FEATURED: Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, Chair, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, is featured on the floor of the Texas Senate in 2023. Her committee has been assigned by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to study major topics relating to the following major health-related issues: Children’s Mental Health; Access to Health Care; Health Insurance; Cancer Prevention; COVID Vaccine Mandates; Five-Year Plan for Family Support Services; Nursing Education, Scholarships; Mental and Behavioral Health Programs; Background Checks on Certain State Employees; Medicaid Fraud; and Medicaid Managed Care. The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services will submit a report with its specific findings and policy recommendations to Patrick before December 1, 2024, according toDHR Health.
FEATURED: A new state law, supported by the Rio Grande Valley state legislative delegation, makes it a minimum of a Third Degree Felony for anyone who assaults a healthcare worker – such as physicians, physician assistants, nurses, maintenance or janitorial staff, receptionists, and other individuals – when those personnel are on duty at a nongovernment hospital property, including all land and buildings owned or leased by the hospital. In 2021, there were 517 hospitals in Texas, of which 266 were nongovernment complexes, such as DHR Health, of which a portion of one of its Edinburg campuses is highlighted in this image.
FEATURED: New Texas mothers who are Medicaid recipients would receive better access to primary and preventative care – for up to 12 months instead of the current two months after giving birth – under a measure supported by Valley legislators and DHR Health leaders that was signed into law on Sunday, June 18, 2023 by Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor is shown here on Monday, June 12, 2023 at the Texas Capitol.
FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Rep. Ryan Guillén, R-Rio Grande City, and his wife, Dalinda Guillén; and Gov. Greg Abbott, on Monday, November 15, 2021, in Floresville, where the state representative announced he had switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
FEATURED: Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, one of the coauthors of Senate Bill 8. Senate Bill 8 provided roughly $13.3 billion from money received by the state from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. Both of those funds were established under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Senate Bill 8 went into effect on Monday, November 8, 2021.
