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Few Legislative Days Remain Before ElectionsCongressional Action Is Likely on Key Mental Health Proposals
August 20, 2002—With Congress out for its August recess and Fall election races heating up, advocates have a good opportunity to highlight the importance of mental health issues to lawmakers. Few legislative days remain before final adjournment and a number of bills affecting children and adults with severe mental disabilities are likely to be debated.
Mental Health Spending BillThe Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill that funds the Center for Mental Health Services’s (CMHS) community mental health program services. The committee’s bill makes several notable changes to the President’s budget request.
Not all programs fared so well. Children’s mental health services essentially received no new funding. Spending on the seniors’ mental health, suicide prevention and youth anti-violence programs was frozen at last year’s levels, and the mental health block grant, on which states rely heavily to pay for services for adults and children with mental illnesses, did not receive a much-needed funding increase. House Committee to Take Up Spending Bill Take Action
More Information Database Threatens Privacy, Could Lead to DiscriminationNew legislation would require states to develop lists of people who have been committed to a mental hospital. The bill is designed to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a computerized system managed by the FBI which searches various records to find whether an individual is prohibited by law from purchasing a gun. Advocates for the rights of people with mental illnesses fear that the overly broad definitions used in the law and its lack of privacy protections may lead to violations of the rights of people with mental disabilities. Under the Brady Handgun Prevention Act, gun dealers must obtain a background check on individuals who wish to purchase a handgun. Generally, these checks are done through the NICS. Current law prohibits someone “adjudicated as a mental defective or those committed to a mental institution” from purchasing a gun. The new legislation, “The Our Lady of Peace Act” (H.R. 4757 and S. 2868), would place on the NICS list the names of individuals who in several categories, including:
The list would include individuals who are found to be “gravely disabled” or otherwise unable to look after their basic needs as a result of a mental illness—even without any indication that they pose a danger to themselves or others. The bill’s broad application would also prohibit individuals with mental illnesses who committed a minor, non-violent misdemeanor from owning a gun. The legislation provides substantial funding to enable states to develop and
submit lists of people adjudicated to be mentally ill or perpetrators of domestic
violence -- $350 million each year for three years. Mental health advocates fear that such broad, stigmatizing definitions of “mentally defective” would erode the rights of people with mental illnesses and would promote the idea that violence and mental illness are linked—a notion disproved by studies showing that people with mental illnesses are no more violent than others. Advocates also fear that the bill’s lack of strong privacy protections
for sensitive mental health information may encourage discrimination unrelated
to gun ownership. If mental health information in NICS is shared, people with
mental illnesses may face housing, credit or employment discrimination stemming
from knowledge of their mental illness. Take Action
More Information Grassroots Push Needed on ParityAction is needed to ensure enactment of legislation to provide parity between mental health and medical/surgical care. The Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, H.R. 4066, co-sponsored by Representatives Marge Roukema (R-NJ) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), is supported by 240 members of Congress and more than 230 national organizations. A July subcommittee hearing on mental health benefits in private health insurance recently sparked more interest in the House, where opposition to providing parity for mental health benefits has long been a problem. While support for parity is increasing, strong opposition to full parity for all mental disorders continues. Take Action More Information Other Bills Under ReviewThe Bazelon Center is working on a broad array of other important mental health issues. Family Opportunity Act: This bill to expand Medicaid coverage to more children with severe emotional disturbances could increase access to needed behavioral health services for families, reducing the need for families to relinquish custody of their child to obtain such services. Grassroots action is needed to bring the legislation up for a vote before the full Senate. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families:
This legislation to reauthorize the 1996 welfare reform legislation has special
significance to people with mental disabilities. It is estimated that adults
who receive TANF benefits were three times more likely to have at least one
physical or mental health impairment than adults not receiving benefits under
the program. Studies also show that TANF recipients with impairments were half
as likely to leave the welfare rolls as those without impairments and that
when they did, they were less likely to be employed. With the current law set
to expire on September 30, now is the time to call your members of Congress
and encourage them to support responsible welfare reform. Read the July 2002
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