Bill Text: TX HCR74 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Urging Congress to enact H.R. 613/S. 164, the TRICARE Reserve Select Improvement Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-27 - Signed by the Governor [HCR74 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR74-Enrolled.html
| H.C.R. No. 74 | ||
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| WHEREAS, Men and women with full-time careers who are also | ||
| reservists in the Texas National Guard or another reserve component | ||
| of the United States armed forces provide a valuable service to | ||
| Texas and the nation; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Also providing a valuable service to Texas and the | ||
| nation are men and women who have made the reserves of the armed | ||
| forces of the United States their full-time career; these military | ||
| technicians provide day-to-day readiness and training in reserve | ||
| component units and are considered to be federal employees; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Unfortunately, federal employees who are also | ||
| reservists or who work full time in a reserve component unit are | ||
| ineligible for TRICARE Reserve Select, the low-cost health benefits | ||
| plan offered to all other reserve component service members; | ||
| instead, these federal employees who are eligible for a federal | ||
| health benefits plan must use a more expensive health benefits | ||
| plan; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The cost difference between enrolling in TRICARE and | ||
| a federal health benefits plan can be significant in a family | ||
| budget; in a recent example, a full-time base services manager at an | ||
| Air National Guard base estimated that she paid $4,700 more of her | ||
| $57,000 annual salary for a federal health benefits plan than she | ||
| would for TRICARE; and | ||
| WHEREAS, To address the different treatment of reserve | ||
| component service members who are federal employees, Congress is | ||
| considering H.R. 613/S. 164, the TRICARE Reserve Select | ||
| Improvement Act, to remove the prohibition on eligibility for | ||
| TRICARE of members of the reserve components of the armed forces who | ||
| are eligible to enroll in a federal health benefits plan; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Enacting the TRICARE Reserve Select Improvement Act | ||
| would reduce the financial burden on valued members of the Texas | ||
| National Guard and other reserve components of the United States | ||
| armed forces; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to enact | ||
| H.R. 613/S. 164, the TRICARE Reserve Select Improvement Act; and, | ||
| be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
| Lozano | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.C.R. No. 74 was adopted by the House on April | ||
| 26, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 138, Nays 0, 2 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.C.R. No. 74 was adopted by the Senate on May | ||
| 15, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: __________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| __________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
