Bill Barring MH Screenings Defeated

Legislation based on an inaccurate assertion that the 2003 landmark report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health calls for mandatory screening of children for mental illness and their forced medication without informed parental consent was defeated last month in the House of Representatives for the second year in a row.

The legislation, introduced both years by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), was in the form of an amendment to the House Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) Fiscal 2006 legislation (HR 3010). It prohibited the use of federal funds to create or implement a universal mental health screening program.

The amendment was defeated by voice vote and later a recorded vote of 304-97.

APA led the latest effort to secure the legislation's defeat. Paul initially introduced the legislation earlier this year as the Parental Consent Act of 2005 (HR 181). At that time APA and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry sent a letter to members of the House and Senate calling on them to oppose the legislation (Psychiatric News, March 18).

Before the vote on the amendment was taken, Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on LHHS, spoke in opposition to the amendment, saying that there are no federal funds that can be used for screening without parental consent. He also noted that Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, had testified before the subcommittee that the Bush administration never has and never will support screening without parental consent. ▪