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To find out who your legislator is call 202-224-3121. |
Maryland Legislative Activities -
April 4, 2005
A note from our Maryland lobbyist Alice Neily (alice@capitalconsultantsofmd.com)
and our Maryland Legislative Council of Social Work Organizations (MD-LCSWO):
This is the final stretch of the session of 2005. The legislative session is
down to the wire; the last week. A flurry of hearings on the bills in play are
coming over from the opposite chamber; bills that are differently amended in the
two chambers must be agreed upon by both. Thus many of the bills will have to be
worked on very fast, with all research and amendments prepared in advance. It is
very complicated and required constant vigilance to avoid mischief. It is also
an opportune time to kill unwanted bills.
Hearing schedules are subject to
change with one hour notice. Legislators do not have time to download and read
emails, since, due to the volume, the downloading takes two days. Any
communication to them need to go via fax with a phone call to ensure that the
staff will personally hand the paper to the legislator. (Their fax numbers are
on their Maryland General Assembly sites.)
Here's a summary of bills we've been actively supporting or opposing. Please FAX
or phone your delegates and/or senators to express your support or opposition.
(They are getting too many emails right now and don't look at them.) How to
reach them? See http://www.capitalconsultantsofmd.com.
HB 955 & SB 769 - We strongly oppose giving HMOs and Managed Care
Organizations a tax break of 2% per premium; they can well afford it, and do not
need to raise rates to pay this tax that all other insurers pay.
HB 148, SB127 - Our Board of Social Work Examiners surplus funds (from
our licensing fees) were to be diverted by the governor to be used for a "Child
Welfare Training Academy"; we lobbied hard on this one, and, thanks to Del
Griffin, got the wording changed so that a large portion of the money will be
used for training of social workers; how the $ are spent will have to be
reported back to the legislature. We continue to believe that Board funds should
not be diverted from the Boards; after the session we want to meet with other
professional groups to prepare legislation preventing the administration from
taking funds from Boards. You might want to write to your legislator expressing
your disappointment that these monies could be taken without any consultation
with the social workers who paid their licensing fees in good faith; perhaps one
of the would help us draft preventive legislation this summer.
HB 802; SB 616 - Juvenile Law bills that develop procedures and mandates
training for evaluator/case managers to advise judges about the competency of
emotionally disturbed juveniles to stand trial, and make recommendations for
treatment if needed. We have requested an amendment to include LCSW-Cs as
providers of this service.
HB 458; SB 542 - We have supported these bills to provide health
insurance coverage for needed psychological and neurological testing; please
send thanks to the Senate (it's passed) and support the House bill.
HB 627; SB 716 - We support this bill requiring hospitals to develop
financial assistance policies to provide free and reduced-cost care to specified
patients and establishing an independently functioning Community Health
Resources Commission within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to
ensure expanded health care access. It has passed in the Senate; needs support
in the House.
HB847; SB649. Thanks to Joel Kanter for testifying in support of
HB847/SB649 to create a new licensure category of private-pay (not state funded)
housing programs for individuals with serious psychiatric disorders. NAMI and
other advocacy groups supported the bills, but the administration listed many
technical objections to the bill and general opposition on the grounds that
housing for those with psychiatric disorders was complex and involved several
state agencies and needed more extensive study. They were the only opposition.
It appears that these hearings will result in the creation of a Task Force to
study and make recommendations, plus a study group of advocates, legislators,
providers, consumers, and family members to study the housing issues and make
recommendations if Task Force bills do not pass. Also, the Mental Hygiene
Administration (MHA) has agreed to authorize expansion of the numbers of
private-pay Residential Rehabilitation Program (RRP) beds and to support
legislation next year to allow the establishment of group homes by for-profit
providers. And the Office of Health Care Quality agreed to amend their
legislation on Assisted Living programs (HB1326 and SB303) to continue to
allow small Assisted Living programs to accept patient referrals from hospitals
with appropriate evaluations.
And finally - late last week the governor submitted a "supplemental budget."
This amends the budget submitted in January with some modest (and important)
changes. There is $1 million to fund Medbank--maybe the best bang for the buck
in our state, delivering prescription drugs to very low income Marylanders at
very low prices (learn more about MedBank at
http://www.medbankmd.org/)
There is also increased funding for a child care referral network and a few
other proposals are included. (More info at
http://www.marylandpolicy.org, the website of the non-profit Maryland Budget
and Tax Policy Institute.