Texas Citizen Fund — Biennial Report: Barriers to Inclusion

Statewide Need
Texas has 12 separate agencies that together provide health and human services (HHS) to the state. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) was delegated responsibility to provide oversight and coordination of these agencies. The 76th Texas Legislature completed a “Sunset Review” of each HHS agency and enacted bills to achieve better coordination and integration of their services. Senate Bill (SB) 374, required the development of a Biennial Disability Report to be presented to the Governor and State Legislature prior to each regular legislative session. SB 374 also required agencies to conduct activities necessary to report to the Governor and Legislature about the status of services and supports provided to Texans with developmental disabilities (DD). Support should be provided for the development of the first two biennial reports on the state of services to persons with DD in Texas. This reporting mechanism is a significant opportunity to look more closely at issues identified in the Sunset Review process and in SB 374 concerning barriers to services and fragmentation across agencies, progress being made, and recommendations to improve the HHS system in Texas.

Project Goal
Identify the main obstacles that youth, adults with DD and their families confront as they seek to participate fully and productively in their communities.

Project Summary
This project proposed to conduct research activities to compile, analyze, and summarize current fiscal and policy trends and demographic characteristics concerning people with DD in Texas. The project was to develop comprehensive written summaries of research findings concerning demographic trends, policy and fiscal characteristics of programs and services, and projected funding needs.

The project also aimed to coordinate public input about the primary areas of concern of people with DD about services and supports. This included input concerning consumer friendly services, service delivery systems individualized to each consumer based on functional needs, and local cross-disability access structures. The data from this project was to be used by the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities to develop Biennial Disability Reports.