Opinion: Why Texas must change its policy on runaway youth

By Byron Sanders, Austin American-Statesman

According to a report by The National Runaway Switchboard, more than 1.5 million youth experience a runaway episode each year. In Texas, that decision can have a long and lasting impact on youths’ lives, in large part because of how the state treats the act of running away.

What many Texans may not know is that it is against the law for a child to run away from home in our state. Texas is one of less than 10 states in the country where this is still the case.

Running away is classified in Texas as a ‘status offense’ - an act that is a violation of law only because of a youth’s status as a minor. Running away from home risks a potentially detrimental contact with the justice system including detention in juvenile facilities.

In addition, if a status offender violates a court order related to the status offense — running away again, for example — a court can punish the youth with a term of secure confinement. These instances of secure confinement do nothing to help youth and can, in fact, make it more likely that youth continue to engage in delinquent behavior.

Rather than address root issues, Texas’ current recourse for runaway youth leads to further isolation. The factors that may lead youth to run away from home are often outside of their control — they may be leaving behind an unsafe or abusive environment, difficulties at school or dealing with unmet mental health needs. According to the National Runaway Safeline, “58% of youth who reached out to NRS indicated family dynamics as a reason for seeking crisis intervention.”

We must change the way that Texas considers runaway youth and create policy that would provide the help and resources they need and deserve. One way forward is through a recent bill introduced by State Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas).

SB 404 (HB 1709) would decriminalize running away as a status offense and prohibit juvenile detention for youth who have run away. Instead, the bill would help redirect youth to emergency shelters and crisis intervention services through the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services . SB 404 also prevents status offenders of the remaining offenses from being held in a secure facility, either pre- or post-adjudication. Instead of secure facilities, youth could be detained in juvenile process offices and places of non-secure custody for up to 6 hours, or in non-secure correction facilities for up to 24 hours. Finally, Sen. Johnson’s bill eliminates the use of a violation of a court order to sentence status offenders to post-adjudication secure confinement.

At Big Thought, we know that we must address the root causes of an issue, not simply respond to its consequences. Big Thought’s work with juvenile justice intervention and Creative Solutions, our nationally recognized arts-as-workforce intervention program for adjudicated youth, has shown us that punitive measures are not the way forward. And by continuing to consider running away as a status offense, we prohibit youth from tapping into their inherent greatness.

All youth are born with greatness and we have the responsibility to create the conditions for that greatness to shine. Reimagining how we treat those who've run away from home explicitly empowers the lives of youth who've been most marginalized. That's the kind of future they deserve.

Passing SB 404 is a step toward this future. If you’d like to support SB 404, reach out to your state representatives.

Sanders is the CEO of Big Thought, an education-focused nonprofit based in Dallas.

Despite inactivity in the Legislature, Senator says Texas is moving closer to Medicaid expansion

By Eli Kirshbaum, State of Reform

This year’s legislation to expand Medicaid in Texas — neither the Senate or the House version of which have been scheduled for an initial committee hearing — has garnered notable support from some Republican lawmakers. Sen. Nathan Johnson, the sponsor of the bill’s Senate version, said he is hopeful about advancing his proposed “Live Well Texas” program this year, but acknowledged that it will be an uphill battle.

“Neither one of them has a hearing set, and that’s going to take some doing … It’s not only opposed by powerful people — it scares a lot of people.”

He affirmed he is still actively pushing to get a hearing date set, and is optimistic about the bill’s increasing Republican support.

A legislative insider familiar with the issue shared a similar perspective with State of Reform. They believe a committee hearing has a reasonable chance of happening before the end of the session. Regarding any further legislative advancement, however, they said chances are very slim.

Johnson and Republican lawmakers have been communicating on what the bill should look like for over a year. He and other advocates have been speaking to people throughout the state, attempting to correct misunderstandings about what expansion would do. He said these conversations were necessary given state leaders’ history of strict opposition to it.

Johnson said the bill’s use of a Medicaid 1115 Waiver to control its expansion of Medicaid is the reason behind some of the novel Republican support. The waiver would give Texas permission to conduct the program with considerable independence from the federal government, which Johnson said is more likely to appeal to his conservative colleagues.

