Talking Points – Oppose Big Nanny State SB 10

 

Downward pressure on your State Senators from statewide Republican officials has them signing on to bills that are big Nanny State expansions that will cost all of us plenty.

SB 10 is one of those bills.  It is titled, “Relating to the creation of the Texas Mental Health Care Consortium.”

When EVERY Democrat and EVERY Republican Senator signs on to a low number bill like this, you should understand that means a whole lot of “inside ball” horse-trading has happened.  You can bet that it has NOTHING to do with your liberty or saving you money!

“The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.”
A Hand-book of Proverbs, Henry G. Bohn, 1855

Seven reasons we strongly oppose SB 10:

• SB 10 infringes on the principle of limited government by creating an expensive new $100 million program that is outside the core functions of state government. 
• SB 10 will jumpstart exponential growth of unelected bureaucracies. Taxpayer-funded universities and the dysfunctional Health & Human Services Commission will have direct authority over millions more of our tax dollars.  We all know that once they are funded to start looking for a problem, they are going to find one.  Conflicts of interest from pharmaceutical companies, special interests, and the universities themselves will be unavoidable under this structure. 
• SB 10 duplicates what is already being done under existing authority.  Several Texas medical schools already participate in a mental health consortium that meets quarterly.  A new bureaucracy is not necessary to enable further collaboration and coordination of higher education institutions to improve access to mental health care.
• SB 10 has a high risk of evolving into a “Red Flag” monitoring program with respect to gun ownership.  The 2018 Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Platform Plank #73 opposes red flag monitoring programs that seek to deprive someone of their right to keep and bear arms if their child is identified under mental health programs. 
• SB 10 has the potential to make mental illness a cottage industry within our schools.  The sale or sharing of any information collected in research or counseling for any commercial purpose is an affront to the constitutional liberties of Texas children and families.  SB 10 clearly opens Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences.
• SB 10 further endangers privacy of parents and their children.  It will erode parental authority.  Stigma attached to any child misdiagnosed or even inadvertently revealed can severely damage children and their families.  Information gathered through research or treatment should not be included in a student’s permanent file, should not be shared in a database, or released without express informed consent of the patient or guardian of the patient.  Such sensitive information should be delivered to the parent(s) or legal guardians only and destroyed after the student leaves the school or graduates.
• SB 10 is ripe for political agendas and abuse.  Indeed, political abuse of psychiatric diagnosis is an important tool in stifling political dissent within socialist countries.  Is there any doubt – given today’s headlines – that the Democratic Left intends to push the United States into socialism?  Mental health issues are becoming the “go to” tool of choice in today’s political circles and are being used to attack gun ownership and threaten the ability of veterans with a PTSD diagnosis to retain their Second Amendment rights.    

We believe that using existing laws and programs to support children with special education conditions, including mental health conditions, can enhance childhood mental health care without creating an expensive new liberty-stealing government bureaucracy.

SB 10 is NOT right for Texas!
Texans DO NOT WANT big Nanny-state government.

Nanny State Central Planning mental health care bills are sweeping the nation.  If you don’t believe this is a threat, click here to watch this 7.5 minute video.  It will make your blood boil.