Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR54 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	H.C.R. No. 54
	1	+	By: Meza (Senate Sponsor - Johnson) H.C.R. No. 54
	2	+	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 17, 2021;
	3	+	May 17, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Health &
	4	+	Human Services; May 21, 2021, reported favorably by the following
	5	+	vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.)
	6	+	Click here to see the committee vote
2	7
3	8
4	9		HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
5	10		WHEREAS, In 2015, the federal Department of Justice (DOJ)
6	11		began an investigation of the Health and Human Services Commission
7	12		(HHSC) quality control (QC) of the Supplemental Nutrition
8	13		Assistance Program (SNAP) from 2007 to the present, requesting
9	14		documents from HHSC in April 2017 and deposing HHSC staff in March
10	15		2019; and
11	16		WHEREAS, DOJ's investigation focused on whether HHSC
12	17		properly and accurately calculated, determined, and reported
13	18		Texas' error rates in compliance with FNS requirements regarding
14	19		SNAP QC; specifically, DOJ focused on HHSC's relationship with
15	20		Julie Osnes Consulting (Osnes), a contractor who assisted HHSC in
16	21		determining SNAP error rates and quality control review of SNAP
17	22		cases from September 2009 to June 2015; and
18	23		WHEREAS, DOJ was concerned that, by following certain
19	24		recommendations by Osnes, HHSC failed to maintain the integrity of
20	25		the QC system by introducing bias into its processes; and
21	26		WHEREAS, Osnes reached a settlement with DOJ in June 2019 of
22	27		$751,571, and to date three other states have settled DOJ's claims
23	28		related to their implementation of Osnes's recommendations:
24	29		(a) April 2017--Virginia settled for $7,150,436;
25	30		(b) April 2017--Wisconsin settled for $6,991,905;
26	31		(c) September 2017--Alaska settled for $2,489,999; and
27	32		WHEREAS, DOJ claimed that HHSC's SNAP management violated the
28	33		Federal False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. 3729, et seq.) and the Program
29	34		Fraud Civil Remedies Act (31 U.S.C. 3801, et seq.), in addition to
30	35		asserting various claims under common law; and
31	36		WHEREAS, The Covered Conduct alleged by DOJ included:
32	37		(a) Changing QC findings or dropping cases from review to
33	38		reduce or eliminate errors;
34	39		(b) Adding to or removing information from case files as
35	40		necessary to support the new findings and submitting the revised
36	41		findings and information to the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service;
37	42		(c) Finding ways to induce client responses to justify
38	43		dropping error cases from the review and asking leading questions
39	44		of clients to obtain desired answers to eliminate error potential;
40	45		(d) Selectively applying requirements and policies to
41	46		overturn and reduce errors;
42	47		(e) Retaliating against SNAP employees who questioned using
43	48		Osnes's methods by removing the employees from the QC review team;
44	49		and
45	50		WHEREAS, DOJ sought recovery of two years of accuracy
46	51		performance bonuses paid to HHSC, as well as certain other costs
47	52		associated with the QC process and the relationship with Osnes; and
48	53		WHEREAS, DOJ engaged HHSC in settlement negotiations, with
49	54		the Office of the Attorney General representing HHSC in both the
50	55		investigation and settlement discussions; and
51	56		WHEREAS, In December 2019, the parties reached agreement on
52	57		the following terms:
53	58		(a) A total settlement amount of $15,294,360:
54	59		(1) Of that amount, DOJ characterizes $13,396,343 as
55	60		restitution for the performance bonuses paid to the State;
56	61		(2) The remaining $1,898,017 represents repayment of
57	62		the federally funded portion of HHSC's QC costs and the amounts paid
58	63		to Osnes, plus a "multiplier" required by DOJ;
59	64		(b) Waiver by HHSC of any claim to the 2014 performance
60	65		bonus that was awarded but never paid to the State;
61	66		(c) No admission of liability by HHSC; and
62	67		WHEREAS, Section 111.003(b) of the Texas Civil Practice and
63	68		Remedies Code prohibits HHSC from entering a settlement agreement
64	69		that requires the payment of damages of more than $10,000,000
65	70		within a fiscal biennium; therefore, the settlement agreement is
66	71		expressly conditioned upon the legislature approving and
67	72		appropriating the agreed upon settlement amount; and
68	73		WHEREAS, Since the findings resulting in the settlement, the
69	74		U.S. Department of Agriculture has reviewed HHSC's Quality Control
70	75		SNAP section processes twice and did not identify any adverse
71	76		finding; now, therefore, be it
72	77		RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
73	78		hereby approve the proposed Settlement Agreement.
74		-	Meza
75		-	______________________________ ______________________________
76		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
77		-	I certify that H.C.R. No. 54 was adopted by the House on May
78		-	14, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 110, Nays 16, 1 present, not
79		-	voting.
80		-	______________________________
81		-	Chief Clerk of the House
82		-	I certify that H.C.R. No. 54 was adopted by the Senate on May
83		-	27, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1.
84		-	______________________________
85		-	Secretary of the Senate
86		-	APPROVED: __________________
87		-	Date
88		-	__________________
89		-	Governor
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