State House Committee Approves Health Care Bills
AUSTIN (AP) - A Texas House committee has approved legislation opposing elements of the sweeping federal health care law signed by President Barack Obama last year.
One of the bills, approved Tuesday, says Texans do not have to buy health insurance, as the law would require for many Americans beginning in 2014. The health care law already has been challenged in federal court by Texas and other states.
The House Select Committee on State Sovereignty also approved a non-binding resolution expressing opposition to the health care legislation passed by Congress.
The law "infringes on the liberty of individuals by mandating that all citizens and legal residents of the United States obtain qualifying health care coverage or pay a tax penalty," says the resolution, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Nacogdoches.
A third bill would require state agencies to compile reports on any activities associated with implementing the federal health care law. All three bills were approved unanimously in the committee and now head to the full House.
Democrats have said the committee is debating anti-Washington bills only to gain favor with tea-party conservatives and not to solve the state's health care woes.
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