So it looks like enough people questioning either the need for Senate Bill 163 or the method of passing a bill establishing a task force with a predetermined goal of splitting the agency has led the Senate Majority Leader to pull SB163 in favor of a Senate Concurrent Resolution 65. It passed 18 to 2.
The resolution calls for a team of lawmakers and health policy experts to examine the agency and craft recommendations for how the department can provide services to those vulnerable populations in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
The resolution calls on the committee to issue its final list of recommendations by March 31, 2020.
One possible motivation for this focus by Senator Poore on the DHSS is a potential conflict with Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, who Poore may feel is focusing too much of her time and attention on healthcare delivery and costs and not on special needs services that the Department also provides. The Senator has a personal motivation here since one of her children has special needs. That is a much more noble motivation that what I was imagining.
Still, I hope this task force is allowed to look at the facts and let those facts lead them where they may, rather than having a predetermined list of recommendations drafted for them by the Senator for them to rubber stamp.
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