Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Letter to Mary

Hi Mary,

Thank you for your letter asking what we are going to do to solve the long-standing and heart-breaking challenges in the Texas State Schools for the mentally challenged.  As you know, Texas has 13 of these schools.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division went to the Lubbock State School to investigate reports of wrongly drugged and restrained residents. They released their report in 2006, citing that seventeen residents at the school had died since June 2005.

In addition, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) recently released documents from nine more state schools, showing that about one in every 17 residents each year is abused or neglected.

Issues at these schools are deep, long-standing and chronic.

So, let’s talk about solutions.

First, the law, and good policy require that we seek solutions that provide the ‘least restrictive’ environment. I think that is good policy. Most lawmakers who work on mental health and mental retardation (MHMR) issues believe that our state should head to more community based independent living options.

During the last session, we worked to create and fund 250 new community slots around the state.

Second, good solutions require good faith leadership. I think Addie Horn the agency director is a good leader. She heads DADS and ‘grew up’ in the MHMR system. I support her ideas. With her guidance (and many, many hours in committee and negotiating with state leaders) we worked with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Senator Judith Zaffirini and others to fund a $49.9m increase in state dollars to MHMR.

As you may know, Texas has long ranked near the bottom in per capita MHMR funding because state leaders did not care enough to advocate for the resources needed to do the job. With a $14b budget surplus, we believed very strongly that our state should work to solve these issues this session.

When the DOJ report hit my desk, we mobilized allies in the Senate and House to take up the challenges presented in the DOJ report and deal with the issue now. We should not continue to pass MHMR needs and solutions to the next session, as is so often the case. I have to commend David Dewhurst for his leadership—he rolled up his sleeves and joined me and other Senators to craft a budget and program improvements that will really make a difference.

I also must commend Senator Judith Zaffirini, who as Vice Chair of Senate Finance, has long championed increased health and human service funding. She was especially helpful in increasing slots for community based options.

Most of the $49.9 m in new money will go into 1700 new, highly trained employees, better training and specific health professionals on key MHMR campuses. We believe that this investment will address the issues raised in the DOJ suit. In my view, we should have done it long before the DOJ said ‘you have to do it.’

As I survey MHMR models around the US, those states with best practice programs in MHMR are states with leaders that care. Pennsylvania has a model where money follows the consumer with several community based options across the continuum of mental health care.

As many have commented, our society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable.

As long as I serve you in the Texas Senate, I will fight to make sure that we address the issues near and dear to our vulnerable populations. I represent a community that cares---and they have every right to expect a state government that cares.

Keep the faith!

Eliot Shapleigh