Rep. Ortiz' office informs us that the Rep. is sponsoring a bill to restore funding to CHIP. More info on House Bill 710 is here. Changes proposed are eliminating the waiting period, counting net income (instead of gross income), and making the eligibility time longer than just six months.

Rep. Ortiz says, "Providing health coverage for our children is the most important thing the legislature should do this session." I concur; health coverage and education spending should be priority issues for the Lege. Um, and the environment too. And women's rights. . . and I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Full release after the jump.

update: About 53 Democrat Legislators filed a CHIP bill today, so that's a good sign for this session.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Will Krueger
January 24, 2007

Rep. Ortiz Files House Bill 710 to Restore CHIP Program
Bill would restore health coverage for hundreds of thousands of children across Texas

(Austin)-- State Representative Solomon Ortiz Jr. today filed House Bill 710 to restore health coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for hundreds of thousands of children in Texas. In 2003, the Texas Legislature reduced state funding for CHIP and passed House Bill 2292, which created significant barriers to enrollment. Since the restrictive policies were enacted in 2003, almost two hundred thousand children have lost their health coverage.

"Providing health coverage for our children is the most important thing the legislature should do this session," Rep. Ortiz said. "My constituents sent me here to put our children and our families first. Over 3,400 children in Nueces County have lost CHIP coverage since 2003. My bill will repeal restrictive policies that have needlessly kicked thousands of children in our community off the CHIP program."

According to data collected from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), during the 2006 budget year, the State of Texas left unspent $400 million in state funds dedicated for CHIP and Children's Medicaid. Those dollars could easily cover every child that has lost CHIP coverage since 2003.

"It would take no more than a small fraction of our $14 billion surplus each year to restore CHIP for our children," Rep. Ortiz said. "We have the money -- there's no question about that. The only question is if we have the will to put our money where our mouth is and stand up for Texas children."

Rep. Ortiz joined dozens of other House members from across the state on Wednesday to advocate and raise awareness for the repeal of the restrictive CHIP policies. As of today, at least 61 house members have signaled their intention to fight for the restoration of CHIP.

"People in District 33 and across Texas are demanding common sense policies - like reducing paperwork, deducting child care costs when determining eligibility and not counting families' savings against them. These policies will ensure that more of our kids have health care," Rep. Ortiz said. "We need to restore CHIP now. The health of our children and the future of our state depend on it."

Rep. Ortiz encourages constituents to contact his office on this or any issue of interest at (512) 463-0484, email him at district33_ortiz@house.state.tx.us or visit the State of Texas House website at www.house.state.tx.us.