“It simulates a private sector experience with health insurance rather than the traditional model …  Many believe traditional models of state-run health care systems create a culture of dependency, and whether or not that’s true, I wanted to go with a system that has been tried in other states that more closely simulates the experience of the private sector, and therefore doesn’t foster dependency, but rather, fosters independence.”

The waiver will also provide recipients of Medicaid with a state-funded health savings account, which will help support them as they transition out of Medicaid into a private plan. Recipients, their employers and community organizations can also add to the account under certain conditions for the recipient to receive enhanced benefits like dental coverage.

While he believes a couple of Republicans would see the fiscal benefit of expanding Medicaid and sign on to “straight Medicaid expansion,” he said these key differences are likely the only reason some Republicans are starting to consider the measure.

“Politically, it matches some beliefs and values that they hold very important, and it allows them to communicate to their own voters why this program is consistent with their values.”

Johnson highlighted that notable progress has still been made, albeit not in the Legislature. Two years ago, Republican legislators would barely even agree to discuss Medicaid expansion. The fact that both sides of the aisle and numerous media outlets are talking about it today points to how far the idea of expansion has come in just a couple years, he said.

Public support for Medicaid expansion among Texans is substantial, with nearly 70% of the population in support. According to Johnson, state lawmakers nonetheless oppose it primarily for political reasons. He said electoral politics play a significant part in how these lawmakers approach the subject, and Republicans with constituencies that would likely disapprove of support for a government-sponsored program refuse to risk losing constituent support — even if they themselves acknowledge the benefits of the program.

“I’m sympathetic to people who are nervous about election consequences. But I think this issue is so clearly right that you’ve got a duty to take the risk. Bring your voters with you.”

“We’ve had years of misunderstanding this issue, and it takes a long time to disabuse people of a deep conviction about something, and people have deep convictions about the Affordable Care Act. Anything associated with it was deemed to be terrible.”

He said the first Medicaid expansion conversations among Texas leaders weren’t based in fact and cemented a false perception of the measure that remains in place today.

“Back when the story was first told, the story kind of stuck, and it didn’t change, even while the rest of the country was experiencing the changes that Medicaid expansion could bring.”

With less than 70 days left in the session, committee leaders have limited time to place the bill on the calendar and initiate a hearing.

Need cash? Slap a magnet sign on your truck and say you’re a roofer. Forget the roof. This is Texas

By Dave Lieber, The Dallas Morning News

What happens after a monster storm? Storm chasers show up from who knows where and charm desperate homeowners in need of a new roof out of that first insurance check. Then it’s goodbye forever.

Texas is the only storm-prone state along the Gulf Coast that doesn’t make storm-chasing roofers touch a stitch of paperwork. This is embarrassing for Texas, and especially the governor and our Legislature, both of whom could easily fix this longstanding problem. Their inaction allows crimes to flourish.

Unlike hair cutters and plumbers and tow truck companies, no roofers’ license is required. No certification is demanded. There’s not even a state-sponsored website that offers a list of names, addresses and phone numbers of known honest, reliable roofers.

This type of theft happens every day of the year in Texas, and now there’s at least one guy saying enough is enough.

State Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, has introduced Senate Bill 1481, which calls for a registration system for roofing companies who do post-storm work. For a minimal fee, these storm chasers would get listed on a state website.

The senator says, “You hand somebody $10,000, and you’re not able to look up whether or not they’re registered in the state and have a contact number.”

It’s notable that he mentions $10,000 because I spoke this week with Joe Dickens of Arlington, who gave his roofing company that amount. Then the roofers said goodbye forever. No roof for him.

“He took the money and ran off, OK?” Dickens says of former House of Tomorrow roofing company owner Jorge Garcia.

Dickens is still bitter about being a victim in a huge scheme involving more than 100 homeowners in Dallas, Arlington and Forth Worth. Victims lost a total of $500,000 in lost insurance claims.

For both Dickens and for me this matter is highly personal. We both discovered that storm-chasing roofers often behave as if they are members of a crime syndicate. In fact, my roofing experience changed my life.

The first roofer I hired after a hailstorm 15 years ago got confused and roofed the house behind me instead of mine. He tried to make my shocked neighbor pay anyway.

