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April 4, 2006 "SOMETIMES, WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART": Presently, Governor Pataki is pondering his next move(s) with regard to the budget agreement the Assembly and Senate sent him last week, which would raise state spending $2-5 billion dollars (depending on which of the three budget makers is speaking) above the Governor’s proposal to spend about $110 billion. He has expressed his displeasure with the legislature’s budget agreement because he believes it spends too much money. He also has threatened to veto portions of that agreement. However, mental health advocates were pleased to see some of the additions the legislature provided. Included, among several positive changes, are measures that will: 1) help ensure that individuals with mental health needs continue to have access to medications despite the difficulties with Medicare Part D; 2) provide funding increases to vital programs, many operated by mental health associations around the state, that have weathered funding cuts from the state in previous years; 3) ensure that physicians have the final say about which drugs Medicaid patients will get, rather than revoking that authority as the Governor had proposed; 4) provide air conditioning for adult home residents, many of who have medical conditions which make air conditioning a necessity, and; 5) fund the creation of more independent housing placements for adult home residents. So, as everyone else is doing, we are waiting to see whether the Governor will choose to wield his veto pen on portions of the legislature’s budget agreement. And, if he chooses to veto some portions, we will then wait to see whether the legislature will choose to over-ride any of the Governor’s vetoes, as they have done in previous years. Meanwhile, mental health advocates in Albany are keeping themselves occupied by gearing up for the remaining three months of Legislative Session, in which many issues impacting New Yorkers with mental health needs will be addressed, likely to include a continuation of discussions regarding the civil commitment of sexual offenders in the state’s mental health system. We are also working diligently to make sure that other issues such as Timothy’s Law and the measure to ban solitary confinement for prisoners with mental health needs get the attention they deserve before the legislature leaves town at the end of June.
TIMOTHY’S LAW CAMPAIGN "TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS!" AS BUDGET GETS FINALIZED: After years of legislative gridlock, the Timothy’s Law Campaign is “Takin’ It to the Streets,” as Michael McDonald once wrote, and we need everyone to pitch in! For the next few months, the fight for parity in insurance coverage for mental health care and addiction treatment services will be won through an all-out grassroots mobilization throughout New York State. In an effort to demonstrate to the support that Timothy’s Law has in communities throughout the state, events are being organized in many locations throughout the state. How You Can Help!Contact your State Senator – Last month, the NYS Assembly passed Timothy’s Law by a vote of 134-9, leaving the Senate to pass the bill. Contact your Senator today to let him/her know that you are part of the fight for insurance parity in New York. Let him/her know that you want the Senate to pass Timothy’s Law (S.6735-A) right away. You can reach your Senator by calling their district office. A complete list of the members of the Senate and their contact information is available at www.timothyslaw.org/senators.pdf. We also encourage you to send an email to your Senator by going to www.timothyslaw.org/advtlc.php. From this website, you can also find out who your Senator is, or go to http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/. Spread the Word – Second, encourage others you know to publicly support Timothy’s Law. One easy way to spread the word is to urge individuals you know to join Timothy’s Team by going to www.timothyslaw.org/. Timothy's Team provides timely updates about what is happening in the Campaign and what steps you can take to aid in passing this landmark legislation. For organizations and individuals interested in getting involved with the Timothy's Law Campaign, we encourage you to sign up for regular Timothy's Law Campaign e-mail communications by contacting Ruth Foster at rfoster@ftnys.org or (518) 432-0333 ext. 15. Endorse Timothy’s Law - First, if your local agency, PTA, association, church, school, union, business, or trade association has not yet done so, please be sure to endorse Timothy’s Law. It’s easy – just fill out the Timothy’s Law Endorsement Form (found at www.timothyslaw.org/endorsementform.pdf with the name of your group exactly as you want it to appear in campaign materials alongside the hundreds of other organizations that support Timothy’s Law and fax it to (518) 434-6478. Participate in Upcoming Events – On the Timothy’s Law website, at www.timothyslaw.org/events.htm, numerous events in support of Timothy’s Law are listed. We hope that you will get involved with any of these events that are set to take place near you – contact information is available on the website. If there is not an event planned to take place near you, we hope that you’ll consider helping to organize one. Members of the Timothy’s Law Campaign will be happy to help organize events in localities throughout the state – just let us know by contacting Michael Seereiter at mseereiter@mhanys.org or at (518) 434-0439 ext. 221.
