#TXLEGE: Lobbyists pushing SB 10?!? (Besides the so-called Texas "Medical" Association)

"You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You."
Isaiah 26:3

Action alert this morning from JoAnn Fleming:

Seven reasons we strongly oppose SB 10:

• SB 10 infringes on the principle of limited government by creating an expensive new $100 million program that is outside the core functions of state government. 
• SB 10 will jumpstart exponential growth of unelected bureaucracies. Taxpayer-funded universities and the dysfunctional Health & Human Services Commission will have direct authority over millions more of our tax dollars.  We all know that once they are funded to start looking for a problem, they are going to find one.  Conflicts of interest from pharmaceutical companies, special interests, and the universities themselves will be unavoidable under this structure. 
• SB 10 duplicates what is already being done under existing authority.  Several Texas medical schools already participate in a mental health consortium that meets quarterly.  A new bureaucracy is not necessary to enable further collaboration and coordination of higher education institutions to improve access to mental health care.
• SB 10 has a high risk of evolving into a “Red Flag” monitoring program with respect to gun ownership.  The 2018 Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Platform Plank #73 opposes red flag monitoring programs that seek to deprive someone of their right to keep and bear arms if their child is identified under mental health programs. 
• SB 10 has the potential to make mental illness a cottage industry within our schools.  The sale or sharing of any information collected in research or counseling for any commercial purpose is an affront to the constitutional liberties of Texas children and families.  SB 10 clearly opens Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences.
• SB 10 further endangers privacy of parents and their children.  It will erode parental authority.  Stigma attached to any child misdiagnosed or even inadvertently revealed can severely damage children and their families.  Information gathered through research or treatment should not be included in a student's permanent file, should not be shared in a database, or released without express informed consent of the patient or guardian of the patient.  Such sensitive information should be delivered to the parent(s) or legal guardians only and destroyed after the student leaves the school or graduates.
• SB 10 is ripe for political agendas and abuse.  Indeed, political abuse of psychiatric diagnosis is an important tool in stifling political dissent within socialist countries.  Is there any doubt – given today’s headlines – that the Democratic Left intends to push the United States into socialism?  Mental health issues are becoming the “go to” tool of choice in today’s political circles and are being used to attack gun ownership and threaten the ability of veterans with a PTSD diagnosis to retain their Second Amendment rights.    

We believe that using existing laws and programs to support children with special education conditions, including mental health conditions, can enhance childhood mental health care without creating an expensive new liberty-stealing government bureaucracy.

JoAnn is completely correct. SB 10 is, at best, a hot, poorly thought thorough, mess. At worst, SB 10 could be...a lot worse.

Stranger still, this issue has been fast tracked when no one is asking for it.

Thus we wonder: Who is pushing this?!?

Let's pull the witness list:

In other words, it's the medical cartel working in cahoots with the social services industrial complex.  Nothing good can come from that combination.  One of the safest rules-of-thumb at the Capitol is that everything the so-called Texas "Medical" Association supports is bad.

Beyond that, we know nothing specific about these individuals, though history suggests they're likely getting rich at taxpayer expense.

[Note: If readers know additional details, feel free to e-mail.  Cahnman@hotmail.com.  Confidentiality assured.]

Bottom Line: At a minimum, this legislation need to be vetted for unintended consequences in a way that has yet to occur....