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As the 2000 legislative session winds down, Albany has seen many interesting things occur since the cold days of January. We saw Governor Pataki propose and deliver $125 million in new money for community mental health services. We saw the legislature add another $20 million or so to help fill gaps left by the Governor's proposal.

We've seen a coup attempt in the state Assembly, where a number of angry legislators tried to throw out Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Each of those things has gotten much media coverage, and attention throughout the political world, including the mental health arena. Heck, we stood in line to sing the praises of the Governor, as he offered the single largest increase in the state's mental health budget since the Office of Mental Health was created in 1977.

But, with all the hoopla, we often miss opportunities to praise the unsung heroes - those who take up our cause in the legislature or elsewhere for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.

High on the list of those unsung would be State Senator Tom Duane of Manhattan. In the first year of his first term, Senator Duane was one of only six state legislators to vote against Involuntary Outpatient Commitment, known as Kendra's Law. This year, the Senator took it upon himself to hold his Senate colleagues accountable, trying to force a senate vote on Mental Health Parity.

Senator Duane introduced his own Parity bill early in the session, which was very similar to the one sponsored by Assemblyman Brennan each year. While the Brennan bill sails through the Assembly, Senator Tom Duane's bill could expect a fate like that of Senate Mental Health Committee Chair Libous' bill (a fate similar to that of the Titanic) -- death without ceremony.

To try to force this vote on mental health parity in the Senate, Duane used a "motion to discharge," which is a procedural attempt to jump over the stagnant process and bring the bill up for an immediate vote by all the Senators.

Senator Duane spoke in support of his motion, saying, "This bill does not provide greater coverage for mental illnesses, it provides for equal treatment. For too long, mental health and mental illness and people who are seeking treatment for mental illness have had to live with stigmatization. And, even
today, people are afraid to seek treatment for fear that it will forever label them as being somehow flawed.

"That's much different than what we do when someone has been treated for a physical ailment, and when they come back to health, they are treated equally by society.

"No other disease is discriminated against in the same way that mental illness is discriminated against. And we absolutely have to stop that."

When a vote was called, the Senator's motion was defeated, with all 25 Democratic Senators voting for it, and all 36 Republican Senators (including the 23 who co-sponsor Senator Libous' bill) voting "No."

But, thanks to Senator Duane, mental health parity has taken a big political step. For the first time ever, it was discussed on the floor of the New York State Senate. The walls didn't fall in, and no one was struck by lightning. That should make it easier to discuss on the Senate floor in the future.