The second roofer I hired fixed my roof, but then declared bankruptcy, leaving almost a hundred other customers roofless. He was convicted of theft and served prison time.

After that experience, I studied what went wrong and what I could do to prevent it. This is why I created a consumer rights movement called Watchdog Nation that shows us how to protect ourselves. I was my own test case, and that’s how that experience changed my life.

Ever since, I’ve watched storm-chasers pulling off their cons and nothing is done. This is considered normal in Texas, and it was reflected in an eye-opening video posted the other day by the Texas Department of Insurance. The video, called “Winter storm webinar,” is available on YouTube. It was supposed to be a primer on how to handle insurance claims like busted water pipes caused by the February storms.

But something surprising happened in this video. Members of the public hijacked the discussion away from burst pipes to pleas for advice on how to find honest roofers.

The hashtags for the video are #insurance #storm #disaster. But they should be changed to #roofers #scams #disaster. Here are the public’s questions, and the insurance department’s answers.

Do contractors have to be licensed in Texas? (No.)

Is there a way to see if a contractor has been involved in fraud? (Nothing official.)

Is it OK to ask to see their driver’s license? (Brilliant idea.)

Is there a place I can get information about my contractor for my piece of mind? (Check search engines to background the roofer.)

Is there a directory we can use to find good contractors? (Again, nothing official.)

How can we stop unsolicited phone calls and roofers coming to my door? (The calls are illegal, and little can be done. For door-knockers, TDI says ask to see their solicitor’s permit. If they don’t have one, call the cops.)

How can I do a criminal background check on a contractor and his staff? (Try a for-pay website.)

You can see from these questions what concerns the public. All of this could be solved with Sen. Johnson’s Senate Bill 1481, and its companion in House Bill 2777.

The bills require re-roofers (those repairing existing roofs) to register their company’s name with contact information. Any bad behavior would be reported. Violators could face a $500 civil penalty.

But the same lawmaker who killed the roofers bill in 2019 has told the state’s roofers association that he vows to do it again.

Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, stomped on the bill two years ago like it was a snake that tried to bite him.

Romero would not talk to The Watchdog this week. But in 2019 when I profiled his stomping, he told me one reason he objected was because the bill’s author was not a contractor. “It really needs to be a contractor,” he said. (Did I mention Romero is a contractor?)

Truth is anybody can introduce a bill. But thanks to Romero, two years ago, the bill lost a 99-33 House vote. Since then, more Texans have been ripped off. I blame him.

Sarah Burns, who runs the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas, told me, Romero has “already made it abundantly clear that he intends to do the same in this session.”

Before talking to me, Burns said she was on the phone with a San Antonio homeowner.

“They hired the cheap guy,” she said, “and now they’ve got a $40,000 metal roof, and it leaks all over the place. They’re going to have to move out.”

If you’re wondering why this registry is such a problem, it plays into the notion, pushed hard by Gov. Greg Abbott and others, that we shouldn’t do anything that hurts business. And how about consumers? Meh.

“I understand we like Texas,” Burns says. “The reason we’re here is because we don’t want government in our business. But, unfortunately, this is a situation with no recourse for consumers.”

Johnson says his bill has a chance this year because the October 2019 Dallas tornado drew added attention to the crime spree. His bill awaits a hearing in the Senate Business & Commerce Committee. (Want to help? Call chairman Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, and say “Let’s move on SB 1481.” His office is 512-463-0109.)

The similar House Bill 2777 could use your help, too. It’s stuck in the House Business & Industry Committee, where chairman Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, released a statement to The Watchdog, saying: “In terms of this specific measure, I have not reviewed it, but I support efforts to reform the roofing industry to better protect consumers.” (Want to help? Promote HB 2777 for a hearing. Turner’s office is: 512-463-0574.)

Remember our victim, Dickens? Other victims were not as fortunate as the Arlington homeowner who lost $10,000. NBC5 did a report on his plight. That changed everything.

“You’re not going to believe this,” he says. “After that, a roofing company contacted me. There was a good Samaritan. He donated my roof. Who that individual was I have no idea, but I would love to sit down, shake his hand and have a cup of coffee with him.”

What an embarrassment. It takes an unknown angel to make up for what the Texas Legislature won’t do for its own people.