On May 27th—the final day for bills to pass on second reading in the Texas House—fifteen Republican lawmakers broke with conservative principles and sided with Democrats to pass Senate Bill 646 by State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), a bloated and misguided expansion of the state’s Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program – program that uses taxpayer money to pay off the student loans of mental health workers. The bill is reminiscent of the type of Biden-era student loan forgiveness programs that cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.
The bill sharply increases government spending, extends benefits to lower-tier license holders, and effectively turns taxpayers into debt-payers for a growing list of private individuals—all while hardworking Texans are struggling to afford skyrocketing property taxes and basic living expenses.
SB 646 expands the program beyond its original scope, both in cost and eligibility. It raises repayment caps by tens of thousands of dollars, tacks on new bonuses worth up to $30,000 per person, and adds new categories of workers, including school counselors and associate-level practitioners, flooding the program with broad eligibility and open-ended costs.
This is not the proper role of government. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the personal financial decisions of others—especially when those individuals chose to take on debt in pursuit of a particular career. Programs like this one violate the foundational principle that government exists to protect rights, not redistribute wealth to selected groups under the guise of workforce promotion or development. It’s not compassionate governance—it’s compelled charity, paid for with money working Texans don’t have to spare.
State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park), took to the House floor to oppose the legislation, as seen in the video below:
As Cain pointed out in his speech, the Republican Party of Texas platform explicitly states that the party is opposed to loan forgiveness programs, just like the one in SB 646.
To make matters worse, SB 646 authorizes up to $1 million in taxpayer funds just for marketing the program. That means Texans struggling to cover groceries, fuel, and rent may now help foot the bill for promotional campaigns aimed at encouraging more people to sign up for state-subsidized debt relief. In a time of economic uncertainty and record-high property taxes, this is an insult to every family balancing a budget without government assistance.
Texas doesn’t need more state-run debt forgiveness programs. It needs lawmakers who respect the limits of government and trust the private sector to meet needs through market-driven solutions and personal responsibility.
Unfortunately, the following 15 Republicans abandoned those principles and supported a Biden-style program when they voted for SB 646:
Trent Ashby, Jeff Barry, Greg Bonnen, Giovanni Capriglione, Pat Curry, Jay Dean, Gary Gates, Ryan Guillen, Stan Lambert, John Lujan, Don McLaughlin, Dade Phelan, Gary VanDeaver, Trey Wharton, and Terry Wilson.
Their vote helped pass a bill that grows government, erodes fiscal discipline, and forces struggling Texans to pay off someone else’s student loans.
SB 646 is a betrayal of the very people who fund state government—Texas taxpayers. It should be opposed, and remembered as another example of the state’s slow drift away from conservative principles.
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