File This One Under "These People Are Seriously Out-of-Touch"

While in a meeting early this morning, I learned about one of the many bills floating through the Texas House related to state schools and long-term care: HB 4308, filed by Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton.  

This bill seeks to amend the Texas Health and Safety Code so that "a person with an IQ of 40 or lower who does not have a legally authorized representative may not be transferred from a state school to a community residence."

Yes, if passed, this means people with significant intellectual disabilities who don't have guardians would be forbidden from moving out of state schools.

Yes, I copied the above directly from the bill text.

And yes, Ms. Crownover does have a state institution in her district.

In fact,  Ms. Crownover most recently served on the House Select Committee on Services for Individuals Eligible for Intermediate Care Facility Services, an interim committee charged with looking at the state of ICF-MR services (read: state schools and other public and private institutions) in Texas.  Given that the committee was made up of a majority of representatives who, like Ms. Crownover, have state schools in or adjacent to their districts, it is little surprise that closing state schools was not among their recommendations.

However, for having spent nearly a year on a committee who did recommend that ICFs and state school remain operational "only for the most medically fragile and hard-to-serve popoulations", Ms. Crownover's filing of this bill represents an uninformed, tremendous, and shaky leap of logic.

Does an IQ score of less than 40 indicate in and of itself that someone is "medically fragile" and or "hard-to-serve"?  Or that such a person couldn't thrive in the community?  No.  A person's success in community living is tied to the supports that surround them, not a number attached to their perceived intelligence.  

Hence the urgent need for more community supports.  Of course, this ridiculous legislation comes from the office of a woman who, in a separate letter attached to the beginning of the committee recommendations, writes that "HHSC and DADS are biased against State Schools and have engaged in management practices that hinder the ability of state schools to serve the individuals in their care."

HHSC and DADS, biased against state schools?  I wish.  Then maybe they wouldn't waste money on "solutions" that don't keep anyone safe in the long-term.

The good news is, this bill is probably all kinds of illegal, and won't make it  too far (hopefully).