Moms' Health Bill Passes TX House 87-43, Heads to Senate

Your calls to the Texas Legislature on Friday worked — and now we need to quickly make another push to support health care for new Texas moms. 

On Friday afternoon, the Texas House passed HB 744 on a vote of 87 to 43! As we told you before the vote, the bill would implement the top recommendation from the state's Maternal Mortality Task Force, allowing low-income moms to maintain their Medicaid insurance for 12 months after giving birth. Here's a five-minute video of Reps. Toni Rose and Armando Walle on the House floor laying out the case for the bill.

What's next?

First, please call your state Senator — especially if they are on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee — and urge them to quickly hold a hearing and pass HB 744.

Because the House and Senate delayed this and other health care bills for so long — either because they opposed the legislation or because it just wasn't a priority for them — the bill faces an extremely tight timeline in the final two weeks of the legislative session.

Second, please take a look at how your state Representative voted on Friday and give them a call about it.

We encourage you to say thank you if they voted for the bill and to respectfully express your disappointment if they voted against it.

Kudos to these Representatives for voting for this critical maternal and infant health bill:Reps. Allen; Allison; Anchia; Anderson; Bailes; Bell, K.; Bernal; Blanco; Bohac; Bowers; Bucy; Button; Calanni; Canales; Clardy; Cole; Coleman; Collier; Cortez; Darby; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dutton; Farrar; Fierro; Gervin-Hawkins; Goldman; González, J.; González, M.; Goodwin; Guerra; Guillen; Gutierrez; Hernandez; Herrero; Hinojosa; Huberty; Israel; Johnson, J.D.; Johnson, J.E.; Kacal; Klick; Kuempel; Lambert; Larson; Longoria; Lopez; Lozano; Lucio; Martinez; Meyer; Meza; Miller; Minjarez; Moody; Morales; Morrison; Muñoz; Murphy; Neave; Ortega; Perez; Phelan; Ramos; Raney; Raymond; Reynolds; Rodriguez; Romero; Rose; Rosenthal; Sherman; Stephenson; Stucky; Swanson; Talarico; Thierry; Thompson, S.; Turner, C.; Turner, J.; VanDeaver; Vo; Walle; White; Wu; Zerwas; Zwiener.

We're disappointed these Representatives voted against the bill: Reps. Ashby; Biedermann; Bonnen; Buckley; Burns; Burrows; Cain; Capriglione; Craddick; Cyrier; Dean; Flynn; Frank; Harris; Hefner; Holland; Hunter; King, P.; Krause; Landgraf; Lang; Leman; Metcalf; Middleton; Murr; Noble; Oliverson; Paddie; Parker; Patterson; Paul; Price; Schaefer; Shine; Smith; Springer; Stickland; Thompson, E.; Tinderholt; Toth; Wilson; Wray; Zedler.

The following Representatives missed the vote (which is somewhat common as lawmakers juggle multiple responsibilities late in the session): Reps. Beckley; Dominguez; Frullo; Harless; Howard; Johnson, E.; King, K.; King, T.; Leach; Nevárez; Pacheco; Sanford; Sheffield; Smithee; Bell, C.; Davis, S.; Geren; Martinez Fischer; Shaheen; Speaker Bonnen.

Thank you for keeping up the fight for health care as we head towards the last day of the legislative session on May 27th!