BUDGET VICTORY FOR NAMI NEW JERSEY ADVOCATES
NAMI NEW JERSEY and fellow mental health advocates have
won a major victory with the adoption of the FY 2006 state
budget over the July fourth weekend. After a six-day stalemate
marked by harsh words and political posturing that pitted
Democrat against Democrat, the two sides jointly announced
an agreement on a roughly $28 billion spending plan in the
early morning hours of July 1.
This year’s budget is marked by $40 million in new
mental health spending and a host of additional mental health
related initiatives. Chief among these was the inclusion
of full funding for the recommendations of the Governor’s
Task Force on Mental Health including:
• $10 million for mental health
screening centers
• $2.5 million for expanded psychiatric services
• $5 million for support services for supportive housing
• $1.8 million for jail diversion programs in Essex,
Union and Atlantic Counties
• $1 million for Short Term Care Facilities
• $1.5 million for special case management services
• $1 million for culturally competent services
• $2.1 million for Self-Help centers
• $1 million to expand Supported Employment
• $800 thousand for pilot re-entry case management
services
• $600 thousand for the Community Health Law Project
to expand legal services
• $3.5 million for a college loan forgiveness program
for mental health workers
• $250 thousand for the Governor’s Council on
Mental Health Stigma
The newly adopted state budget also includes a 1 percent
cost of providing care increase on top of a delayed .5 percent
increase from FY 2005 for an effective increase of 1.5 percent.
This represents a more than $30 million increase over the
budget Acting Governor Codey proposed in March.
The final state budget also reflects two NAMI NEW JERSEY
priorities. Legislators made late changes to the budget
to do away with a proposal to charge $1 and $3 dollar co-pays
under Medicaid for prescriptions and clinic visits. The
legislature also added $20 million dollars to create a “wrap-around”
for individuals who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare.
This will prevent a disruption in their prescription coverage
when the new Medicare drug benefit takes affect in January.
In related action on June 30th the legislature passed and
sent to the Governor two mental health related bills. S2369/A3833
"New Jersey Advance Directives for Mental Health Care
Act" provides explicit statutory authorization for
a competent adult to execute an advance directive for mental
health care that specifies preferences for mental health
services in the event that the declarant is subsequently
determined to lack decision-making capacity.
To read the bill:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2004/Bills/S2500/2369_R2.HTM
S2583/A4143 the Special Needs Housing Trust Fund Act establishes
a trust fund in the New Jersey Home Mortgage Finance Authority
to finance special needs housing projects through bond proceeds
issued by the NJ Economic Development Authority.
To read the bill:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2004/Bills/S3000/2583_R1.HTM
Congratulations again to NAMI NEW JERSEY advocates and
our colleagues in the mental health community for an outstanding
job in bringing our concerns to the Governor and the state
legislature. In what has been called one of the most difficult
budget years in recent memory New Jersey has adopted a mental
health spending plan that serves as a national standard.
If you have not done so yet, please take the time to express
your appreciation for their support of the mental health
initiatives to Governor Codey:
https://www.state.nj.us/mentalhealth/contact_governor/index.shtml
or 609-292-6000
and your state legislators:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp
or 800-792-8630
