UMW leaders back increased CHIP funding


By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
United Methodist Women of Texas began pushing last month for full funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program during the state legislative session.
About 200 churchwomen from across the state gathered in Austin Jan. 28-30 for the 19th annual UMW Legislative Event. They heard presentations about issues facing Texas and visited legislative offices to register their views.
UMW leaders announced during a Jan. 29 news conference at the state Capitol that full CHIP funding topped their legislative agenda for 2007. Lawmakers supporting more money for CHIP joined in the meeting with reporters.
A budget shortfall in 2003 led to massive cuts to the program.
The Rev. Mimi Raper of First UMC, Austin, said the Texas economy has improved since 2003.
“State tax revenues are up, and there is a surplus for the legislature to work with,” she said. “We must invest in our future by getting CHIP back on track to build a healthy future for Texas. That future starts today with our children.”
UM Women leaders forwarded to state officials more than 30,000 postcards collected from Texans joining the women’s effort in calling for CHIP restoration. Postcards were collected by the UM Women and other religious groups, such as the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Mary Beth Gibson of Livingston, chair of the UMW Legislative Event, said restoring the CHIP program would help protect all children.
“There is a great deal of talk in Austin about protecting Texas children during this legislative session,” she said. “We believe the best way to protect our children is to insure their health and safety by getting CHIP back on track.”
Less than an hour after the news conference, the churchwomen spread out through the Capitol to visit their legislators to demonstrate that a large constituency had concerns about the CHIP cuts made four years ago.
Earlier in the day, an aide to Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, told UMW members about a bill the representative had introduced to restore cuts made to CHIP.
During the legislative event, women learned from former Republican Rep. Carter Casteel of New Braunfels how to be effective in communicating issues to legislators. She encouraged UMW members to be persistent and firm.
Every lawmaker’s office, Casteel said, should keep a running tab of who is calling and what they’re calling about.
“You just have to remember that these state officials are just like you,” Casteel told the woman. “They have to tie their shoes just like you do. You’re a powerful group of women.”
Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, and Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, discussed toll roads—a hot topic among the churchwomen.
Krusee explained that the Texas Department of Transportation gets income from the gas tax, but the gas tax is the only tax in the economy that is not tied to growth or inflation. That means as gas prices increase, the percentage of money that comes to the department is decreasing because the gas tax remains a fixed number.
“Every year, whatever inflation was, that was the cut we took,” Krusee said.
As a result, he said, the department has had trouble maintaining roadways and building new, needed highways.
Maintaining old roads costs more than building new ones, Krusee said. Because of that, new roads are being built all the time, while the old roads are becoming 30, 40 or 50 years old.
Toll roads, however, opened a door to build projects faster. The bypass around Austin, a $3 billion project, began in October 2003 and was finished in October 2006. It was the biggest, fastest project in Texas history, Krusee said.
“This is an extraordinarily complex situation,” Strama said. “The infrastructure needs of the state are great. We are not able to meet those needs without toll roads.”
State law says that tolls cannot be added to existing roadways without a citizen vote. Legislators have specified that tolls will be used only for new roads and those roads that wouldn’t have been built without the toll.
“People are paying for the stretch of road they’re driving on,” Strama said. “They have a sense that they’re getting something positive for their dollar.”
Strama said he pushing a bill that will adopt stricter standards for vehicle emissions. Seventy-five percent of Texans live in areas where the air fails to meet minimum health-based standards or areas that are almost in non-attainment.
Another issue on the UMW agenda is stopping the “fast-track” permitting process for construction of 19 coal-fired electric-generating plants in Texas. Leaders said the plants would contribute significantly to air pollution.
Gov. Rick Perry in 2005 made it more difficult for citizens to intervene in the process by issuing an executive order directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to rush the proposed plants through the state permitting process.