The latest Jane Nelson news from The Texas Tribune.
As the Texas Legislature looks to overhaul the state’s standardized testing program amid outcry from parents and school leaders, state lawmakers have focused their criticism on the company that develops the tests. Full Story
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Texas' latest effort to address childhood obesity — a new law allowing a deeper study of student fitness data — could be blunted by the exemption lawmakers gave school districts from having to collect and report the data on a significant number of students. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, defended their 2011 picks. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, the authors of Texas Monthly's biennial Best and Worst Legislators story, senior executive editor Paul Burka and senior editor Nate Blakeslee, explained why state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, made the Ten Worst list. Full Story
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Texas’ long-shot efforts to take control of Medicare and Medicaid — the health programs for the elderly, the disabled and the state’s poorest children — from the feds are back on the table. Full Story
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The Senate Finance Committee — for the second time — has passed out measures designed to make Medicaid more efficient and effective, and to open the door for medical professions and institutions to collaborate. Full Story
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With health care front and center in Gov. Rick Perry's special session call, lawmakers have already filed several key bills addressing multiple issues, from state efforts to seize control of Medicaid and Medicare to abortion. Full Story
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The 82nd Texas Legislature’s regular session ends as it started, with lawmakers arguing about a shrunken state budget and redistricting. Full Story
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Rep. Lois Kolkhorst is holding Sen. Jane Nelson's health reform bill hostage. Full Story
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Texas’ efforts to take control over Medicaid, the joint state-federal health care program for poor children and the disabled, could be in trouble. Full Story
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House lawmakers have given the first OK to a key piece of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's health reform plan, after efforts to turn the bill into a health care Christmas tree fell short. Full Story
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State lawmakers have fired back against a Federal Trade Commission letter suggesting Senate Bill 8 — a key piece of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's health reform push — violates antitrust laws. The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the House on Tuesday. Full Story
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The Federal Trade Commission is warning that one of the key health care reform bills trumpeted by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, could substantially harm consumers. Full Story
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Facing an estimated 28 percent reduction in funds to care for medically fragile children, in-home nursing companies say they could be forced to shut their doors, or else dramatically slash what they pay nurses. Full Story
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A Senate committee heard testimony this morning from Halliburton and others on a bill that would require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing. The bill has been left pending until the House takes a final vote on its version. Full Story
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Advocates for shuttering Texas’ institutions for the disabled thought they had the numbers on their side: a budget crisis so severe that lawmakers would have to close some state-supported living centers. With less than a month left in the session, their hopes are largely dashed. Full Story
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The Senate unanimously approved Sen. Jane Nelson’s bill to find extensive cost savings in Texas’ Medicaid program, the primary health care provider for children, the disabled and the very poor. Full Story
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to further protect Texans’ private medical information looks stuck; it’s been three weeks since it passed out of committee, and it hasn’t yet been set for a House vote. Full Story
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The Senate Finance Committee passed a budget this week that proposes spending about $12 billion more than the House in the next biennium. At first glance, House Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts says there's no way his chamber can meet the Senate halfway. Full Story
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A bill designed to find cost savings and efficiencies in Texas' costly Medicaid program — and, more controversially, expand managed care into the Rio Grande Valley — is moving to Senate budget writers for consideration. Full Story