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The Mental Health Association in New York State (MHANYS) recently released its 2000 Legislative Program, our organization's advocacy agenda for the 2000 state legislative session.

Developed by the MHANYS Government Affairs Committee under the leadership of board member and committee chair Ken Steele, the 2000 Legislative Program is based on testimony offered by mental health advocates at the MHANYS Annual Public Hearing in October.

The Legislative Program is divided into budget priorities, which focus on funding services, and legislative priorities, which seek specific changes in state law. Among its budget priorities, MHANYS continues to emphasize the need for service enhancement in several areas:

Rapid expansion of the least restrictive housing alternatives for adults-including increasing rent stipends to match fair market rates;
Improving mental health services in jails and prisons-while establishing a continuum of care for individuals living with mental illness released from incarceration;
Provision of mental health services to all children with serious emotional disabilities in need;
Funding for expanded peer-operated services-including a permanent source of new funding for peer-operated services, and;
Guaranteeing a living wage to direct care workers in community mental health services.
Also of particular importance, in light of the growing criminalization of mental illnesses, is the need to support pre-incarceration diversionary programs for individuals living with mental illness who encounter the criminal justice system. Funding for mental health assistance training for law enforcement personnel is also essential.
MHANYS will ask lawmakers to address the crisis in community care resulting from the shocking disparity in wages and benefits between direct care workers in government-operated and not-for-profit programs, recognizing that direct care workers should not have to resort to food stamps and other aid programs to support their families.
With its legislative priorities, MHANYS focuses on improving access to mental health services and promoting consumer empowerment through employment training and work incentives, and protection of consumer rights. Specific legislative priorities include:

Enact mental health parity legislation to end discriminatory practices of health insurers and managed care companies against people living with mental illness.
Promote consumer employment by creating benefit-based incentives to transition people in recovery into the workforce including enacting the state Medicaid buy-in.
Promote consumer rights by mandating full patient autonomy and informed consent in treatment, a meaningful right to counsel in forced treatment, and protecting the rights of parents with psychiatric disabilities.
End the Medicaid Neutrality Rule and provide 180 days presumptive Medicaid eligibility, and Enact Managed Care Accountability.
MHANYS will ask lawmakers to reform the state Medicaid program in three specific ways:
Enacte the state Medicaid buy-in option critical to the success of the recently passed federal Work Incentives Improvement Act.
Eliminate the Medicaid Neutrality Rule that works as a discriminatory device to limit the availability of outpatient mental health services.
Provide 180 days presumptive Medicaid eligibility for individuals discharged from hospitals following inpatient psychiatric treatment, and released from incarceration, to insure access to medication and outpatient clinical services.
MHANYS supports Governor Pataki's multi-year commitment to new funding for community mental health services that are reflected in the Enhanced Community Services (ECS) program proposal, and in the overall Executive Budget increase of $78.1 million for the Office of Mental Health in fiscal year 2000-01.