[Monday, February 20 | State Capitol] Members of the Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing today on House Bill 5 and 6. House Bill 6 calls for the statewide privatization of CPS case management, and would transfer decision making responsibilities from DFPS to private agencies. Instead of addressing the systemic problems in DFPS, this bill and other privatization proposals would simply pass the problem on to private agencies. House Bill 5 would move DFPS out of HHSC, again.
Transferring more responsibility to private contractors will decrease accountability, creates conflicts of interest, and undermines the ability of DFPS to represent the best interest of children in court. Rebranded as “Community Care,” the proposed privatization of CPS programs and services fails to address systemic problems in our agency, while creating new obstacles to overcome.
Use a personal phone on a break to call members of the House Human Services Committee Listed Below. Tell them:
Hello, my name is __________ and I serve the people of Texas in ________ County. I’m calling to ask Rep. _____________ to oppose House Bill 6 and House Bill 5. The privatization of CPS programs and services is a bad idea, and does nothing to address what we really need to fix our agency. Changing our letter head won’t make a difference either. We’ve tried shortcuts to fix our agency and they don’t work. We need the resources to do our job. Will Rep. _______ work on real solutions and oppose HB 5 and HB 6?
* Chair: (Regions 8, 9, 10 AND 11) Rep. Richard Peña Raymond 512-463-0558
* Vice Chair: (Regions 1, 2 AND 3) Rep. James Frank 512-463-0534
* Members: (Region 5 and 6 – Montgomery, Liberty, Walker Counties) Rep. Mark Keough 512-463-0797
* (Region 3 and 4 – Tarrant County) Rep. Stephanie Klick 512-463-0599
* (Region 6 – Ft. Bend County) Rep. Rick Miller 512-463-0710
* (Region 7) Rep. Ina Minjarez 512-463-0634
* (Region 3 – Dallas County) Rep. Toni Rose 512-463-0664
* (Region 6 – Harris County)Rep. Valoree Swanson 512-463-0572
* (Region 6 – Harris County) Rep. Gene Wu 512-463-0492