Compelling Speech from New Rep. Tom Dent (R-13) on Mental Health

We passed our first two bills today. It’s always fun on the first day – lots of people feel moved to speak and there’s always been some minor change to the voting software that is weird to figure out. The first bill typically tries to make a statement about priorities, but is usually pretty simple because complicated bills take longer.

Joel’s Law was first passed last year by the house, but not taken up by the Senate. I wrote about it last week. It passed the House unanimously, with compelling speeches, particularly the one from Freshman Rep. Tom Dent (R-13). He spoke compellingly about his struggles with his son’s mental illness. I don’t usually pay much attention to the (lack of) eloquence on the floor, but Rep. Dent’s comments were spellbinding. It’s less than 5 minutes and well worth watching – click the clip below.

I was also super-pleased that our initial supplemental budget passed 83-15, with strong bipartisan support. Rep. Chandler and I worked closely together to get the bill done in a way that would work for both of our caucuses. The comment I made below is in addition to the press release I put out earlier this week when we introduced the proposed amendment to the bill together.

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Legislative News: Washington House Democrats – Olympia, Washington

Statement from Rep. Ross Hunter on supplemental budget passage

Statement from Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) on the passage of HB 1105 – Making 2015 supplemental operating appropriations.

Sen. Andy Hill and I made a commitment to Governor Inslee last summer that we would take swift action to address problems in the mental health system. Adopting this budget will settle the state’s legal obligation in the single bed certification lawsuit. The House made good on that commitment in a strong, bipartisan fashion today. It is my hope that the Senate sends this bill to the Governor soon so that we can address immediate and urgent problems within the state’s mental health structure.

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For interviews or more information: Rep. Ross Hunter, 360-786-7936 or ross.hunter@leg.wa.gov Staff: Andy McVicar, 360-786-7215 or Andy.McVicar@leg.wa.gov

For broadcast-quality audio or TV/radio interviews: Contact Broadcast Coordinator Dan Frizzell at dan.frizzell@leg.wa.gov or (360) 786-7208.

Joel’s Law and dealing with lawsuits, disasters, and an increase in child abuse reports

The House Appropriations committee is planning to hear two bills Today, (Jan. 26, 2015):

HB 1258 – Concerning court review of detention decisions under the involuntary treatment act. This is “Joel’s Law,” a bill creating the ability for parents and other family members to provide information to the court in involuntary treatment act cases. The House passed this bill 97-1 last year and it was blocked in the Senate.

The law is named after Joel Reuter, a bright, beloved software programmer who lived on Capitol Hill. When he spun into a severe manic episode of bipolar disorder in 2013, Washington’s fractured mental-health system offered no cushion, despite pleadings from his parents and friends to have him involuntarily hospitalized.

Instead, Joel, believing he was fighting zombies, was killed by Seattle police. He was 28.
Seattle Times Editorial | January 22, 2015

Joel’s Law is a targeted intervention in the mental health system. It will allow parents and family members to provide input to a judge making the final decision to commit someone involuntarily. Parents often have the most information about the situation, enabling the judge to make a more informed decision. It’s heartbreaking to hear the stories of parents who watch children drift in an out of severe mental illness, getting worse at every turn. We’re better than this, or at least we should be.

HB 1105 – Making 2015 supplemental operating appropriations. This is a super-early, super-small supplemental budget responding to lawsuits, child abuse caseload increases, and natural disasters (Oso and the big fire season.) Rep. Bruce Chandler (R-Granger) and I are jointly introducing the proposed bill, and I expect it to get significant bipartisan support.

The state lost a lawsuit ten years ago on how the homecare system for low-income seniors and the disabled is paid for. It finally made its way through the Supreme Court and the state lost. We’re paying tens of thousands a day in interest on the judgment and I’d like to get it paid off.

Last summer the state Supreme Court said that we can no longer keep patients waiting in emergency rooms because we don’t have capacity in our mental health system to evaluate and treat them. In many cases these folks are shackled to gurneys in hallways. Even in more humane cases they’re not getting the treatment they need and often get significantly worse waiting for a space.

We expect to lose a third case when a federal district court judge makes a decision in March and we are therefore taking corrective action now. This is similar to the emergency room case above, but occurs when local police arrest someone and ask for a mental health evaluation to see if the person is competent to stand trial. The law says we can’t keep them for more than 7 days in jail without an evaluation and a room at the state mental hospital. In many cases we’re keeping them in solitary confinement in county and city jails for months. People without mental issues are badly affected by solitary confinement, and for the mentally ill it’s torture and they just get worse.

Again, the Seattle Times (or at least editorial writer Jonathan Martin) is unsparing in their disdain here:

The $90 million cut from the state’s mental health system from 2009 to 2013 directly led to a state Supreme Court’s ruling in August banning very sick patients from being warehoused in hospitals, and probably will lead to a similar ruling next year regarding a lack of treatment in jails. A wavering financial commitment to court-ordered foster care reforms in the same era resulted in an extension of court oversight.
Seattle Times | November 14, 2014

With this supplemental budget we create more space at the mental hospitals, more treatment slots outside the hospitals, raise compensation for psychiatrists so we can actually hire some, and a bunch of other items that fix problems with the system. It’s not everything we need to do to have the system be functional, but it’s a step towards repairing the damage we did during the recession.

I expect the bills to both pass out of committee on Wednesday relatively unchanged and to pass out of the House either Thursday or Monday. I hope the Senate will give both serious consideration.