Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.
(Publication Archives)

Friday Fax from Albany

Speaker Silver Speaks: It is a rare day indeed when the Speaker of the Assembly takes time out from his schedule to personally address 125 people gathered to work on mental health issues. Even more rare is when his message is one of support for a bill that has already passed his house.

Typically in Albany, when the Senate or Assembly passes a bill, that house believes its work to be concluded. Sure, the sponsors of the bill will continue to push for it, but leadership turns its focus to other work as yet undone.

That is not the case with Timothy’s Law. Recognizing MHANYS’ unfailing commitment to the passage of Timothy’s Law as a complete measure, the Speaker of the Assembly chose our event to state that Timothy’s Law is a personal priority of his, and that he will not rest until Timothy’s Law becomes law.

To loud applause, Speaker Silver called on his colleagues in the Senate to take up the bill, echoing the sentiment of all those legislators who spoke on Monday – Democrats and Republicans alike. “Tom, take your message to the Senate. Tell Senator Bruno about Timothy. Your fight in Timothy's memory is an inspiration to all of us. We thank you for your courage. We thank you for your persistence. We will not let you down. We will end this senseless discrimination once and for all,” Silver said.

And with the Speaker’s words, the battle was joined. There will be many things that the leaders of the respective legislative houses will want this session. And as the Assembly negotiates with the Senate, we know that Timothy’s Law will be high on the Speaker’s list.

How the Day Turned Out: On Monday, at what turned out to be a standing-room only event with tv cameras, newspaper reporters crowding in the back of the room, MHANYS and Samaritans Suicide Prevention Center held the 2nd Annual Joint Legislative Conference. The conference was packed with appearances by elected representatives and mental health policy makers sharing with those who attended the latest on the issues identified as priorities in MHANYS’ 2004 Legislative Agenda. Once again, Timothy’s Law truly took center-stage.

While many spoke to the crowd gathered on Monday, only Tom O’Clair had the undivided attention of the entire group as he, once again, recounted the events that eventually led to the suicide of his youngest son, Timothy, three years ago, last week. When Tom was done, speaker after speaker rose to thank the O’Clairs for their selflessness in sharing the horrific story of their son’s death with all who will listen, in the hope that some good will come of it. And with each appearance, conference attendees learned about the strong support for Timothy’s Law by many members of the Legislature.

Assembly Timothy’s Law sponsor Paul Tonko bared his soul as he spoke about the heartache and sorrow he feels for the O’Clairs, whom he represents in the NYS Assembly. He vowed that he will not rest until the legislation he sponsors in memory of Timothy becomes law.

Assemblymember Joel Miller, a dentist and small business owner for 35 years, joined MHANYS and Samaritans to discuss the impact that untreated mental illness and chemical dependency can have on small employers. Miller, who spoke in support of Timothy’s Law during the Assembly debate on March 3rd, contends that small employers have the most to gain from Timothy’s Law. Miller said, “Small businesses do not have the depth in the number of employees to be able to fill in for the worker who is being a good parent or family member. If an employee is distracted by their mental health needs or those of their family, they aren’t a productive worker, and the business suffers. Small businesses really can’t afford to not provide this coverage.”

OMH Chief Planning Officer Keith Simons then addressed those present at the conference regarding OMH’s recently released §5.07 report, Statewide Comprehensive Plan for Mental Health Services 2004-2008. Mr. Simons explained that OMH has scheduled informational briefings and public hearings on the Statewide Comprehensive Plan in various locations around the state. Additional information on these briefings and hearings can be found on OMH’s website at http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/statewideplan/announcement.htm and also follow this edition of the Friday Fax from Albany.

We were then joined by Senate Minority Leader David Patterson who spoke on behalf of the entire Senate Minority about the need to pass Timothy’s Law. Senator Patterson informed conference attendees that the members of the Senate Minority would attempt to bring a version of mental health parity legislation, sponsored by Senator Tom Duane, to the floor of the NYS Senate for a vote later that day. Despite the fact that they were unsuccessful in their attempt, the Senate Minority’s complete support for Timothy’s Law and mental health parity is greatly appreciated by mental health and chemical dependency advocates throughout New York.

This year, for the first time ever, the Speaker of the NYS Assembly, Sheldon Silver, attended our Legislative Conference to address the issues of importance to him, MHANYS and Samaritans. While he touched upon many issues, he focused his comments on Timothy’s Law, taking time to specifically thank the O’Clairs for their strength, courage and vigilance in pushing for passage of Timothy’s Law. Speaker Silver made it clear that the Assembly stands fully in support of Timothy’s Law. Silver specifically said, “I will not rest, Peter Rivera and Paul Tonko will not rest, the Assembly Majority will not rest until Timothy's Law is state law, and until there is mental health parity in New York this year!” Speaker Silver’s complete comments follow.

