Senate Passes Two Bills Aimed at Mental Health System Reform
Abstract
Several bills aimed at fixing aspects of the nation’s system of caring for patients with mental illness are circulating on Capitol Hill, leading to some optimism that real reform will occur this year.
Mental health system reform is gaining serious traction on Capitol Hill with the Senate passage of two key pieces of legislation last month.
One bill, the Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act (S 993), introduced by Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), addresses the criminalization of people with mental illness.
“Jails and prisons have become the front lines of treatment for mental illness despite being ill equipped to do so,” said APA President Renée Binder, M.D., in a statement following passage of the legislation in the Senate. “In 44 states, the largest facilities housing people with severe psychiatric illness are prisons or jails. This bipartisan legislation will help improve mental health services in the criminal justice system and reduce the number of people with mental illness in jails and prisons.”
The legislation extends the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, including support for mental health courts and crisis intervention teams. It also supports efforts to identify people with mental health conditions at each point in the criminal justice system and direct them to appropriate mental health services, directs assistance to veterans with mental health conditions in the justice system, increases focus on corrections-based programs, and supports additional training for law enforcement officials.
Last July APA had joined more than 80 organizations representing law enforcement officers, judges, court personnel, corrections officers, policymakers, faith-based leaders, mental health professionals, and veterans service organizations to urge Congress to pass the legislation.
“We strongly encourage House passage of the companion legislation introduced by Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.),” Binder said.
The Franken-Cornyn bill is one of several bills in circulation on Capitol Hill focusing on the mental health system, giving rise to some optimism that 2016 will be a year of reform.
Also last month, the Senate passed the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act (S 1893). It was introduced by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The bipartisan bill contains the following provisions:
Supports suicide prevention and intervention programs by reauthorizing the Garrett Lee Smith youth suicide grant program.
Helps train teachers and school personnel to recognize and understand the signs of mental illness.
Helps children recover from traumatic events, including support for the national network of child trauma centers.
Requires a study of federal requirements that may get in the way of integrating mental health and substance use disorder treatment with primary care, as well as other barriers to care.
Directs the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to improve education and awareness among providers and patients of treatments for addiction to opioid painkillers.
Requires a Government Accountability Office study on mental health services for children, looking at both access and availability.
Encourages sharing of information on best practices for mental illness, including substance use disorders, in older adults.
Encourages the improvement of the National Violent Death Reporting System, which collects data from 32 states.
Requires a government study on the status of recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services 2007 report following the Virginia Tech tragedy.
APA’s Division of Government Relations continues to monitor developments on Capitol Hill and is working with legislators in both parties and both houses of Congress to achieve comprehensive mental health reform. ■