EMPLOYMENT - MHANYS SEEKS COORDINATOR FOR MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION CENTER: Full Time, 35 hours. Provide information and referral on mental health issues to New Yorkers via phone calls, e-mails and community presentations. Maintain and administer agency website. Catalog materials in the Mental Health Information Center. Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree plus 3 years’ equivalent experience. Master’s pref. Computer, database (Proficiency with Microsoft Access and Macromedia Dreamweaver a plus), Excellent editing/writing experience. Excellent people skills. The Mental Health Association in New York State is an equal opportunity employer. Send or fax resumes to 194 Washington Ave Suite 415, Albany NY 12210 Fax: 518-427-8676 or e-mail: hdavis@mhanys.org.
THE FOUNDATION OF ADVOCACY FOR MENTAL HEALTH EVENT FEATURES FORMER FIRST LADY ROSALYNN CARTER: Former-First Lady Rosalynn Carter will be the guest of honor at a fundraising event to be held by the Foundation for Advocacy in Mental Health on April 24 in Albany. The event is intended to help to focus attention on the importance of overcoming stigma and addressing mental health needs. Rosalynn Carter has long-standing commitments to human development and mental health. She has worked tirelessly through the Carter Center to reduce the stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses; to advance promotion, prevention and early intervention services for children and their families; and to increase public awareness about the importance of mental health and mental illnesses and to stimulate local actions to address those issues. This event will be held at the Lincoln House, 284 State Street in Albany. Tickets are $150 and may be reserved by calling (518) 426-7252. Additional information is available at www.foundationofadvocacymh.org.
IN THE NEWS: Former
prisoners say special housing units are dangerous. By Joseph
Gerace Family members of those incarcerated in special housing units and several women formerly confined to those types of cells provided emotional testimony at a press conference held by Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement last Tuesday. They were calling for the passage of a bill (S.2207) establishing residential treatment programs for the rehabilitation and confinement of inmates with serious mental illnesses in a way consistent with the needs of the mentally ill and security and safety of the prison workers. At the conference several advocates arrived dressed in hospital gowns and placed boxes over their heads in protest of the cramped and confined conditions that inmates placed in a special housing unit, or SHU, must endure. They recounted stories that revealed how SHUs impacted those with mental disabilities; by their accounts these conditions allowed for bleak violations of human rights and disregard for New York state law. Manifested in outbursts and tearful recollections, they offered blurry fragments of obviously painful stories including the rape, suicide and mistreatment of prison inmates. Brenda Jerry, an ex-prison inmate, told the audience of mostly mental health advocates that she had been diagnosed with acute bipolar disorder before entering the prison system. While in prison she was placed into confinement where she was molested by guards, “beaten black and blue in places it don’t show,” and had her dignity stripped away. Other women told tales of children in confinement who lost a dangerous amount of weight, their sanity, or even their lives. The Correctional Association surveyed 162 prisoners with mental illness in special housing units and found that between 1998 and 2001, over 50 percent of the system’s 48 suicides occurred in 23-hour lockdown, which is the normal stay without human interaction, sunlight or fresh air, that an inmate can experience in a SHU. Fifty-three percent of inmates with mental illness in SHUs reported previous suicide attempts while in prison. “These figures make horribly clear that the SHUs are lethal to these vulnerable prisoners,” said Michael Seereiter, public policy director for the Mental Health Association of New York State. Jack Beck, director of the Prison Visiting Project, said that the legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, and Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R,C-Fayette, would help mental health workers to intervene before the mentally ill go to an SHU. “Prisons are a dumping ground for the mentally ill,” Beck said, “and SHUs are a dumping ground for the prison system.” Opposition to the bill, which passed the Assembly with an overwhelming vote of 135-7 in late March, included a handful of Assembly members who had various arguments with the bill as it stands. Assemblyman Robert Reilly, D-Colonie, voted against the bill because of concerns placing dangerous mentally ill inmates in Office of Mental Health facilities that lacked untrained guards would put surrounding communities and others in danger. “In this legislation there are 6,000 individuals involved and when you have these people in prisons they are a potential danger to themselves, other prisoners and people guarding them,” Reilly said. “You want to make sure they are in a secure facility. The question is who is best prepared to protect the people?” Assemblyman David R. Koon, D,I-Perinton, has strong feelings that any inmate determined to stay out of the SHU could simply feign a mental disorder and receive a lesser punishment. “To try and determine if someone who committed a major crime has major mental problems is difficult,” Koon said. “If I wanted to pretend that I had a major problem I could probably pretend that I do.” Seereiter confirmed that both of the issues expressed by the assemblymen are valid, but that each is addressed in the legislation through a mandatory 40 hours of mental health training for prison guards and extensive psychological screening for the inmates who arrive at a separate facility. “We will not be satisfied until treatment is consistent and humane across the board,” said Aubry, who spoke at the press conference amid cheers of thanks from the audience. “It has to stop completely.”
