LEGISLATION AFFECTING 
MENTAL HEALTH
Contact your Legislators! 
Let them know that you care about mental health!
Things have been very busy on the hill this year! There are currently 5 different bills and some legislative decisions that will be made that will greatly affect those living with mental illness. Below is some information to familiarize yourself with how these bills and legislation will be affecting mental health services here in Utah. We urge all of you to contact your legislators and let them know that you care about mental health!
CURRENT BILLS AFFECTING MENTAL HEALTH
H.B. 18-  Preferred  Drug List

H.B. 18 is a bill that is sponsored by Representative Raymond P. Ward that will be affecting Medicaid patients being treated for mental illness. Psychiatric medications are at times a very significant cost in Medicaid pharmacy budgets. Because of the high costs, legislators such as Representative Ward believe that there is a potential to save money by proposing restrictive policies by implementing a Preferred Drug List. This will enact policies that will pose more barriers to Medicaid patients being treated for mental illness who desperately need timely care. 
 
These policies overlook the unique nature of psychiatric medications. The Medicaid population  who experiences mental illness is one of the most vulnerable, and restricting medication access can bring unintended harmful consequences. NAMI Utah strongly suggests that effective care management strategies, rather than pharmacy cost-containment policies, are needed to maximize the value of our public health care dollars.

H.B. 18 is not intended to improve patient outcomes. The bill's sole intention is to save money by implementing a Preferred Drug List that will restrict access to antispychotics, psychotropics, anti-depressants, anticonvulsants/mood stabilizers, anti-anxiety, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stimulants, and sedative/hypnotic drugs.

To view the bill in its entirety and see what amendments have been made to the bill, click  HERE

ACTION NEEDED

This bill has been in the House Health and Human Services Committee, where some amendments have been made. The bill is currently going to the House Floor. We urge you to contact your legislators and ask them to vote NO on H.B. 18!

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 


NAMI's Position Paper


Why open access to medications?

H.B. 265- Mental Health Practitioner Amendments

H.B. 265 is a bill sponsored by Representative Steve Eliason.  This bill will create state income tax credits for psychiatrist and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners who start a new practice, serve those who are homeless, Native American, veterans, or that live in small rural communities. 

Utah has a shortage of psychiatrist and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. This has become a big problem, especially when there is so great a need. This bill would create more incentive for new professionals to come to Utah to practice, and would also give them more incentive to serve our rural communities.

NAMI Utah supports this bill, and we urge you to contact your legislators asking for their support. Currently this bill has passed out of the House Committee with a favorable recommendation.

To read the bill in it's entirety, click HERE

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 

H.B. 274- Involuntary Civil Commitment Modifications

NAMI Utah has been working with Representative Edward Redd, the bill's sponsor, and we want to thank him personally for choosing not to move forward with this bill. NAMI Utah will be putting together a committee to study civil commitment and provide recommendations to Representative Redd during the interim. We are grateful to him for carefully considering the potential impact of this bill and giving it adequate time to be studied with hopes of the best possible policy changes in the future. Please contact Representative Redd and thank him for holding this bill!

This bill will change the maximum hours a person can be held in temporary involuntary commitment with a local mental health authority. Currently, a person can only be involuntary committed for up to 24 hours. This amendment would change the initial 24 hours to 72 hours. As a result, the local mental health authority would have up to 72 hours to temporarily hold an individual before filing for an involuntary civil commitment.  This wouldn't change the commitment criteria, it would only affect the length you can have an individual held on an involuntary commitment.

The primary goal of this bill is to decrease the number of unnecessary involuntary civil commitments. Often an individual's crisis will lapse, and can become stable enough to leave care or they will voluntarily commit to treatment if necessary.

To read the bill in it's entirety, click  HERE

As of now, this bill has moved from the House to the standing committee.

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Contact Representative Redd and thank him for holding this bill!

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR
H.B. 355- Peace Officer Situational Training

This bill is sponsored by Representative Francis Gibson. This bill would modify the functions of the state Attorney General. This would  authorize the Attorney General to establish a training center and to provide resources  regarding  law enforcement use of force.

The training is aimed to decrease law enforcement use of force, especially when coming into contact with those who have mental illness. This would be different from the current Crisis Intervention Team training. CIT is a voluntary program, and training is a week long course. CIT only includes officers who want to be part of a specialized team that would be responding to mental health  crisis's . This bill would authorize an 8 hour statewide training without taking away from current CIT efforts. 

NAMI Utah is supporting this bill, and we support all officers who receive this training. We urge you to contact your legislators to support this bill.

To read this bill in it's entirety, click HERE

As of now, this bill has moved from the House to the standing committee.

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 

H.B. 342- Substance Abuse Programs Amendments

This bill is sponsored by Representative Paul Ray. This bill will modify provisions regarding the Utah Substance Abuse Advisory Council. This bill will change the name of the Utah Substance Abuse Advisory Council to the Utah Substance Abuse and Mental Health Advisory Council, and will also change the name of the Drug Offender Reform Act to the Drug-Related Offences Reform Act. 

This would also expand the application of the Drug- Related Offences Reform Act. Initially, to qualify you would have to have been convicted of a felony. This bill will expand the eligibility to ANY convicted offenders.

NAMI Utah supports this bill, and believes that making these amendments will benefit those living with mental illness and Substance Abuse Disorder. We urge you to contact your legislators to support this bill.

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR
OTHER IMPORTANT LEGISLATION
Social Services Appropriations

During the legislative session, the Social Services Appropriations committee is for setting the state's budget on social service programming. 
Mental Health Medicaid Match
$6.4 Million with an additional $5 Million

We need you to contact your legislators to encourage them to fund the ongoing 6.4 million dollar Medicaid match as well as the additional one time $5 million allotted for mental health services.

Medicaid is a partnership between the State and Federal Governments. In Utah, counties partner with the state to administer services. Loosing the $6.4 million would result in an $8.4 million dollar reduction in services in Salt Lake County alone! But due to continued enrollment growth since 2014, counties are requesting a one time additional $5 million to service our growing Medicaid population.

We need you to contact your legislators to encourage them to fund this Medicaid match!

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 

Justice Reinvestment Initiative
$1.5 Million

We need you to contact your legislators and encourage them to fund the additional $1.5 million on-going funding under the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. This will fund community treatment for those with Substance Abuse Disorder and/or those with mental illness who are in the criminal justice system.

A major aspect of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative is to divert those with a mental illness or substance abuse disorder from jail and prisons and into community based treatment. The additional money is necessary to treat those non-violent offenders who would normally be booked and jailed. 

Those who have loved ones with mental illness or substance abuse disorder know that they are often criminalized. Those who are suffering with mental illness and substance abuse disorder are truly sick and are in desperate need of treatment; not criminal charges and punitive punishments.

We urge you to contact your legislators to encourage them to fund an additional $1.5 million to the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. We need to be able to fund the treatment these individuals so desperately need!

EMAIL AND CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR

Remember, when contacting legislators state your name, the bill number and name your contacting them about, and whether or not they are your representative. Then, state your case. 


NAMI Utah | 801.323.9900 | amberd@namiut.org| www.namiut.org
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