Name: Massachusetts Association for Mental Health
Price range: $

The Massachusetts FY24 budget includes important mental health priorities!

MAMH's legislative agenda for 2023-24 supports four main goals - expanding access, promoting well being, legal reform, and workforce development. With a focus on prevention and parity, MAMH staff and partners will work closely with legislators on bills to advance each of these priorities.

You can make a difference by contacting your legislators today and encouraging them to support the goals that matter to you!

MAMH Opposes Coercive, Ineffective Treatment

MAMH joins advocates, providers, and people with lived experience across the Commonwealth in opposing involuntary outpatient commitment in the Commonwealth. Learn more here about H.1694/S.980 and why we oppose these bills. Find a more detailed examination of the problem here.

Bills Where MAMH is Leading Advocacy Efforts

Expanding Access

Legislation	Description	More Information
S.1248, An Act to increase investment in behavioral health care in the Commonwealth	Behavioral health services have long been underfunded, leaving individuals without access to timely care. This bill creates a timeline and process for increasing investment in behavioral health expenditures in the Commonwealth, while keeping within total health care expenditures (TCHE), a measure of total health care spending.	Bill Fact sheet
H.989 & S.610, An Act for supportive care for serious mental illness	This bill requires commercial insurers to cover Coordinated Specialty Care, a recovery-oriented treatment program for people with first episode psychosis, and Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), a team-based, evidenced-based program offering treatment, rehabilitation, and support services in community settings.	Bill (House) Bill (Senate) Fact sheet Testimony
H.1142 & S.667, An Act to prohibit cost sharing for opioid antagonists	To help prevent opioid overdoses, this bill requires MassHealth, the Group Insurance Commission, and private insurance carriers regulated by the Division of Insurance to cover opioid antagonists (naloxone) without patient cost sharing.	Bill (House) Bill (Senate) Fact sheet

Promoting Well Being

Legislation	Description	More Information
H.497 & S.240, An Act relative to the promotion of mental health education	A significant and growing number of youth are experiencing mental health issues. This bill will require K-12 schools to provide mental health education to students.	Bill (House) Bill (Senate) Fact sheet Oral Testimony (video)

Legal Reform

Legislation	Description	More Information
H.1460, An Act Relative to reforming the competency to stand trial process	Criminal defendants, waiting for evaluations of their competency to stand trial (CST), fill our psychiatric hospital beds and leave psychiatric patients waiting in emergency departments (EDs). This bill allows the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to move forensic patients more efficiently through the competency evaluation and restoration processes.	Bill Fact sheet Testimony

You can also view the list of bills where MAMH is leading advocacy efforts here.

Bills MAMH is Supporting with our Advocacy Partners

Expanding Access

An Act relative to transparency of consumer health insurance rights | H.937 (Rep. Balser) / S.602 (Sen. Creem)

To help individuals and advocates report potential mental health parity violations, this bill requires all private insurers regulated by the Division of Insurance to include a notation on their members’ enrollment cards that states that their health plan is fully insured.

Lead advocacy contacts: Health Law Advocates and Massachusetts Psychological Association

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment | H.936 (Reps. Balser and Farley-Bouvier) / S.657 (Sen. Keenan)

Should an individual be engaged in a course of treatment with a licensed mental health provider, this bill allows the person to continue treatment with that provider as an out-of-network option should the provider become disenrolled from the plan or if the individual’s insurance carrier changes for any reason.

Lead advocacy contact: Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC)

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act requiring mental health parity for disability insurance policies | H.940 (Rep. Balser) / S.669 (Sen. Lovely)

This bill requires parity in disability insurance policies that provide income replacement benefits, so that people with disabling behavioral health conditions are treated the same as people with disabling physical health conditions.

Lead advocacy contact: Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC)

An Act relative to access to care for serious mental illness | H.984 (Rep. Decker) / S.631 (Sen. Eldridge)

This bill prohibits private health insurance plans regulated by the MA Division of Insurance (DOI) from requiring prior authorization or step therapy for drugs prescribed to treat a severe and disabling mental health condition.