Pataki
Hopes To Coax Changes In Budget. By James M. Odato Governor Seeks Spending Cuts And Fiscal Reforms From The Legislature ALBANY
-- With one more budget left in his career as governor, George
Pataki says he hopes to coax lawmakers to cut spending and adopt
more fiscal reforms than they did in the budget they passed last
week. Whether the lame-duck governor will take a tougher approach if the Legislature is determined to keep its election year budget full of goodies remains to be seen. "It's for others to say. People say a lot of things,'' said Budget Director John Cape. "We'll see what happens.'' Cape maintains the governor wields two effective tools. One is his veto power. The other is the ability to disregard any budget provisions that don't follow the language of his executive budget plan. "It depends how much he wants to bargain,'' said Frank Mauro, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a union-backed think tank. "He can line item (veto) every addition. If he can't sustain a veto, he doesn't have a power.'' Lawmakers already have shown a willingness to override Pataki. They overrode his budget vetoes in 2003 when he called their spending program a "fiscal train wreck.'' In February, they unanimously shot down Pataki's rejection of their plan to make sure senior citizens are covered by the state while some are still converting to Medicare plans. Pataki has 10 days from the time budget bills were passed Wednesday through Friday to decide how he will act on them. Pataki has said the budget "spends too much, reforms too little.'' Cape pegs it at $115.5 billion, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at $113.25 billion and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno at $112.4 billion. The governor's complaints have been tempered, allowing Cape to play "bad cop,'' said E.J. McMahon, director of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center, a conservative policy group. And Silver, D-Manhattan, has been noticeably laid back throughout the budget process, barely criticizing Pataki. Bruno, R-Brunswick, has been more assertive, defending a tax rebate program that is a central feature of the budget deal for Senate Republicans. Cape calls the rebate feature unconstitutional because it changed language in the governor's executive budget. Both Silver and Bruno, who say they don't anticipate vetoes, acknowledge that they need help from the governor to accomplish their spending plan. Pataki would need to resubmit his budget plan with amended language to comport with the Legislature's plans, which include a $200 million environmental protection fund and a $2.5 billion program to assist needy families. He also needs to change his budget language to fit some of the economic development programs desired by the Legislature, Silver said. Those issues should give Pataki plenty of leverage to get some of what he wants, McMahon said. However, if the Legislature won't accommodate him and refuses to acknowledge it has violated the constitution in setting up the rebate program, it could lead to a showdown. Governors who are going to be around for a while can win over lawmakers by offering patronage or sharing discretionary money as a strategy to block vetoes. But even a lame duck like Pataki, who decided not to seek re-election this year, has ways of getting what he wants. He could sue to block an alleged unconstitutional spending plan, or withhold or delay payments for member items or pork projects. But with most legislators running for re-election and the budget giving them so much to take back to voters, some doubt Pataki will be unable to persuade lawmakers to amend their package. "I don't see where his leverage would come from,'' said Assemblyman William Parment, D-Jamestown, one of the most fiscally conservative members of his chamber's majority. Parment voted against several of the bills for the budget, which he said calls for too much debt -- some $3.7 billion above what the governor proposed. "I think this budget is pretty much wired,'' he said. "Who does it not have something for?'' asked Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, R-Washingtonville. Veto overrides, she said, would be a sure thing in the Assembly, where Silver controls 105 members and needs just 100 votes for the two-thirds required majority. Bruno has refused to discuss override votes, but seems prepared to defend the budget. "There will be some differences,'' he said, but suggested that "negativity'' from Pataki's camp isn't productive. Without naming Pataki or Cape, he said critics should "stop acting like children having a tantrum because they don't get all their own way.'' Talk of the governor flexing his muscle is out of line at this point, Cape said. "Discussions I've had the last few days have been very positive about working something out,'' he said. Sen. Ray Meier, a fiscal conservative who is leaving the Senate to run for Congress, said he thinks a Court of Appeals decision that upheld the governor's constitutional strength in budget making assures Pataki leverage. For that reason, he doubts the budget wrestling match will get bloody. "I think there's a possibility of an agreement,'' he said. "Ten days is an eternity around here.' |
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