Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) officially released their Legislative Appropriations Request
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) officially released their Legislative Appropriations Request for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027. You can read HHSC’s LAR Presentation to the Legislative Budget Board aquí. Legislative Appropriations Requests (LAR) outline a state agency’s budgetary needs and priorities. An LAR typically includes an agency’s base budget (what has been previously funded and is required for an agency’s basic operations) and exceptional item requests (when an agency wants funding for a new project or program or when an agency wants to increase a line item in their budget). LARs will guide state leaders as they craft a first draft of the budget bill between now and January 2025 and revise the budget during the 89th legislative session. It is HHSC’s responsibility to request funds that will enable them to effectively provide health and human services to adults and children across the state. We are excited to announce that CASA’s state funding is included in HHSC’s base budget for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027!
In addition to its base budget request, HHSC included 24 exceptional items in their LAR for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027. We wanted to highlight six of those exceptional item requests that Texas CASA is looking forward to supporting during the 89th Legislative Session.
Exceptional Item #5: Women’s and Children’s Health Services
This request would help maintain access and improve outcomes for essential client services. Specifically, it would support Early Childhood Intervention caseload growth and expand access to women’s preventative mobile health units.
Exceptional Item #9: Compliance with State Initiatives
This request would allow HHSC to comply with state requirements and bills passed by the 88th Legislature, including: Continuing the implementation of the Interagency Reportable Conduct Search Engine (Senate Bill 1849); Staff, operation, and technology needs to support family support services (Senate Bill 24); and the continued integration of multiple agency applications to report on client services (Senate Bill 26).
Exceptional Item #10: Protecting Vulnerable Adults and Children from Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation
This request would fund staff to comply with regulations and address backlogs of abuse, neglect, and exploitation (ANE) allegations, surveys, and investigations at nursing homes, State Supported Living Centers, acute care facilities, and Home & Community Services homes.
Exceptional Item #12: Children’s Mental Health Strategic Plan
This request would fund behavioral health services and supports to expand programs designed for children and youth, including those with high acuity and complex needs. It also includes support for crisis outreach, empowerment services, treatment centers, and expanded mobile outreach teams and crisis facilities. HHSC’s Children’s Mental Health Strategic Plan is due December 1, 2024, and we expect some additional policy and funding recommendations to be included in that plan. *
*Texas CASA legislative priority item
Exceptional Item #17: Increasing Services for People with Disabilities
This request focuses on providing and expanding services and supports for people with disabilities, including:
o Increasing access to services for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and blind
o Increasing outpatient mental health services for children dually diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability and mental health or substance use disorders
Exceptional Item #18: Family Services Roadmap
This request would fund a coordinated and integrated system of services and supports for Texas families, as established by Senate Bill 24 during the 88th Legislative Session. It would prioritize improving family formation, self-sufficiency, family stability, and serving families experiencing conditions that put them at risk of system involvement or threaten the health or birth of a child.
