(James Pinkerton, Houston Chronicle)
The state’s multimillion-dollar crime victims fund may not have enough money to pay for services to victims next year, in part because funds collected by Texas criminal courts from criminals are dropping, according to the Texas attorney general and other state officials.
The fund, created by the Texas Legislature in 1979, has been raided by lawmakers who have used the monies to finance the budgets of state agencies, as well as nonprofits that provide services to crime victims, two Houston lawmakers said.
“What we’ve done is leaned more and more on these crime victim funds to fund other worthwhile programs,” said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chair of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice. “What we need is truth in raising the funds and spending it for what we raised it for. And that ought to be throughout state government.”
The committee will hold a hearing in Austin on Wednesday to determine how to make sure crime victims are not shortchanged. (Read the full story at The Houston Chronicle)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Revolutionary Surgery in the Womb at Texas Children’s Hospital (KRIV 26 News)
- Medical Turnaround: Baylor College of Medicine Finds a Use For Its Glimmering, Empty Hospital (Houston Culture Map)
- HISD Trustee Questions Pizza, Ice Cream on School Menus (Houston Chronicle)
- No ESCAPE For Joan Schnitzer-Levy: Philanthropist heads up Celebrity Serve for 31 years (Houston Culture Map)
- Public Citizen Targets Hospitals Offering Infant Formula to New Moms (KHOU 11 News)
- Teen Unemployment Could Put Disadvantage On Future Job (KUHF Public Radio)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
Alternatives on Health Care Funding
- Panel Proposes A New Tax To Pay For Public Health
(KUHF Public Radio)
“It may sound counterintuitive, but a panel of experts from the Institute of Medicine has concluded that the best way to slow the nation’s breakneck spending on medical care is to impose a tax on every health care transaction.” - What the U.S. Can Learn From Australian Health Care
(Elena M. Marks, Baker Institute/Houston Chronicle)
“Since the early 1970′s, Australia has had a taxpayer-funded national health insurance program called Medicare. In many ways, it is like U.S. Medicare, but for people of all ages….And when you look at their lower health costs and better outcomes, you have to wonder whether they’re onto something.”