session, it looked as though state gener- al revenue funds for tobacco prevention could be reduced from the Texas Depart- ment of State Health Services (DSHS) requested amount of $20.9 million to $0, with only $3.9 million in federal funds for the department to work with. By the time it finished its work, though, the legislature appropriated $15.7 million in tobacco prevention funds for 2012–13, compared with $27.8 million DSHS re- ceived for 2010–11.
Public health victories Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, says the budget was the biggest challenge for public health. TMA supported the Senate ver- sion of the budget, which contained less severe cuts to public health than the House version. “Fortunately, we were able to ensure that public health functions remained
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intact and to facilitate more efficient use of existing resources through legislation such as Senate Bill 969, which will allow local health departments to have more input into how scarce public health dol- lars are allocated in communities,” the senator said.
SB 969 establishes the Public Health
Funding and Policy Committee within DSHS. The group will consist of regional health directors, local health depart- ments, public health authorities, and in- dividuals from schools of public health at Texas universities. The legislation al- lows local health officials and others to be involved in setting policy priorities and gives them a way to communicate their concerns and suggestions to DSHS. Another public health legislative vic-
tory Senator Nelson touts is passage of Senate Bill 229. The bill “will ensure that we are
screening all newborns for hearing ab- normalities and hearing loss, which is by
far the most prevalent congenital condi- tion among Texas newborns. My hope is that ensuring that all of our babies are screened will help us catch these hear- ing problems early so families can seek whatever therapies or treatments are necessary for their children,” Senator Nelson said.
The legislation eliminates an exemp-
tion from performing the screenings at hospitals in counties with fewer than 50,000 residents and birthing centers in counties with fewer than 50,000 resi- dents and fewer than 100 births annual- ly. It also requires midwives to refer par- ents of newborns for hearing screening. The bill doesn’t lift the newborn hear-
ing screening exemption for military hospitals, home births, and facilities op- erated by a midwife. In the fight to reduce the burden of obesity in Texas, Senator Nelson’s Sen- ate Bill 226 made its way to the gover- nor. The legislation allows TEA to collect de-identified, individual FITNESSGRAM data submitted from schools, rather than having to aggregate the data. “While still protecting the privacy of our students, this will allow the TEA to correlate this data with attendance and academic data. There are proven connec- tions between children’s health and their academic performance, and allowing for coordination of individual student-level data will give us a clearer picture of this connection,” she said.
In fact, a 2009 TEA study indicates students who are more physically fit are more likely to perform well on tests and have fewer disciplinary problems at school.
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Senate Bill 8 passed during the spe- cial session. The bill limits a school dis- trict’s required annual FITNESSGRAM assessment of students in grade 3 or higher to only those students enrolled in a physical education (PE) course. Jason Terk, MD, a Keller pediatrician and chair of the TMA Council on Science and Public Health, describes expecta- tions for significant advances in public health this session as “muted” due to the budget outlook for many state health agencies. He says there were some bright spots for public health advocates this session.
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