Legislative

89th Legislative Priorities

  1. Protect Licensure Standard and Doctoral Standard

  2. Expand Prescribing and Deprescribing Authority

    Seven states, including New Mexico and Louisiana, currently allow psychologists who seek advanced training to prescribe psychotropic medications. Out of 254 counties in Texas, 251 of them are mental health prescriber shortage areas and two thirds of the counties in Texas do not have a psychiatrist at all. Without specialized training in mental health and psychotropic medications, primary care physicians are reluctant to treat mental health conditions, yet feel burdened to provide needed care. Patients across the state are often required to wait months to see a practitioner that can expertly evaluate whether they need medication or not, and, as appropriate, prescribe the medications they need to treat common mental health concerns. Notably, psychologists that prescribe can provide psychosocial, behavioral and cognitive interventions in place of, or in addition to, medication and deprescribe medications for patients that have been subject to polypharmacy. Allowing psychologists who have completed an additional master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology to prescribe would increase access to care while lowering wait times and costs for the patient. This bill allows a free market solution, at no cost to the state, especially to those who need it most. It provides greater choices and cuts expenses for all. The legislature should approve this public health and access measure this legislative session.

    The bill was filed in the House by Representative Mary González and the Senate by Senator Jose Menedez. The bills have been referred to committees: HB 5537 has gone to Public Health in the House and SB 2999 to Health and Human Services in the Senate.

  3. Ensure Reasonable Protection for Practitioners and Patients Regarding Artificial Intelligence with a Regulatory Approach

    There will be dozens of bills filed this session around generative AI and concerns about discrimination, occupational issues, etc. We will be monitoring and assuring that any AI framework encompasses psychology standards.

  4. Eliminate Fees for Payments from MCOs (and Other Third-party Payors)

    Access to mental health care is a growing concern, and receipt of sustainable and reliable 3rd party payments is a growing barrier to increasing the mental health workforce. While there are many impediments to mental health providers electing to accept insurance, one emergent and concerning issue is managed care organizations (MCOs) using third-party payment processors who deduct a fee to facilitate provider payments. By some of these agencies, a fee has been communicated as mandatory to receive payments; other agencies engage strong persuasion to receive “quicker” payments via EFT; and others provide "virtual-card" payments which incur a credit card processing fee to collect. Further, there is lack of clarity and transparency regarding the options for avoiding this “double discount,” which reflects the initial discount providers agree to with MCOs upon contracting, then a second involuntary “discount” to receive earnings due from the third-party payment processors. There are legal statutes prohibiting mental health providers from passing on credit card processing fees and other fees of doing business to the client, yet MCOs and third-party payors are doing this to the mental health providers. This is one of many barriers that renders accepting insurance an unsustainable practice, thus contributing to the access-to-care crisis across the state. This bill would eliminate transaction fees passed on to providers, allowing providers to receive the full payments they are contracted to receive from MCOs (and other payors), and increase transparency and ease of opting out of payment options that require a fee. The bill would require clarity of choice for a provider receiving the full amount due per their contracts with MCOs. 

    The bill was filed in the House by Representative Terry Canales and has been referred to the Insurance Committee for a hearing.

  5. Increase Mental Health Loan Repayment Program Funding

    The Mental Health Loan Repayment Program was created in the 84th Legislative Session to help address the mental health provider shortage. To be eligible for the program, a mental health provider must agree to provide five consecutive years of service in a mental health provider shortage area and provide services to Medicaid/CHIP enrollees. The Texas legislature has historically allocated 2.7 million dollars to the program per biennium, yet even with federal matching dollars, the program has consistently run out of funds. Last session this amount was increased to 28 million dollars. If the legislature maintains or increases that amount, the program will be able to accept new applicants, ensuring more access to care for persons in shortage areas. 

  6. Promote and Protect Evidence-Based Care for all Texans, Including Populations That are Historically Marginalized, Minoritized, and/or Underserved 

View Past TPA Legislative Priorities 

 

2025 LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

Chair: William July, President
Melody Moore
Carol Grothues
Sara J Chaparro Rucobo
Susan Chanderbhan-Forde
Cody R. Sze
Renee Frederick
Elle Lockart 
David Hill
Kari Leavell
Joycelyn Williams Thomas
Megan Mooney
Denise Wooten
Charlotte Parrott
Cheryl Hall
Shawn Hirsch
Lynette Pujol
John Godfrey
Madeleine (Maddy) Desrochers
Staff Liasons: Mary Beth Kiser, Aaron Gregg, and Ikenna Okoro