#TXLEGE: No Thank You to Joe Straus' COVID-related "Behavioral Health" initiative

"The king establishes the land by justice,
But he who receives bribes overthrows it.
Proverbs 29:4

From the Department of not letting a crisis go to waste:

This moment, in other words, is not just a physical health pandemic, but also a behavioral health emergency. Our willingness to confront and address our worsening behavioral health challenges will go a long way toward determining how quickly and successfully Texas recovers from the damage unleashed by COVID-19 — and how well we can meet our state’s ongoing mental health challenges further exposed by the pandemic.

And on an even larger scale, we know that healthy Texans mean a healthy workforce. Illnesses like anxiety and depression can sap the enthusiasm and innovative spirit of our state’s entrepreneurs, business leaders and workers, long before they reach their potential, or in some cases even get started. That spirit is at the very heart of our state’s ability to recover economically.

Over the last two legislative sessions, Texas has made significant progress in treating mental health issues. Our state has wisely invested in local treatment programs, greater access to services, needed facility repairs and significant updates to the ways we identify and respond to mental health and other safety issues in our public schools. Just recently, the state launched the Child Psychiatry Access Network to help pediatricians throughout the state better treat mental health issues. Legislators from both parties in the Texas House and Senate have done commendable work on these issues — identifying problems, listening to experts and making strategic short- and long-term investments.

Yeah, um, no.

To be honest, others know more about this topic than we do. We're not necessarily sure what this portends. But nothing good comes from the Texas legislature pushing schemes allegedly for the protection of mental health.

That Joe Straus is personally pushing this initiative makes it that much more suspect.

You can learn more about the recent history of this topic here.

Bottom Line: Given what's happened in the not very distant past, to see this subject raised in this manner by this individual is highly suspicious.