Remarks by Speaker Sheldon Silver
Mental Health Association of NYS Inc. Legislative Day
L.O.B., Room 711A, Albany, NY
Monday, March 22, 2004

Thank you, Joe [President Glazer] for that generous introduction.

President Joe Glazer. Executive Director Mary Jean Coleman. Tom O'Clair. Members of the Assembly. Leaders of the mental health community.

Good Morning and thank you for coming to Albany and to the Legislative Office Building.

On behalf of the Assembly's Standing Committee on Mental Health, our Chair, Assemblyman Peter Rivera and all of the members of the Assembly Majority, let me welcome the members of the Mental Health Association in New York State as well as the Samaritan Suicide Prevention Center.

As your partners in the continuing quest to construct the most effective and most humane mental health-care system possible here in New York State, we appreciate that you are here to stand up for those of our neighbors who cannot be here and cannot advocate so well for themselves in this government.

On behalf of my colleagues, I offer special greetings to our friend, Tom O'Clair.

The O'Clairs were present in the Assembly Chamber on March 3rd, to witness the strong bipartisan support for Timothy's Law, which passed the House by a vote of 131 to 10.

It marked the second consecutive year that this critical legislation - which was authored by Assembly Member Paul Tonko - was passed in the Assembly with strong bipartisan support.

Let me say something here:
No family in this State should ever … EVER … have to give up custody of a child in order for that child to get access to the mental health services that he or she needs!

No family should ever have to choose between paying for the treatment needed by a drug-addicted son or daughter and paying the mortgage, or the grocery bill, or the utility bill!

It's wrong! It's barbaric! So let me be clear:
I will not rest, Peter Rivera and Paul Tonko will not rest, the Assembly Majority will not rest until Timothy's Law is state law, and until there is mental health parity in New York this year!

Tom, take your message to the Senate. Tell Senator Bruno about Timothy.

Your fight in Timothy's memory is an inspiration to all of us. We thank you for your courage. We thank you for your persistence. We will not let you down. We will end this senseless discrimination once and for all.

Suffering is suffering. Whether your illness is physical or mental, suffering is suffering.

To champion the treatment of one malady, and then to limit or deny treatment for another is hypocrisy, plain and simple.

There are those who argue that mental health parity is too expensive; that it's too heavy a burden for our insurance companies and other businesses to bear.

They have studies to back up their arguments.

They don't tell you that those studies pre-date the advent of managed care.

They don't tell you that businesses - particularly small businesses - lose productivity when their employees or the family members of their employees are struggling with mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, and their insurance won't cover the cost of treatment.

They don't tell you that Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey - 34 states in all - have laws that mandate mental health parity.

The truth is that they don't want to think about mental illness.

The fact that there are literally millions of men, women and children fighting depression, fighting anxiety, fighting a host of other mental illnesses is lost on them.

They're too busy thinking about the insurance industry's bottom line: their profits!

Clearly, they have their priorities wrong. People must come before profit, because without strong, healthy people, there is no profit.

While they talk about the cost of Medicaid, they never mention that New York State is being shortchanged by the federal government.

You know better than I that our mental health system needs work.

When it comes to mental health, we have a Governor who not only won't lead, he's chosen to be a hindrance to the mentally ill.

His utter disregard for the Mental Hygiene Law, the Mental Health Community Reinvestment Act, and Social Services law has left mentally ill New Yorkers with a system that is inefficient and wasteful;

That hinders the Legislature's ability to focus resources to meet the needs of the mentally ill;

And that has left the public in the dark regarding abuses of the mentally ill in adult homes and nursing homes.

Throughout this Administration, the Assembly Majority has provided the leadership that this State needs.

The Mental Hygiene Task Force is working to improve the current service delivery system so that it responds to the needs of all mentally disabled New Yorkers, and lets no one fall into the cracks.

In addition, on March 10th of this year, we passed legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Peter Rivera to ensure the availability and affordability of safe, quality housing.

We continue to sponsor a package of bills to ensure patient protections when it comes to the use of electroconvulsive therapy.

Assemblyman Jeff Aubrey, the Chair of our Corrections Committee, is sponsoring legislation that will ensure mentally ill inmates are given the necessary psychiatric treatment, and not inappropriately housed in solitary confinement.

And, over the years, the Assembly Majority has fought hard to provide cost of living increases for mental health workers, and to provide Medicaid rate increases to certain community-based mental health service providers.

I wish I could tell you differently, but we have our hands full again this year.

Absent the Governor getting us the funding we deserve from Washington, we're looking at another fight over budget cuts.

