HMWK

A few observations from yesterday’s primary elections:

Despite early morning chaos and long lines at the polls in many large counties, early results from the Texas primary seem to yield a relative status quo. Both parties largely delivered victories to incumbents and known quantities over unknowns and challengers closer to the extreme wings of each party.

In the Democratic presidential primary, Joe Biden won the state by carrying 211 of Texas’ 254 counties – including Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Nueces, Potter, Jefferson, and Fort Bend counties. Biden carried many of the state’s largest cities such as Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi and Amarillo.

Bernie Sanders carried a total of 37 counties, including 19 in the Rio Grande Valley. He won in cities such as San Antonio, El Paso, Lubbock and Austin. This reflects the fact that Sanders’ message resonated with many of the state’s Latino and young voters. Sanders also polled especially well with college students, winning in seven counties with the state’s largest colleges and universities. However, 11 of the 37 counties Sanders won saw fewer than 100 total votes cast.

Michael Bloomberg won in only six counties; three of those saw fewer than 100 total votes cast.

In the Republican presidential primary, President Donald Trump won all 155 of Texas’ delegates to the Republican National Convention. According to recent polling, Trump maintains a slight lead over each of the three top Democratic challengers in Texas.

The Texas Privacy Protection Advisory Council will meet on Wednesday, March 25 at 1:00 pm to hear invited and public testimony. The council was created by the 86th Legislature in 2019 to study state laws governing the privacy and protection of information linked to specific individuals, technological devices, and households. This group will make recommendations to the 87th Legislature regarding the privacy and protection of Texans’ personal information.

As we reported last week, the Texas Comptroller has ruled that medical billing services are taxable as insurance services beginning April 1, 2020. This means that providers and users of these services could have a Texas sales tax responsibility for the first time. With decades of success in taxation, insurance and healthcare policy, HMWK is perfectly positioned to help you address your issues.

Here is our latest advisory. Please contact us if you would like additional help or information.

Last November, the Texas Comptroller issued an advisory opinion reversing a longstanding policy relating to Texas sales taxation of medical billing services that will impact all Texas medical management and medical billing companies. Implementation of this new letter opinon has been delayed until April 1, 2020. However, the opportunity exists to work with the Comptroller to amend Texas’ tax law in the 2021 legislative session. Please contact us for more information.

Reversal of Texas Sales Tax Policy on Medical Billing Services to Cause Potential Texas Sales Tax Increases for Healthcare Clients Effective in 2020 | Healthcare Law Insights The Texas Comptroller issued an advisory opinion reversing a longstanding policy relating to Texas sales taxation of medical billing services that will

Retweeted TRLA ():

Latosha Taylor, of the Hogg Foundation, spreading the word at this week's Austin psychiatric advance directive clinic, sponsored by DRTx and TRLA. Thanks, DRTx. https://t.co/s2x5EUXeP6

Retweeted TRLA ():

TRLA's disaster legal aid team, still working long hours to help Harvey survivors, at the ABA’s Disaster Poverty Law simulation in Houston earlier this week. https://t.co/3xghzxitJK

Retweeted Legal Aid NW Texas ():

Congratulations to UNT Dallas College of Law, which received the Law School Commitment to Service Award last week. UNT students are active in the Community Lawyering Centers, a partnership between UNT Dallas Law and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas.
https://t.co/0uQnx5xDxB

Retweeted Eva Guzman ():

Love my WorldSeriesGame7

To his patients, he's part interpreter, part guide, part angel of mercy. https://t.co/fwRrk7IqZx

This Man Wants to Help You Die Better Dr. Robert Fine doesn't want to save your life. He and his palliative care team at Baylor Medical Center want to preserve the quality of it.

Retweeted Texas Tribune ():

The road to the Texas speaker’s office is longer than it looks, writes . https://t.co/klWePrL4id https://t.co/3V99g01B65

Analysis: The road to the Texas speaker’s office is longer than it looks It's not hard to find predictions of what's going to happen in the race for Texas speaker now that Joe Straus is not running for another term. But nobody knows what's next — and they won't for at least a year.

.’s order to cut off subsidies is likely to be “profoundly destabilizing” to the hospital industry.

Ailing Hospitals Face Reckoning as Investor Agitation Increases President Donald Trump has slammed health insurers for the "fortunes" they’ve made under Obamacare. For hospitals, the law hasn’t delivered the same sort of returns.

Analysis: A storm brings distinct changes in the political winds https://t.co/p2goB1acxR via

Analysis: A storm brings distinct changes in the political winds The physical damage from Hurricane Harvey is relatively easy to spot, assess and catalog. But it’s becoming more evident that the storm also seeped into every corner of government policy and politics.