NAMI North Carolina
Heard in the Halls
Heard in the Halls is an email service of NAMI North Carolina to provide updates on state legislative and policy issues. Heard in the Halls is produced for community advocates at least monthly and more frequently during sessions of the General Assembly. To be added to the Heard in the Halls list send a message to
heard@naminc.org with just "subscribe" (no quotes) in the subject. Because of the variety of e-mail servers, Heard in the Halls is sent in plain text and as a formatted attachment.
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
URGENT
JULY 25, 2002
After making many significant strides early in the week regarding the House of Representative’s Budget for Health & Human Services in general and mental health in particular, it now appears that many of those gains are in serious jeopardy.
The House of Representatives is, apparently, reconsidering its revenue package, including the closing of corporate loopholes, sales tax issues, etc. In so doing, there is a very real possibility that the amount of available dollars will be reduced significantly. It also appears that the House is intent on taking those reductions in the areas of Health & Human Services in general, and mental health specifically. Currently, the proposed House Budget has no reductions to area mental health programs, as opposed to the nearly $30 million that was proposed in the Senate Budget, and the nearly $40 million as proposed by the Governor. In addition, the House Budget proposal includes no cuts to the CAP Program. Overall, the House Budget, though it still includes disappointing and possibly dangerous cuts to case management and personal care services, is significantly better than either of the proposals that came from the Governor and the Senate (please see the July 23rd update from the Coalition for the complete House proposal for MH/DD/SAS that was emailed to you.)
ACTION REQUIRED: The House subcommittee on Appropriations for Health & Human Services will, most likely, meet this afternoon. The Full House is scheduled to meet on a very rare Friday session, tomorrow, to continue to examine the Budget situation. Thus, it is urgent that you and your organization contact your individual House member as well as the House Leadership: Jim Black - 919-733-3451; David Redwine – 919-733-5829; Phil Baddour – 919-715-0850; Joe Hackney – 919-733-5752; Edd Nye – 919-733-5477; Beverly Earle – 919-733-5747; Ruth Easterling – 919-733-5900; and Warren Oldham – 919-733-2530, and urge them to not reduce their original proposal in Health & Human Services for MH/DD/SA services. Urge them to not only leave area mental health intact, but to reduce and eliminate the proposed cuts to case management and personal care services. Also, please consider coming to Raleigh personally on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to meet with your House member and to show a visible statement of support for leaving MH/DD/SA services at their current level.
Thank you for your attention to this most urgent issue.