That’s our Legislature, y’all.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, thousands of seniors across the Houston region were stuck in buildings without power or air-conditioning, often left to fend for themselves in the sweltering summer heat.
The suffering galvanized Houston-area Democrats to once again fight for what had repeatedly failed: Passing legislation requiring generators or other backup power sources at senior homes, which house hundreds of thousands of Texas’ elderly residents.
The region’s lawmakers and advocates for the elderly began this year’s Texas legislative session with optimism that change might finally be possible. After all, the spirit of reform was in the air as the state’s most powerful leaders vowed to hold electric utilities accountable for lengthy outages. And lawmakers had promised in 2023 to set aside $1.8 billion in this year’s state budget to help critical facilities adopt backup power, so the money would be there, too.
Yet, a year after Beryl, none of the many bills requiring backup power at senior homes passed. The $1.8 billion program was funded, but advocates worry that it won’t be a gamechanger in an industry that has already proven wary of installing permanent backup power, as facilities would have to voluntarily seek out the grants.
Only one bill addressing emergency preparedness at senior homes, backed by the long-term care industry, became law. The new statute doesn’t require existing senior homes to adopt backup power. Instead, it directs just one kind of senior home, assisted living facilities, to ensure residents have access to an “area of refuge” during power outages. How providers keep temperatures safe in the designated space is up to them.
State Sen. Carol Alvarado, the Houston Democrat who led efforts to require backup power, said in a passionate speech on the Senate floor that the new law “does hardly anything.” Long-term care advocates also argue it doesn’t add protections, as state rules already exist requiring that assisted living facilities maintain temperatures within a safe range.
“We’re in the same place as we were this time last year,” said Alexa Schoeman, the deputy state ombudsman, a state employee independent of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission who is charged with advocating for long-term care residents.
In fact, the new law includes a provision overriding any conflicting local regulations. That means Harris County’s recently adopted backup power mandate for nursing homes and assisted living facilities will likely no longer be able to take effect.
“It set a precedent that … if you’re going to attempt to do any kind of local mandate on these facilities, you absolutely cannot,” said Andrea Earl, associate director of advocacy at AARP Texas. Harris County officials say they’re evaluating the new law.
See here and here for some background. The industry didn’t want the backup power mandate, and they got what they wanted from the Republicans in the Lege. Keep that in mind when you hear all the high-minded talk now going around about flood alarm systems and the like.