By: Price H.R. No. 3650

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, Staff members of the Sunset Advisory Commission and the Texas Legislative Council and legislative staff members in the offices of the commission's chair and vice-chair and the chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the chair of the House Human Services Committee provided vital assistance to the 84th Texas Legislature in its consideration of House Bill 550 and Senate Bill 219, known as the Health and Human Services "clarification" bill; and

WHEREAS, Since the 1990's and moreover since the passage of House Bill 2292 in 2003, codes relating to health and human services have been riddled with outdated, inaccurate, and often conflicting language; they contain references to agencies that no longer exist and to practices that are no longer in place; in order to avoid creating further confusion in the law with new bills, including sunset bills for the Health and Human Services Commission and its four departments, the Sunset Advisory Commission voted unanimously to direct an update of the codes; and

WHEREAS, Under the leadership of Sunset Advisory Commission director Ken Levine, sunset staff worked for months in partnership with the Texas Legislative Council and the agencies affected by the codes to carry out this challenging project; the massive undertaking, involving almost every Texas Legislative Council drafting attorney, included a review of multiple codes, and the clarification bill, as filed, contained revisions to 9 codes and 262 chapters of law; throughout the endeavor, the individuals involved in this initiative strove to ensure that the laws would reflect current practices and accurately portray the current structure of the agencies; the partnership effort between sunset staff, legislative council staff, and agency staff was over 20,000 combined hours of staff time; and

WHEREAS, after the drafting of the legislation and upon filing of the House Bill 550 and Senate Bill 219, sunset staff, legislative council staff, and agency staff worked with the legislative staff members in the offices of the commission's chair and vice-chair and the chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the chair of the House Human Services Committee in providing vital assistance to the 84th Texas Legislature in its consideration of House Bill 550 and Senate Bill 219; and

WHEREAS, Team members who worked collaboratively after the filing of the clarification bill include Steven Ogle, Kay Hricik, and Jennifer Jones of the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission, Deborah Fulton, Mark Kuster, Danaé Bush, Kristi Ayala, Mark Wimmer, Carolyn Hall, and Jeff Thorne of the Texas Legislative Council Legal Division, and Kate Bulla and Carey Eskridge of the Texas Legislative Council Research Division, as well as chief of staff and general counsel Hal Talton in the office of Representative Four Price, chief of staff Dave Nelson and policy analyst Anne Allensworth in the office of Senator Jane Nelson, and chief of staff Thomas Holloway and committee director Jordan Dixon in the office of Senator Charles Schwertner, and committee director Jim Terrell in the office of Representative Richard Peña Raymond; and

WHEREAS, Each member of the team demonstrated a commitment to excellence in connection with House Bill 550 and Senate Bill 219, and their extraordinary thoroughness, expertise, and willingness to be available at all hours were invaluable during the legislature's deliberations; in assisting on this monumental project, these dedicated public servants have contributed immeasurably to the efficiency of state government and the ability of all concerned public to understand the law, and they indeed merit special recognition; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas Legislature hereby commend all those who contributed to the work on the clarification bill for their outstanding work and extend to them sincere best wishes for the future; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for the staff members as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives.