Opinions

1/31/2025

Opinion: Make Texans Healthy Again

A Bold Vision for Change

Welcome to Friday Forum, a weekly segment where we explore diverse opinions on the topics shaping Texas politics and business. The views expressed here represent the perspectives of individual contributors and are not endorsements by TXLege News. Our aim is to encourage thoughtful discussion and present a range of viewpoints on issues that matter to Texans. Email info@uslege.ai for submitting opinion contributions.

Make Texans Healthy Again: A Bold Vision for Change

Texas is at a crossroads. Chronic diseases, poor nutrition, and rising healthcare costs are straining our communities, wallets, and the state budget. With bold leadership, we can turn the tide and create a healthier state—where thriving, not just surviving, is the standard.

This vision is at the heart of Make Texans Healthy Again (MTHA). MTHA is committed to fighting for policies that protect personal choice, expand access and transparency, and lower the cost of healthcare, prescriptions, and nutritious food. Focusing on prevention—such as routine health check-ins, education on nourishing the body with whole, unprocessed foods, and encouraging kids to stay active and eat healthy in schools—we can reduce the need for costly treatments and empower Texans to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.

This isn’t just a policy issue to me—it’s personal. I’ve witnessed firsthand the devastating toll of chronic disease on my family: my mother suffered a debilitating stroke at just 49, leaving her with lifelong disabilities, and my father’s life was tragically cut short by a late-detected illness. In contrast, my own health journey—losing 80 pounds by cutting out processed foods and prioritizing movement—has shown me the transformative power of prevention and how different the story can be when we address root causes early.

I’ve also experienced the transformative impact of functional medicine in helping my wife and me welcome a healthy daughter after multiple miscarriages. That same approach—combining thoughtful care with lifestyle changes—helped when my dog was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They said it would surely return, but four years later, with the help of modern medicine and a diet overhaul, she’s still in remission. Real change doesn’t come from a pill but from addressing root causes with better nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices. Texans deserve better, and I’m committed to helping create meaningful change.

The Cost of Chronic Disease in Texas

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Chronic issues like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity account for the majority of healthcare costs, with Texas Medicaid spending tripling over the last two decades. Nearly 70% of adult Texans are overweight or obese, mirroring a national trend where obesity rates have soared from 14.5% in 1971 to 42.8% today. Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are major contributors to this crisis. Ultra-processed foods now account for 57% of the average American’s calorie intake. Shockingly, the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup has increased by 7,300% since 1970, fueling metabolic dysfunction. Today, 93% of Americans fail key metabolic health markers, highlighting the scale of the problem.

The consequences go beyond health—they affect our economy, our families, and even our national security. Over 80% of Americans fail to meet recommended physical activity guidelines, and the average adult spends over six hours a day sitting. These trends have contributed to 77% of Americans being ineligible for military service due to issues like obesity and poor fitness levels.

Low-Hanging Fruit for a Healthier Texas

While tackling chronic disease and poor nutrition is a complex challenge, this legislative session presents opportunities to make meaningful progress with common-sense solutions. Several proposals aim to address key areas that directly impact the health and well-being of Texans.

For instance, Senator Hughes and Representative Harris-Davilla are leading efforts to ensure school meals are free of harmful additives, protecting children from exposure to chemicals linked to long-term health issues. Senator Middleton has proposed preventing tax dollars from subsidizing unhealthy food purchases through nutrition assistance programs, ensuring our most vulnerable communities have access to better choices.

Senator Kolkhorst and Representative Goodwin are fighting to expand cottage food production and empower small businesses to provide fresh, whole foods to more consumers while reducing unnecessary red tape. Senator Kolkhorst is also driving efforts to enhance transparency in prescription drug pricing, empowering patients to make informed healthcare decisions and reducing the influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers—profit-driven middlemen often tied to big pharma. And Representative Oliverson is spearheading a push to require nutrition education in Texas medical schools, highlighting the critical role diet plays in preventing chronic disease and improving patient outcomes.

These are straightforward, impactful measures that can set the foundation for broader health reform in Texas, and they’re just the beginning. This session, many other great proposals are on the table, tackling everything from healthcare affordability to nutrition education. Families deserve access to better health without being burdened by rising healthcare costs, so their communities can strive for a brighter, healthier future.

Momentum is on our side. The "Make America Healthy Again" movement has become a major political issue nationwide, and all eyes are on Texas to lead. What we do in the next six months has the potential to become the model for the entire country. By prioritizing preventative healthcare, empowering small businesses, and ensuring access to nutritious food, Texas can show the rest of the nation how to build a healthier, stronger future.

Learn more and get involved at MakeTexansHealthyAgain.com

About the Author

is an Austin-based consultant with over a decade of experience in government and political campaigns. He has served in senior roles in both the Texas House and Senate, as well as Chief of Staff for a statewide elected official. McCormick is the founder of Make Texans Healthy Again, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing state-level policies that promote transparency, affordability, access, and freedom in healthcare and nutrition. A graduate of the University of Texas, he lives in Austin with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Winnie.

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01 First

Trusted by Government Affairs Professionals and Corporate Policy Teams

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What Is AI Legislative Tracking Software?

AI legislative tracking software is a digital framework built to monitor, analyze, and categorize legislation across jurisdictions. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the once-manual process of reading lengthy bill text, identifying relevant topics, and alerting teams about updates that matter.

At its core, the technology performs a sequence of key steps:

Data collection: The platform aggregates data from Congress, state legislatures, and local jurisdictions. Each bill, amendment, or act is indexed for quick access. Some platforms have created legislative deadlines calendars to help users track important dates.
Natural-language processing: Advanced AI technologies interpret legal language, detect bill subjects, and link related regulations.
Classification & scoring: Generative AI models classify proposed legislation based on environmental, fiscal, and technological topics and assign relevance scores.
Alerting mechanisms: Real-time notifications inform stakeholders when hearings happen, votes occur, or enacted legislation modifies existing law.

Unlike traditional manual trackers that rely on keyword searches, AI systems analyze entire bill structures, track progress through committees, and flag potential impact areas. This approach creates smarter, faster insights for any organization that must stay informed.

AI technology also enables predictive analytics, such as estimating the likelihood of a bill passing, identifying influential legislators, and highlighting amendments that affect a specific policy area. The result is less time wasted on routine monitoring and more focus on strategy, advocacy, and justice-related outcomes.

Across the country, policy teams use these tools to analyze regulations, create summaries for internal reports, and coordinate responses with stakeholders in government offices. For example, a compliance team might use a tracker to flag new legislation affecting AI regulation or data privacy requirements in other states.

Why Benefits Matter: From Hours to Minutes

The biggest benefit of artificial intelligence in government affairs is efficiency. By replacing manual searches with automated analysis, organizations spend less time gathering information and more time refining their policy strategy. With this extra capacity, organizations can develop more effective strategies for advocacy and compliance.

Key benefits include:

Speed and automation: AI-powered trackers reduce time spent reviewing hundreds of bills by instantly flagging those that match an organization’s focus.
Relevance filtering: Generative AI tools can rank bills by risk level or strategic importance, ensuring nothing important gets missed.
Predictive insight: Machine learning algorithms use historical data to predict which acts are likely to advance through legislators.
Comprehensive coverage: Many AI systems use advanced AI technologies to monitor Congress and all 50 state legislatures, helping teams stay ahead across multiple states.
Improved decision-making: Centralized dashboards give a clear view of how bills progress, letting government relations staff act quickly.

The outcome is measurable. Organizations report significant reductions in manual labor and better coordination between departments. By allowing teams to stay ahead of policy developments, AI innovation turns reactive monitoring into proactive governance.

Artificial intelligence does not replace expert analysis—it enhances it. Human analysts still interpret the political context and advise on strategy, but AI systems handle the repetitive data tasks that once consumed entire days.

Core Features & Capabilities to Look For

When evaluating policy tracking tools, understanding the core features that differentiate effective platforms is critical. Each feature supports a different stage of the research process—from data collection to report creation and stakeholder communication.

These platforms serve as a valuable resource for policy research and coordination, providing up-to-date information and guidance for AI governance stakeholders.

Many of these features are powered by advanced AI technologies, supporting efficient data analysis, compliance tracking, and collaboration.

1. Real-Time Legislative Updates

AI-powered systems pull data directly from legislative APIs the moment new bills are filed or acts are amended. Users can access immediate notifications when committee votes happen or when enacted legislation changes existing statutes.

2. Natural-Language Processing and Summarization

Through NLP, artificial intelligence summarizes bill text and extracts key provisions in plain language. This tool helps analysts explain complex topics clearly and reduce duplicate efforts across an organization.

3. Machine Learning Classification

Advanced models analyze bill data to identify patterns and trends. They learn from past legislation to categorize new bills accurately and suggest how they might affect specific industries or services.

4. Predictive Analytics and Trend Visualization

AI technology creates interactive dashboards that visualize how acts move through Congress and state legislatures. Teams can track progress and prepare for risks or opportunities based on historical patterns.

5. Custom Alerts and Stakeholder Management

Every organization has unique priorities. AI systems allow users to set custom alerts, tag stakeholders, and automate report distribution. A government relations team can receive updates only on bills relevant to its policy plan.

6. Integration and APIs

Modern trackers integrate with existing CRMs or data-visualization tools. This ensures that new legislation appears automatically in internal dashboards and that policy analysts spend less time copying data between systems.

7. Reporting & Collaboration

Robust report functions allow users to create summaries for executives or boards. Reports can highlight proposed bills, identify risks, and show outcomes of specific acts. Teams within government offices use these reports to coordinate responses and track policy development. These reports serve as a valuable resource for decision-making and communication among stakeholders.

The National Institute of Standards has outlined guidelines that emphasize how artificial intelligence should support transparency in AI policy research. By aligning tools with those principles, organizations ensure their data handling meets fair and ethical standards for justice and accountability.

Generative AI continues to expand these capabilities. New generative AI tools can draft policy briefs, create summaries of enacted legislation, and even analyze public comments on proposed regulations. Such AI applications save resources, improve accuracy, and keep stakeholders ahead of emerging issues.

Use Cases: Who Benefits from AI Legislative Tracking

Artificial intelligence has expanded how government affairs teams manage policy research across multiple states and Congress. Each organization—from a local advocacy office to a national institute studying AI policy—now uses generative AI tools to process legislation and enacted legislation efficiently.

Key groups that benefit include:

Corporate Government Affairs Teams: They monitor proposed acts and regulations that may affect company operations, enabling the team to stay ahead of compliance risks.
Trade Associations: Associations use AI systems to create summaries of bills across jurisdictions, providing members with clear reports about what matters most.
Law Firms & Consultancies: Firms apply AI-powered analytics to explain complex legislation for clients and reduce the time spent on manual tracking.
Advocacy Groups & Nonprofits: AI innovation allows staff to analyze proposed laws related to justice or environmental outcomes and coordinate public policy work accordingly.
Research Institutes & Think Tanks: These organizations use machine learning to analyze bill trends, evaluate AI regulation frameworks, and issue data-driven policy reports.

Across the country, AI-powered trackers give stakeholders in government relations access to accurate updates, reducing the chance they miss important developments. Generative AI further enhances these tools by drafting briefs and highlighting how new legislation could affect an organization’s priorities. This tool helps policy teams spend less time on data entry and more on strategy and communication.

Challenges and Considerations in Implementation

Despite clear benefits, adopting AI technology in government offices and private policy organizations comes with significant challenges, such as ensuring compliance, managing risks, and maintaining data integrity throughout the legislative tracking process.

Common implementation challenges include:

Data Quality and Consistency — Legislation from different jurisdictions often uses inconsistent formats. AI systems must be trained to analyze diverse data sources without losing accuracy.
Alert Fatigue — If filters are poorly set, teams receive too many irrelevant notifications, increasing the risk they miss the bills that truly matter.
Training and Onboarding — Each team must learn how to define keywords, set priorities, and create reports that match organizational needs.
Integration with Existing Tools — Linking trackers to CRMs, analytics dashboards, or other AI technologies requires planning and technical resources.
Cost and Scalability — Some AI applications charge based on the volume of tracked legislation or the number of users, so budgeting must be part of the plan.
Change Management — Introducing AI in a traditional government context can trigger concerns about fair use, privacy, and accountability.

When organizations plan early and train properly, these challenges become manageable. A well-structured AI task force inside each organization can set policies for data access, governance, and ethical boundaries in line with the National Institute guidance on AI governance software.

How to Evaluate and Select the Right Solution

Selecting the right AI-powered tracker is a strategic decision that depends on scope, coverage, and support. Use the following steps to create an effective evaluation plan and stay ahead of policy developments across jurisdictions. Developing strategies for selecting the best-fit solution is essential to align with your organization's goals and regulatory requirements.

Define Scope and Priorities: Identify which topics, acts, and regulations affect your organization. Include AI policy, data governance, and sector-specific concerns.
Evaluate Coverage: Confirm that the tool covers Congress, state legislatures, and other states where you operate.
Assess Artificial Intelligence Capabilities: Check for natural-language summarization, predictive analytics, and integration with generative AI tools.
User Experience and Access: Ensure teams can easily search, filter, and analyze bills without technical barriers.
Integration and APIs: AI systems should connect seamlessly to existing government affairs dashboards and issue-management tools.
Security and Compliance: Verify how data is stored and whether the provider adheres to AI regulation standards.
Reporting and Analytics: Confirm that the system can create custom reports summarizing proposed and enacted legislation for different stakeholders.
Pilot Testing: Before full deployment, track a sample set of bills and evaluate how the AI analyzes content and alerts users. Pilot programs serve as a valuable resource for evaluating software effectiveness and ensuring the solution meets your organization's needs.

These steps help organizations make fair comparisons and measure real benefits before long-term commitments. They also reduce the risks associated with AI adoption by ensuring each tool helps users achieve clear, ethical outcomes.

Broader Implications for AI Governance and Public Policy

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how governments draft and enforce legislation. AI governance software is now used to analyze bills, identify AI-related concerns, and support regulatory development. Many countries and organizations are developing comprehensive AI governance strategies, including regulatory, ethical, and operational strategies, to foster innovation while managing risks. An AI task force within a government agency may review proposed AI regulations to ensure fair and transparent implementation.

Generative AI has introduced new risks and new opportunities. The 30 percent rule in AI—a guideline used by some policy bodies to limit automated decision-making in critical contexts—illustrates how officials balance innovation with justice and ethical outcomes. When AI systems analyze public policy, they must respect privacy, reduce bias, and create fair access to government services.

The National Institute for Technology Standards has called for AI technologies that support the responsible development of AI innovation while keeping humans in control of final decisions. That balance ensures that artificial intelligence remains a tool to assist, not replace, expert policy judgment.

How AI Supports Legal and Regulatory Teams

Lawyers and compliance professionals often ask, “What is the best AI software for lawyers?” The answer depends on focus areas, but most government affairs offices prefer AI systems that combine bill analysis with risk reporting and automatic alerts. Such tools track enacted legislation, monitor proposed acts, and summarize potential impact in a single dashboard. These platforms serve as a valuable resource for legal and compliance teams, providing up-to-date information and guidance on AI regulations.

By using AI-powered search capabilities and machine learning technologies, legal teams spend less time reading full bill texts and more time advising on strategy. The tools can create summaries, highlight regulations that affect specific industries, and generate reports that support policy briefings. AI technology also helps teams analyze cross-state patterns, so they stay informed about how different jurisdictions approach similar issues.

For example, when one state passes an AI regulation act, other states often follow with similar proposed legislation. AI trackers make it easy to search these connections and report on how quickly policy ideas spread through the country. This continuous analysis helps government relations staff anticipate changes before they happen.

Staying Ahead in the Age of AI

As AI innovation accelerates, organizations that stay ahead gain a strategic advantage. By deploying AI-powered trackers, policy teams can monitor enacted legislation and proposed acts across jurisdictions without expanding headcount. This lets them stay informed and focus on analysis rather than data entry.

The best strategy is to treat AI as a partner in policy development. Use AI systems to search for patterns, analyze risks, and generate summaries, but keep humans in control of interpretation. Developing strategies to maximize the benefits of AI legislative tracking software is essential for organizations aiming to enhance efficiency and maintain oversight. That balance ensures that decisions remain grounded in fair and ethical judgment.

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Texas Political Spotlight

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In the Texas House interim charges — study the implications of adding to Texas one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/koQ4mgY8Wi
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On Monday, the Texas Education Agency told school districts to cancel or redirect any events tied to Cesar Chavez and to remove references to him from classroom lessons and materials.
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Several Muslim parents and private schools are challenging Texas’ new ESA program in federal court, alleging Islamic schools were improperly excluded from participation in the state’s education savings account system. Meanwhile, President Trump has endorsed Republican Brandon Herrera in the closely watched race for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District following the withdrawal of incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales amid personal controversy. At the same time, First Lady Cecilia Abbott has announced the recipients of the 42nd Annual Governor’s Volunteer Awards, recognizing Texans whose service and leadership are strengthening communities across the state.

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Opinion: Make Texans Healthy Again

Make Texans Healthy Again: A Bold Vision for Change

The Cost of Chronic Disease in Texas