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

Legal Reform

An Act transferring Bridgewater State Hospital from the Department of Correction to the Department of Mental Health | H.2985 (Rep. Balser) / S.1239 (Sen. Creem)

This bill transfers the administration and oversight of Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH), the state psychiatric facility for people detained by the criminal legal system, from the Department of Corrections (DOC) to Department of Mental Health (DMH), the state mental health authority. Every other state in the country provides secure psychiatric treatment in non-carceral settings for this population.

Lead advocacy contacts: National Alliance for Mental Illness – Massachusetts and MAMH
Learn more about the bill here.

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

Learn more about the history of Bridgewater State Hospital.

An Act ensuring access to addiction services | H.1966 (Rep. Balser) / S.1247 (Sen. Friedman)

This bill requires the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) to maintain an adequate supply of beds for the treatment of alcohol or substance use conditions pursuant to G.L. c. 123, § 35 at Department of Public Health (DPH) or Department of Mental Health (DMH)-licensed or approved facilities (not at jails or prisons). If the court makes a specific finding that the only appropriate setting for treatment is a secure facility, then an individual may be committed to a DPH or DMH-licensed or approved secure facility.

Lead advocacy contact: Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS)

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

Learn more about the bill here.

An Act relative to ending unnecessary hospitalizations and reducing emergency department boarding | H.1980 (Rep. Decker)

This bill will reduce emergency department (ED) boarding and unnecessary involuntary hospitalization of people by requiring mental health professionals, before seeking hospitalization under G.L. c. 123, § 12(a), to pursue less restrictive alternatives and by diverting people, when appropriate, to Community Behavioral Health Centers. The bill also requires that individuals in EDs be informed of their legal rights within 12 hours of arrival.

Lead advocacy contact: Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS)

Learn more about the bill here.

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act relative to authorizing supported decision-making agreements for certain adults with disabilities | H.1485 (Rep. Finn) / S.109 (Sen. Lovely)

This bill would establish a legal framework for supported decision-making agreements, which allow people with disabilities to maintain autonomy in significant life decisions. Sixteen states have enacted similar laws and MA has successfully implemented a pilot program since 2014. Last session, this bill passed the Senate.

Lead advocacy contact: Massachusetts Advocates for Supported Decision-Making (MASDM)

Learn more about the bill here.

Find answers to frequently asked questions here.

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act related to rehabilitation, re-entry, and human rights for incarcerated people | H.2325 (Rep. Fluker Oakley) / S.1493 (Sen. Creem)

This bill establishes universal baseline conditions standards for everyone incarcerated in state prisons, county jails, and houses of correction. Conditions include meaningful out-of-cell time, expanded programming and vocational training opportunities, increased educational offerings, and improved quality of life.

Lead advocacy contact: Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS)

Learn more about the bill here.

An Act promoting access to counsel and housing stability in Massachusetts | H.1731 (Reps. Rogers and David) / S.864 (Sen. DiDomenico)

Legal assistance makes a substantial difference in avoiding the deleterious effects of eviction and keeping vulnerable persons safe and stably housed. This bill would provide a right to counsel for tenants, as well as owner-occupants of 1 to 3-unit buildings.

Lead advocacy contact: Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI)

Learn more about the bill here.

Read MAMH's written testimony on H.1731 here and S.864 here.

An Act relating to public access to historical records | H.3033 (Rep. Garballey) / S.1965 (Sen. Barrett)

This bill supports the work of the Special Commission on the History of State Institutions by requiring that all records in the custody of the Secretary of the Commonwealth be open to public inspection and available for copying after the expiration of seventy-five years from the record’s creation.

Lead advocacy contact: The Arc of Massachusetts

Learn more about the House version and Senate version of the bill.

