos – Changes length of ED, temporary commitment, and extended
commitment; changes deterioration clause

HB 1927, Hull – Parental right to intervene on behalf of child to avert ED

HB 2506, Jetton – Excludes emergency rooms from receiving people for emergency
detention and enables consecutive emergency detentions

HB 2507, Jetton – Allows peace office to detain  individual voluntarily admitted to

facility

SB 1433, Hinojosa – Emergency detention of voluntary patient

SB 1624, Zaffirini – Amendment added to guardianship bill to allow facility to conduct

evaluation for emergency detention unless already involuntarily committed.
 Community Attendant Rates
The rate for community attendants currently stands at $8.11
per hour.

HB 1 increases that to $10.60 per hour, with some additional

funding provided for performance enhancements.

Filed bills to raise the wage that did not pass:

HB 245, González/SB 1696, Blanco: $15 or federal minimum

wage, whichever is higher
HB 1430, Meza: $17 or federal minimum wage, whichever is
higher ($15 in first year, then stepped up)
 Strategic Approach for 
IDD Services
HB 729, Rose – Statewide IDD Coordinating Council
This bill would establish a statewide IDD coordinating council with the purpose of ensuring a
strategic statewide approach for IDD services.

The duties of the council would include:

⮚ Developing and monitoring the implementation of a five-year statewide IDD strategic plan
⮚ Developing a biennial coordinated statewide IDD expenditure proposal
⮚ Annually publishing an updated inventory of state-funded IDD programs and services
⮚ Potentially facilitating opportunities to increase collaboration for the effective expenditure
of available federal and state funds for IDD services in Texas
 Diapers, Etc.

SB 379, Huffman – Sales Tax

Exemption for Family Care Items
 Early Childhood

HB 1 includes a $58 million increase in

funding for Early Childhood Intervention
(ECI) Services

HB 211, González – Inclusive Child Care

 Employment

HB 1113, Meza – 
Entrepreneurship of People with
Disabilities 

SB 464, Parker – 
October 17 as Entrepreneurs with
Disabilities Day
(Blake Pyron Act) 
 Voting
HB 3159, Leach – Accessible Absentee
Ballots

SB 477, Zaffirini –       

Accommodating Voters
with Disabilities
 House Committee on Judiciary & Civil
Jurisprudence Interim Charge
Evaluate the use and types of guardianships in Texas and the effect
of guardianship on individual rights. Study the financial costs to
families related to attaining and maintaining guardianship and compare
costs to those associated with guardianship alternatives, such as
supported decision-making.
 Guardianship
SB 1606, Zaffirini – Guardianship Evidence/Provider
Qualifications

SB 1624, Zaffirini – Guardianships and services

HB 653, Allison – 
Caregiver Parents as
Independent Guardians 
 Health Care
HB 109, Johnson – Health Benefit
Coverage for Hearing Aids

HB 667, A. Johnson –
Licensing/Regulation of Music
Therapists 

HB 1805, Klick – Texas Compassionate Use

Program (TCUP) Expansion 
 Long-Term Care
HB 54, Thompson – Personal Needs
Allowance from $60 to $75

HB 1009, Turner – Caregiver Background

Checks/Suspensions for Residential Group
Homes
 Accessible Parking

SB 904, Springer – 
Offense of Unauthorized Parking
in an Accessible Spot
 Disaster Preparedness

HB 795, E. Thompson – Emergency Generators in

Assisted Living Facilities
 Criminal Justice
HB 381, Thompson –
Death Penalty Ban for
People with ID

HB 727, Rose – Death Penalty Ban for

People with Severe Mental Illness
 Next Steps
Okay, now what?

46
Considerations Post-Session

• Governor’s Veto Deadline Sunday, June 18

• Special Session(s)
• Interim Charges
• Continuing Education of Lawmakers and Staff
• November 2024 Elections
• Next Regular Session Convenes January 14, 2025!
• Apply to be a TCDD Council Member!!!
 Questions?
What’d We Miss?

48
 Contact Information

Scott M. Daigle
Public Policy Director
Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities
6201 E. Oltorf, Ste. 600
Austin, TX 78741
M: 512-962-8770
scott.daigle@tcdd.texas.gov
www.tcdd.texas.gov