Working with this Association, we will fight for enactment of Timothy's Law.

We will work hard to improve our mental health-care system and get our people the services they need.

Please know that we recognize the difficulty of the job you do so well every day, and that we are grateful to have people of such great compassion, patience and intelligence protecting and serving our vulnerable mentally ill brothers and sisters.

Be assured that we are not waiting for science to save the day. We want to help you now.

To that end, please know that my door, Peter Rivera's door, and the doors of our Assembly Majority colleagues are always open to you.

Take advantage of that offer and please make the most of this, your legislative day.

G-d bless each and everyone of you.

Assembly Mental Health Chair Peter Rivera then took time to point out the alarming statistics about the number of suicide attempts young, minority women make each year. He too pledged his support to do whatever it takes to get Timothy’s Law passed. He also touched upon the need for proper planning for the future of the mental health system and thanked MHANYS for its consistent, adamant opposition to the implementation of a Preferred Drug List (PDL).

The Ranking Minority Assemblymember on the Mental Health Committee, Matthew Mirones was the final guest speaker, focusing his comments also on Timothy’s Law. He was proud to mention his vote in support of the parity legislation on the floor of the Assembly earlier this month.

In the News:

Silver calls on Senate Republicans to back mental health coverage expansion. By Eric Durr
The Business Review, March 22, 2004

Republicans who run New York's state Senate are paying too much attention to business profits and not enough attention to people, the state's top Democrat said March 22.

During a meeting with members of the Mental Health Association in New York State Inc., Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) blasted Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) for opposing passage of a bill which would mandate unlimited insurance coverage for mental health treatment.

The legislation would modify state law limiting the number of mental health and chemical dependency treatment sessions that insurance companies must pay for. The bill, dubbed "Timothy's Law," was named after Timothy O'Clair, a 13-year old Schenectady boy who suffered from mental illness and hung himself in March 2001. The group has used the boy's story to advance the bill.

Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam) is the Assembly sponsor of the bill.

The Business Council of New York State Inc., the insurance industry, and the National Federation of Independent Business have all come out against the bill, which the Assembly approved 131 to 10 on March 3.

The measure would increase insurance premiums and make it harder for employers, particularly small businesses, to provide coverage, by increasing their insurance costs by $200 million, according to the Business Council. The Albany, N.Y.-based business lobbyist organization estimates that insurance premiums would rise 3 percent to 5 percent for businesses.

In its current form, the measure would make it harder for employers to pay for health insurance, Bruno recently told an NFIB meeting.

The Senate is considering a bill which would require businesses with more than 50 employees to provide unlimited mental health coverage. He wants the Senate to pass their version of the bill and then take the issue to a conference committee, Silver said.

Silver promised mental health advocates who gathered in Albany for a lobbying day, that the Assembly's Democratic majority would work to pass the bill. He urged advocates to pressure Bruno to change the Senate's position.

The business community and insurance industry are overestimating the costs that providing unlimited mental health coverage would add to premium prices, Silver said.

The Senate's Republicans have been too willing to accept the business community argument's Silver said. "They're too busy thinking the insurance industry's bottom line, their profits," Silver said. " Clearly they have their priorities all wrong. People must come before profits," Silver said.

Backing off Timothy's Law. Editorial
The Journal News, March 21, 2004

You have to believe that Albany lawmakers must have great health-insurance coverage. Or at least a lot of money to pay for treatment that their policies don't cover.

You have to believe that not a single legislator has ever faced the choice of paying for food and rent or long-term hospitalization for their drug-addicted teen. You have to believe that no legislator ever split a pill in half to make a prescription last longer. Or canceled counseling sessions with a psychologist in case more might be needed by the end of the "plan year."

You have to believe no lawmaker ever had to beg a mental-health facility to keep his 9-year-old just one more week, even one more day, because someone who never met the child wants her discharged, no matter that her parents are scared to death the girl is still suicidal.

You have to believe that, when it comes to mental-health parity, lawmakers are out of touch with reality.

Hundreds of people rallied in Albany last week in support of Timothy's Law, which would, for insurance purposes, put mental illness on equal footing with physical illness. As recently as a few months ago, state Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, in a visit to The Journal News Editorial Board, expressed optimism that Timothy's Law would pass this year. And there were other signs of growing support.

By mid-week, though, Senate leaders were backing away from it — including Republican Thomas Libous, chairman of the Senate's Mental Health Committee and a sponsor of the measure. Libous said he now wants to rewrite his bill to provide exemptions for the expanded coverage for small businesses.

Apparently, lobbying pressure from some in the business sector, who oppose Timothy's Law, is trumping the efforts of advocates and others committed to stopping institutionalized discrimination against mentally ill children and adults.

