Advocacy and Public Policy

Legislative Priorities and Talking Points

2012 Session

Georgia General Assembly



The following are the 2012 legislative agenda and associated talking points approved by the Board of Directors of the Association on October 26, 2011 and as revised by the Association’s Executive Committee on December 9, 2012.


1.  Exempt Community Providers of Mental Health Services to Adults from Budget Cuts in the FY 2012 Amended and FY 2013 Appropriations Acts.

On July 26, 2011, the Office of Planning and Budget notified state departments and agencies to prepare their FY 2012 Amended and FY 2013 Appropriations requests with a 2 percent cut in state dollars in each fiscal year.  The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities negotiated with the Office of Planning and Budget to exempt services funded pursuant to the Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and certain services provided by state-operated regional hospitals and community providers.  Community mental health services to adults were not exempt.  As such, the 2 percent budget cut for FY 2012 effective November 1, 2011, is in effect is a 2.7 percent cut for the eight months remaining in the current fiscal year.  On August 25, 2011, the Association sent a letter to Governor Nathan Deal asking him to exempt the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental from any budget cuts.  Former Governor Sonny Perdue had exempted the department from budget cuts in deference to the Settlement Agreement.  Governor Deal has not responded to the Association’s letter.  The Association argues that any cuts in state funds supporting mental health services to adults has a negative effect on the services included in the Settlement Agreement.   


2.  Monitor House Bill 231.

House Bill 231 is a carryover bill from the 2010 session of the General Assembly.  If enacted into law, the bill would provide an alternative for professionals who sign authorizations (Forms 1013 and 2013) for peace officers to transport individuals who may have a mental illness or may be dependent on alcohol or other drugs to an emergency receiving facility.  The legislation would permit transporting such individuals to local mental health centers for examination.  The bill’s author is Rep. Wendell Willard, but this legislation was proposed by Athens-Clarke County Probate Judge Susan Tate.  Representatives of the Association have met with Judge Tate to discuss concerns about providing such examinations in an outpatient setting where qualified staff may not be available as well as arranging subsequent transportation to an emergency receiving facility, if needed.  A local mental health center would have to agree in advance to serve as an examination site.  


3.   Monitor Medicaid Reimbursement Re-Design.

Navigant Consulting, a Chicago-based company, was awarded a $3.3 million contract to study options for redesigning Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs.  The contract is for one year, with two possible one-year renewals.  Navigant will review Georgia’s current managed care program, which covers more than 1 million Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids beneficiaries, as well as models developed by other states.  

Commissioner David Cook of the Department of Community Health has said he wants to take a comprehensive look at alternatives to the current HMO-like structure in which the state pays three CMOs (care management organizations) more than $2.5 billion a year in state funds to serve the Medicaid and PeachCare populations.

The $6 billion Georgia Medicaid program (including federal funds) faces continuing budget problems.  It will also be confronted by a huge expansion of Medicaid beginning in 2014, adding perhaps 600,000 new enrollees, should the Affordable Care Act of 2010 survive court challenges.

There is expressed interest in the Medicaid programs of two other states as possible models for Georgia.  North Carolina’s Community Care Program uses a “medical home’’ concept.  The state is divided into 14 nonprofit, doctor-directed regional care networks.  Hundreds of care managers help patients stay healthy, visiting them in their homes and helping keep them out of hospital emergency rooms.  Physician panels decide quality parameters.  Healthy Indiana has a benefits package modeled after a high-deductible, health savings account insurance plan. It covers Medicaid beneficiaries and also low-income uninsured adults.


4.   Delay Approval by the State Board of Community Health of the Burns and Associates Report Recommending New Medicaid Rates for Community Developmental Disabilities Services. 

The Service Providers Association for Developmental Disabilities (SPADD) and the Georgia Association of Community Service Boards jointly expressed alarm over actions taken by the Division of Developmental Disabilities of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities with respect to Medicaid reimbursement rates for community developmental disabilities services.  Initially, the two provider organizations tried to influence the Division to rescind a June 30, 2011, memorandum from Beverly Rollins requiring providers to provide 5-day a week community access-group (CAG) services regardless of the amount of reimbursement funds available.  SPADD and the Association requested the Division set reimbursement at the 2002 annual rate of $17,510.00.  

Despite appeals to the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and Dr. Frank Shelp, no action was taken.  In November, 2011, without any notice to providers, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities forwarded the results of a Burns and Associates’ study of proposed Medicaid rates for community developmental disabilities services to the Department of Community Health for action by the State Board of Community Health in January, 2012.  The Association’s position is that the proposed rates are based on un-reliable data and un-sound logic, and will result, in some cases, in rates lower than rates of twenty-years ago.

The Association requests the State Board of Community Health delay action on the request from the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities so that providers and advocates of developmental disabilities services have sufficient time to address concerns with the Burns and Associates report, and can resolve those concerns with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.     


