I'm Afraid to Jinx It.....

I have been stressing about the status of Greyson's Law.

A couple of months ago, I started lining up my letters of nomination for the Advisory Council that is to be created in accordance with Greyson's Law. After confirming the delivery of all of them, I was shocked to find out that as of Mid- August, no progress had been made of the formation of the Council or the implementation of the additional testing, except for the Cystic Fibrosis testing.

I was confused. And Angry!

I started making calls and trying to find out what was going on. My first call was the to the office responsible for handing out the monies to the departments responsible for enacting the legislation. Which in Greyson's Law's case would be the Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services (DSHS). I was stunned when I was told that the budget Rider that was meant for Greyson's Law was combined with the monies for 2 other new programs to be enacted by the DSHS, and that one of these projects had large budget overruns that were "unexpected" and had used all of the money allocated. All of IT! Not just it's portion! The portion for Greyson's Law too!

What's that saying? "Give a dog a bone?" Well, I started making calls. All of the contacts that we made during the work to get Greyson's Law passed. Scheduling meetings, agreeing to be patient and not attend meetings because of other sensitive matters to be discussed at the same time, worrying that nothing was being done, that Greyson's Law was destined to become what the Cystic Fibrosis was, an unfunded mandate....

I haven't heard much of anything for a couple of months, other than a few worrying facts from some sources. But then, two weeks ago, I heard that the Advisory Council was getting ready to be formed. I immediately called the DSHS and asked what I could do to help. I was told that they still had my letters of nomination and that the hopes were to get the Council up and working so that ways to find funding internally might be possible.

YEA! Baby steps are good too....

I worry about jinxing it, but this week I got an Nomination Information request form from the

DSHS via email!

Here's Hoping!