Lawmakers pass state schools bill

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Texas' agency to care for the mentally ill has come under fire both from the federal government and from those who recently saw shocking video released from one state school.

Lawmakers are working to fix the problem and Monday was the first step. The House passed an emergency bill to give much greater oversight to the agency.

The first real look at the problems in state schools started when the Department of Justice released a report saying there was abuse and neglect happening at the institutions that are responsible for caring for some of the state's most vulnerable.

"There were two employees responsible for checking on the status of a critically ill patient and they reported that patient as healthy and fine, while the person had been dead for hours," said Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman.

More shocking news surfaced when investigators released cell phone video of employees at the Corpus Christi state school staging fights for patients to participate in. Employees reportedly threw objects at the patients and kept the fights going even when people were hurt.

While those employees are facing criminal penalties, Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, said one of the major problems was there was no where for those hurt to go.

"The ones charged with reporting abuse were the same ones who were committing it," said Rose.

The bill calls for more oversight for the agency, an office of the ombudsman on every State School campus, community based programs for patients with accountability and security cameras installed in all common areas of the institutions.