5.   Extend TANF Supplemental Funding for Women and Children’s Addiction Recovery Programs. 

Recently, the United States Congress failed to extend benefits under TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families).  These benefits included supplemental TANF funds to certain states, including Georgia, that support outpatient and residential programs for women who are in recovery and their children.  Georgia’s share of the lost supplemental TANF funds is $37 million of which $20,134,088.00 supports the women’s recovery programs.  At the close of 2011, Congress was taking steps to extend basic TANF benefits, but these actions did not include restoring the supplemental funds.  Unless Congress restores the supplemental funds, the result in Georgia would be the loss of (1) 120 residential slots, (2) the entire Outpatient IOP (Intensive Outpatient) program, (3) the START program, and (4) the transitional program.

The Division of Addictive Diseases in the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities has indicated that existing state dollars could be used to partially replace the expected lost TANF supplemental dollars, but that $11.1 million in new state funds would still be needed in state fiscal year 2013.  Should Congress fail to act to restore the TANF supplemental funds, the Association will ask the General Assembly to appropriate state funds in the amount of $11.1 million so that these essential women’s programs can continue.  
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GACSB Legislative Updates:
(Click on the below file names to view or save.)

GACSB-Legislative Update-1-16-12.pdf
GACSB-Legislative_Update-1-20-12.pdf
GACSB-Legislative Update-1-30-12.pdf
GACSB-Legislative Update-2-5-12.pdf
GACSB-Legislative Update-2-13-12.pdf
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FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR:

Contact the Governor:
http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,165937316_166563415,00.html

Contact the Lieutenant Governor: 
http://ltgov.georgia.gov/00/agency/contact_us/0,2688,2199618_87997337,00.html

Contact your Georgia State Senator:
http://www.senate.ga.gov/senators/en-US/SenateMembersList.aspx

Contact your Georgia House Representative:
http://www.house.ga.gov/Representatives/en-US/HouseMembersList.aspx

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Legislative Priorities and Talking Points

2011's Session

Georgia General Assembly

At its meeting held at Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia, on October 19, 2010, the Board of Directors of the Georgia Association of Community Service Boards, Inc., adopted by unanimous vote three legislative priorities for the 2011 session of the Georgia General Assembly. 

2011 Legislative Priorities

1.  Support the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Budget Proposals for State Fiscal Year 2011 Amended and State Fiscal Year 2012.

If funded by the General Assembly, the proposals will represent a major enhancement and expansion of community-based services for persons with mental illness and individuals with developmental disability.  The proposals are part of a five year plan outlined in a settlement agreement announced October 19, 2010, by Governor Purdue and the U.S. Department of Justice to bring Georgia into compliance with the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C., a Georgia case, and the Americans with Disability Act.  The plan targets 9,000 individuals with mental illness, and effective, July 1, 2011, individuals with developmental disabilities will no longer be admitted to state-operated hospitals. 

2.   Support the Legislative Agenda of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.

The Georgia Council on Substance Abuse supports legislation that would (1) authorize the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy to monitor the prescribing and dispensing certain controlled substances, and (2) promote a public health approach to universal screening for substance use problems, such as the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Program.  The Council supports proposals by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to expand services to persons with substance use problems so that each of the Department’s six regions has a recovery center and a social detoxification center.

3.   Support the Legislative Agenda of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association.

The Georgia Supportive Housing Association supports budget proposals to expand substantially housing options for persons with mental illness, and encourages the Department of Community Health to prioritize the allocation of Section 8 federal subsidies for supportive housing rent subsidies as well as expand funding of the Housing Trust Fund from $3 million to $5 million.

2011 Legislative Talking Points

  1.  Support the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Budget Proposals for State Fiscal Year 2011 Amended and State Fiscal Year 2012.

               The Department is requesting the following additions in State Funds:

FY 2011 Amended

FY 2012

New Community Services

      $   26,216,151

$    65,589,869

Additional Developmental Disability Waivers

      $     3,587,634

$    14,556,172

Federal Matching Assistance Program (Medicaid)

      $   10,387,009

$    54,101,830

Forensic Services

      $                   0

$    12,500,000

Totals

      $   40,190,794

 $ 146,747,871

               The Department is requesting the following additions in state funds for New Community Services:


FY 2011 Amended

FY 2012

New Community Mental Health Initiatives

      $   15,328,456

$   44,462,079

   1.  Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Teams

      $     3,063,402

$     8,389,015

   2.  Community Support Teams

      $          50,000

$        537.080

   3.  Intensive Case Management

      $        271,016

$     1,046,960

   4.  Case Management

      $                   0

$        255,075

   5.  Housing Supports

      $     2,801,001

$     7,532,798

   6.  Supported Employment

      $        833,076

$     1,905,804

   7.  Peer Supports

      $                   0

$        749,100

   8.  Transition Planning

      $     1,421,321

$     2,840,642

   9.  Crisis Services

      $     1,860,502

$     5,731,394

10.   1915I Waiver

      $                   0

$     1,952,266

11.   Training

      $                   0

$        592,978

12.   Technology

      $                   0

$     1,500,000

13.   Monitoring and Management

      $     5,028,138

$   11,428,967

New Community Developmental Disabilities Initiatives

      $   10,887,695

$   21,127,790

  1.   Education and Training

      $                    0

$        500,000

  2.   Crisis, Respite, and Nursing

      $      9,590,095

$   19,130,190

  3.   Family Supports

      $      1,297,600

$      1,497,600

Total Funding for New Community Initiatives

      $    25,216,121

$    65,589,869

New Community Mental Health Services are designed to serve 9,000 individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) who are (1) currently being served in state-operated regional hospitals, (2) frequently readmitted to state-operated regional hospitals, (3) frequently seen in community hospital emergency rooms, and (4) chronically homeless and/or released from jails or prisons.  All existing 16 Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Teams and the two new ACT Teams will operate with fidelity with the Dartmouth ACT model.

Additional Developmental Disabilities Waivers in the FY 2011 proposal will provide for 155 new waivers for consumers in state facilities and 100 additional waivers to prevent hospital admissions.  In FY 2012, the proposal provides for 150 new waivers for consumers in the state hospitals and 100 additional waivers to prevent admissions to state facilities.

Forensic Services will provide for an additional 100 beds in FY 2012 that will be purchased from private providers to address the needs of 200 individuals awaiting transfer from jails and prisons.

2.   Support the Legislative Agenda of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.

      The Georgia Council on Substance Abuse has identified four 2011 legislative opportunities.  These are: 

      1.   Support Patient Safety Act

In the 2010session of the Georgia General Assembly, State Senator David Shafer and others introduced S.B. 248, which if enacted into law, would have amended Chapter 13 of Title 16 of the O.C.G.A., relating to controlled substances, to provide for the establishment of a program for the monitoring of prescribing and dispensing Schedule II, III, IV, or V controlled substances by the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy.  The bill was introduced late in the 2010 session with no chance for passage.  As such new legislation creating a Georgia Prescription Monitoring Program will have to be introduced in the 2011 session of the General Assembly.  

2.   Modify Public Assistance Drug Testing Legislation.

H.B. 1163 introduced by Rep. Ben Harbin and others was not enacted in 2010 session of the General Assembly, and new legislation will be needed in the 2011 session in order for such legislation to be considered again.  Had the bill been enacted into law, it would have amended Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 34 of the O.C.G.A., relating to the administration of the "Employment Security Law," to require the Department of Labor to develop a program of random drug testing of applicants for unemployment benefits.  The bill also amended Article 1 of Chapter 4 of Title 49 of the O.C.G.A., the "Georgia Public Assistance Act of 1965," to require the Department of Human Services to develop a program of random drug testing of applicants for public assistance, and also require that any applicant who refuses to be tested or whose test results in a positive identification of certain substances shall be ineligible to receive public assistance.  Rather than legislation such as H.B. 1163, the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse prefers legislation promoting a public health approach to universal screening for substance use problems, such as the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Program.

3.   Recovery Centers

Support the request of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to fund a recovery center in each of the six regions to promote community-based long term recovery.

4.   Social Detoxification

Support the request of Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to fund a social detox center in each of the six regions to assist in controlling admissions to state hospitals and relieve the current heavy burden on hospital emergency rooms statewide.

Note:  A copy of the 2011 legislative agenda of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse is available below. 

3.   Support the Legislative Agenda of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association.

The Georgia Supportive Housing Association has identified seven 2011 legislative initiatives.  These are: 

     1.   Expand Medicaid funding for persons living in supportive housing.

     2.   Create 9,000 units of supportive housing over the next five years.

     3.   Prioritize the allocation of Section 8 federal subsidies for supportive housing rent subsidies.

     4.   Create full time housing facilitators in each of the regional offices of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

     5.   Expand funding of the Housing Trust Fund from $3 million to $5 million in the Department of Community Affairs.

     6.   Create a flexible fund to support housing support specialists.

     7.   Hold an Educational conference for members of the Georgia General Assembly.

Note:  A copy of the 2011 legislative agenda of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association is available below. 

Prepared October 26, 2010


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Georgia Council on Substance Abuse 2011 Legislative Opportunities

Georgia Council on Substance Abuse 2011 Legislative Opportunities.doc
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Georgia Supportive Housing Association Legislative Agenda-2011

GSHA Legislative one pager 2011.doc
GSHA Legislative Agenda 2011.doc