Chair Lois Kolkhorst’s eight-member committee will take invited testimony only on the health and criminal-justice costs of THC, the overlap of mental illness, addiction and homelessness, and the state’s child mental-health network.
- When: 10:00 AM CT, Tuesday, July 7, 2026
- Where: Room E1.012 (Hearing Room), Capitol Extension, Austin
- Chair: Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R–Brenham (SD-18)
- Vice Chair: Sen. Charles Perry, R–Lubbock (SD-28)
- Format: Invited testimony only — no public testimony or online comment registration; interim charges only — no vote on legislation
- Live video: senate.texas.gov/av-live.php
The Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services will gavel in at 10 a.m. Tuesday to weigh the health and public-safety costs of THC, the tangle of mental illness, addiction and homelessness that crowds the state’s jails and emergency rooms, and the rollout of a statewide child mental-health network. The committee will hear invited testimony only.
Chaired by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, the eight-member panel carries a 5-3 Republican majority and broad jurisdiction over Medicaid, public health, state hospitals and long-term care. It is working through interim charges ahead of the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027. The July 7 agenda focuses on touching on how Texas treats people whose health problems spill into the courts and the streets.
The first charge, “Addressing Societal Impacts of THC Product Consumption,” directs the committee to study how THC affects health care costs, mental-health emergency detentions and the risk of a THC-induced psychotic disorder, and to recommend ways to cut both health care and criminal-justice spending. The charge lands a year after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed Senate Bill 3, the Legislature’s bid to ban consumable hemp-derived THC, and called a special session to regulate rather than prohibit the products.
The second charge, “Strengthening Crisis Related Mental Health and Homelessness Services,” asks the panel to map the state’s authority for delivering public mental-health care and how it intersects with homelessness and addiction. Members are directed to evaluate the effectiveness and consistency of competency restoration for criminally charged defendants awaiting trial, along with civil commitment procedures, and to prioritize the most acute patients.
A state auditor’s review found defendants can wait months for a competency-restoration bed, and a joint “Eliminate the Wait” initiative is trying to clear a forensic waitlist that has hovered near 2,000 people. The pressure has spilled into the courts: in June, the Texas Supreme Court let a ruling stand that the state is not financially liable for the mentally ill inmates stacking up in Dallas County’s jail, leaving counties to absorb the cost of the delay.
The third charge, “Monitoring,” asks the committee to track how laws it handled last session are being carried out; the notice singles out mental-health programs delivered through the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. Created by the 86th Legislature in 2019, the consortium links the state’s medical schools to run programs such as the Child Psychiatry Access Network and an in-school telehealth service, and members will look at whether that build-out is reaching the children it was meant to serve.
Because the committee is meeting in the interim, it will not vote on legislation. Any findings would shape bills filed when the 90th Legislature convenes in 2027.
Committee members
- Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R–Brenham (SD-18) — Chair
- Sen. Charles Perry, R–Lubbock (SD-28) — Vice Chair
- Sen. César Blanco, D–El Paso (SD-29)
- Sen. Molly Cook, D–Houston (SD-15)
- Sen. Bob Hall, R–Edgewood (SD-2)
- Sen. Bryan Hughes, R–Mineola (SD-1)
- Sen. Borris L. Miles, D–Houston (SD-13)
- Sen. Kevin Sparks, R–Midland (SD-31)