"We would bankrupt the people of this state if we were to adopt it in this form,'' agreed Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick.

What is bankrupt is the thinking that somehow New Yorkers aren't paying heavily for untreated, or under-treated, mental illness already.

Timothy's Law was named after a Schenectady boy whose parents were forced to turn him over to the state to get better care because their own insurance was inadequate. Timothy O'Clair later committed suicide in 2001, at the age of 12.

Despite mouthing sympathy for Timothy O'Clair and others, opponents of mental-health parity insist it would cost too much and drive up the numbers of uninsured New Yorkers. What seems to be forgotten, though, is that, in the end, taxpayers pay the human and financial costs anyway, in lost work time or unemployment; in mandatory Medicaid and hospitalization coverage; homelessness for some and vastly inadequate adult homes for others; and often, prison.

As Albany began chickening out on Timothy's Law this month, the Mental Health Association of New York State issued a report estimating that its passage this budget year could save New York more than $218 million in Medicaid and other costs associated with mental illness. Custody relinquishments, in which families are turning their children over to New York to access mental-health care through the courts, Medicaid and residential placements, are growing — now up to an estimated 3,500 cases a year.

If the debate about parity cannot be about common sense and compassion, about right and wrong, then make it about finances: Factor in such "hidden'' costs of inadequately treated mental illness. And if the drain on small businesses is expected to be that great, let the state step in and help cover people and children at the onset of their needs, instead of forcing them to show up on the books elsewhere, sicker than ever. Or, as in Timothy's case, dead.

Timothy's Law stuck at Capitol. Editorial
Albany Times Union, Albany March 22, 2004

To the uninitiated, legislation with a large number of majority-party sponsors in a particular house seems like a no-brainer to pass.

Someone following Timothy's Law -- which would require insurance companies to treat mental illness in a similar way to physical ailments -- might think the 35 Republican sponsors signed on to the Senate version would make the bill's passage a cinch.
Au contraire, the measure's prime Senate sponsor said this week.

His unusual candor reveals a reality at the Capitol: Many lawmakers sign on to a popular bill, or even sponsor it outright, safe in the knowledge that it's not likely to go anywhere.

It's the political equivalent of having their cake and eating it too: With the full Legislature up for reelection this year, lawmakers can tell constituents they're doing something, and blame the system if it doesn't happen.

Asked about Timothy's Law, Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said this: "The bill the Assembly has out there is all things to all people, and it's too expensive."

So how does Libous' bill differ from what the Assembly nearly unanimously passed? It doesn't. It's the same bill.

"We're really disappointed," said Paige Macdonald, executive director of Families Together in New York, which has advocated for Timothy's Law. "Clearly, he and the other Senate Republican sponsors thought Timothy's Law is the right thing to do."
Libous said he sponsored the law because he believed in its principle, if not the way it's currently drafted.

One change he'd like to see: Exempting small businesses from having to cover mental health to the extent required by the proposed law.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has called the bill "irresponsible," but said he's willing to hold a conference committee on it to find common ground with the Assembly.

Gov. George Pataki's penchant for using messages of necessity to get the Legislature to immediately vote on bills he desires has landed him in court.

Joseph Crangle, a lawyer for Seneca Nation of Indians cigarette wholesaler Scott Maybee, is suing the governor on constitutional grounds in state Supreme Court in Buffalo.

The claim is tied to the legislation passed June 14, 2000 -- 12 days before the end of session -- that set up laws involving shipments of cigarettes.

The law calls for penalizing carriers such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express for delivering cigarettes that do not meet state tax regulations by carrying the state tax stamp.

That would cover cigarettes sold from Seneca reservations, which do a hefty business in Internet sales.

Crangle argues the governor has to give a reason for waiving the normal process of requiring bills to "age" before a vote to provide time for public review and comment.
In the case in point, Pataki did not specify a reason for the urgency and only cited a governor's ability to issue a message of necessity.

Arguments at scheduled for April 21.

NYS Office of Mental Health Schedules
Informational Briefings and Public Hearings on
Statewide Comprehensive Plan for Mental Health Services

The New York State Office of Mental Health is pleased to announce a series of informational briefings and public hearings on the recently published 2004-2008 New York State Statewide Comprehensive Plan for Mental Health Services ("5.07 Plan"). The Plan can be found on the OMH website at www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/statewideplan/. This year, the Office of Mental Health will be offering several opportunities for the public to both learn about and comment on this Plan.

The schedule of briefings and hearings, along with the location and appropriate contact person, is as follows:

Informational Briefings

Public Hearings

Until next time, we remain,
Working to ensure available and accessible
mental health services for all New Yorkers