Promoting Well Being

An Act establishing a child and adolescent behavioral health implementation coordinating council | H.1979 (Rep. Decker)

This bill establishes a council within the BIRCh Project’s School-Based Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center (TA Center) to develop a three year, statewide plan for implementing a comprehensive school-based behavioral health and to provide guidance to school districts to provide equitable access to behavioral health promotion, prevention, and intervention services and supports.

Lead advocacy contact: Children's Mental Health Campaign (CMHC)

An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty | H.144 (Rep. Decker) / S.75 (Sen. DiDomenico)

Deep poverty (i.e., income below half of the federal poverty level) harms kids. In Massachusetts, the maximum cash assistance grant for a family of three is only $783/month. This bill would raise grants by 25% a year until they reach half of the federal poverty level, and then make small increases each year to keep up with inflation.

Lead advocacy contact: Lift Our Kids Coalition

Learn more about the bill here.

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act to create and implement a Massachusetts Flexible Supportive Housing Subsidy Pool Program | H.1354 (Rep. Meschino) / S.855 (Sen. Crighton)

This bill leverages public and private funding streams to provide flexible, responsive funds for supportive housing (affordable housing with intensive, coordinated services) to people with chronic physical and behavioral health issues. Last session, this bill received favorable reports from both the Housing and Health Care Financing Committees.

Lead advocacy contact: United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA)

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act increasing access to postpartum home visiting services | H.985 (Reps. Decker and Tyler) / S.672 (Sen. Lovely)

More than half of pregnancy-related deaths occur in the 12-month postpartum period with Black and Indigenous individuals two to three times more likely than white individuals to die due to pregnancy-related causes. This bill makes permanent and expands statewide DPH’s universal postpartum home visiting program, as well as requires both MassHealth and private insurance to cover these services. The Special Legislative Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health recommended these reforms.

Lead advocacy contact: Health Care for All (HCFA)

Learn more about the bill here.

Workforce

An Act relative to applied behavioral health clinic rates | H.2006 (Rep. O’Day) / S.760 (Sen. Keenan)

Behavioral health clinics play a vital role in the behavioral health workforce pipeline as they are a primary training ground for providers, but these clinics do not have access to the same funding streams as teaching hospitals or community health centers. This bill would first increase the rates paid by MassHealth for all behavioral health services by 5%. Then, on top of that, it would require MassHealth to pay mental health clinics at least 20% more than the rates it pays to independent behavioral health practitioners for comparable services.

Lead advocacy contact: Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH)

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act establishing a behavioral health workforce center of excellence | H.1275 (Reps. Khan and Donaghue) / S.829 (Sen. Keenan)

This bill establishes a Behavioral Health Workforce Center of Excellence at a state or community college and enumerates tasks that the center must complete to address the workforce crisis, including research, data reporting, and collaboration among state agencies, payers, providers, and higher education.

Lead advocacy contact: Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH)

Read MAMH's written testimony here.

An Act relative to licensure demographics | H.2271 (Rep. Santiago) / S.1473 (Sen. Velis)

People of color face many barriers to behavioral health care, lincluding a lack of behavioral health clinicians of color. This bill requires DPH to collect and publish, in aggregate, the demographic data of mental health and substance use treatment practitioners seeking and obtaining MA professional licensure.

Lead advocacy contact: Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH)

You can also view the list of bills that MAMH is supporting with our advocacy partners here.

For more information on MAMH's legislative agenda for 2023-24, contact Jennifer Honig and Jessica Larochelle, MAMH Co-Directors of Public Policy and Government Relations: jenniferhonig@mamh.org and jessicalarochelle@mamh.org

New Vision to Transform Mental Health Care

MAMH is proud to join the nation’s leading mental health advocacy organizations in calling for policy, programs, and standards that prioritize mental health care and address the social and economic conditions that contribute to mental health conditions. Read our Our Unified Vision for Transforming Mental Health and Substance Use Care!