Texas House Representative Caroline Harris recalled her experience during her first legislative session to the Taylor Chamber of Commerce.
Harris spoke during the Chamber’s monthly business luncheon Monday, Aug. 21 at the Taylor Mansion.
Harris, who said she was voted as “Freshman of the Year” by her colleagues, passed 12 bills during the legislative session. Harris said the highlight of those bills is SB 490, which relates to health care.
The bill, which Harris originally worked on previously when she was a staff member in the Senate, requires hospitals to clearly itemize the medical bill before charging the patient.
By the time the legislative session ended, Texas was the only state that had a law requiring hospitals to provide the itemized bill before the patient pays. Some other states have similar laws for hospital charges, but only have to provide them on request.
The charges should have a medical code with plain language description of what the procedure or medicine was. It goes into effect Sept. 1.
“That sounds very common sense and they do that everywhere, but they don’t,” Harris said. “Now, we were able to get that passed. Over 100 members of the House actually signed on for the bill and helped get it passed.”
The House representative also highlighted a bill she got passed that allows Hutto to have its own standalone technical college campus.
Texas State Technical College in Hutto is currently considered to be an extension of TSTC’s Waco location, Harris said. She said not having its own campus limited the trade school.
“We all know they have been so helpful in providing workforce opportunities to our high schoolers and anyone that’s looking for a good paying job in the area,” Harris said. “That was another highlight of what we accomplished in our office, especially for this area.”
The Hutto location can now expand if it wishes after the bill was passed.
Harris gave each participant handouts including descriptions of the 2023 Texas constitutional amendments, a Texas Association of Business Legislative review and a handout of Senate Bill 28 by the Texas Water Development Board.
Additionally, she held a question and answer session, where she answered questions about education, the legislative process and income tax.
