The Texas Public Policy Foundation's Jeanette Moll says that,"Contrary to the original intent, the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP) in Texas is actually making Texas roads less safe." Noted Moll, "Ironically, the “Driver Responsibility Program” created 1.2 million more highly irresponsible drivers." Read their issue brief, which in conjunction with the recent report (pdf) from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, mentioned in this Grits post, provides ample reason for the Legislature to abolish the program.
The fact that the surcharge could be abolished without affecting payouts to hospitals until 2019 puts a whole new spin on things. That would give the Lege plenty of time to figure out an alternative funding source, particularly since there will be many adjustments between then and now to how uncompensated care is funded thanks to the implementation of Obamacare, for good or ill. The coming era of transition for hospital financing is as good an opportunity as any to wean them off the DRP surcharge teat.
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This is a classic example of what happens whenever elected government representatives forget that they are hired exclusively for the job of administering our government services in the most efficient and fair way possible for the good of We the People.
Instead, across all of the 'bright red' states in this nation, public servants have gotten carried away with 'corporatizing' government - by converting far too many of its functions into profit centers - or even worse, by cleverly manipulating/avoiding facts and vital information, in order to promote and sell to voters their beloved 'private/public partnerships'.
All of these 'profit-oriented' endeavors appear to be penny wise, on the surface, at least, but they are always totally pound foolish in the long run - and not one of them has ever proven to be in the overall best interests of providing high-quality, necessary, government services to We the People.
You can only pile so much lipstick on a pig, folks, even here in Texas - and you can steal from Peter to reward Paul for only so long.
Sooner or later, the truth inevitably surfaces and the final bills must be paid in full.
Every single one of these failed attempts at 'corporatizing' or 'profitizing' our governmental functions in Texas is finally coming back to bite us citizen/taxpayer/voters where we can least afford to get bitten nowadays - right in our own personal pocketbooks.
And it's not going to be cheap to repair the massive damage to governments all over this state, damage that's been brought on by close to twenty years of us voters allowing so-called 'conservative' politicians to run the whole show - all of them short-sighted, insincere, slick-talking, hypocrites, who blithely climb right into bed with all of their rich - and growing ever-richer by the day - 'crony capitalist' pals.
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