Committee on Legislative Affairs (COLA)
May 17, 2017Minutes
7:00-9:00 pm
NJPA Central Office
Members Present: Axelbank, Jeffrey H PsyD (2019), Davis, Debra L PhD (2020); Gorman, Ashley, PhD (2017); (COLASecretary); Hagovsky, Mathias, PhD (2017)(COLA Past Chair);Hanbury, Raymond F PhD (2018); Lee, Alan J PsyD (2019); Pievsky, Michelle (2017) (NJPAGS Rep); Singer, Mark, EdD (2018)(COLA Chair); Sofair-Fisch, Tamara PhD (2019); Boertzel-Smith, Keira JD (Executive Director);Bombardieri, Jon (Government Affairs Agent)
Members Absent: Coyne, Stephanie, PhD (2017) (NJPA President-Elect)
Resource Guests: Waters, Virginia, PhD; Weiss, Frank, PhD;Shivers, Stacie D PsyD
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I. Call to Order
II. MarchMinutes – approved via e-vote
III. New Legislative Bills
S3121 "Community Mental Health Safety Net Act"; requires DHS to provide cost-based reimbursement on quarterly basis for certain mental health and substance use disorder treatment services through June 2018; makes appropriation.
[(S) Gordon, Bucco, Singer]
Position: Support
S3131 Requires hospitals to inquire whether patients have substance use disorder and establish protocols for providing or referring to treatment.
[(S) Beach]
Position:Monitor
S3132 Establishes Behavioral Health Services Task Force; makes appropriation.
[(S) Vitale, Cunningham]
Identical Bill Number: A4470
Position Seeking Amendment (request that a psychologist recommended by NJPA be included in the bill)
S3138 "New Jersey Public Option Health Care Act."
[(S) Gill]
Identical Bill Number: A4211
Position: Support
S3142 Requires Commissioner of Health to designate special care nursing facility to treat patients with psychiatric and substance use disorders dual diagnosis.
[(S) Codey, Vitale]
Position: Monitor
S3158 Clarifies prohibition on preexisting condition exclusions in health insurance policies.
[(S) Gordon]
Position: Monitor
A4707 Prohibits residential substance use disorder treatment facilities and aftercare facilities from denying admission to individuals receiving medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder.
[(A) Quijano, Munoz] Identical Bill Number: S2964
Position: Monitor
A4733 Establishes training program to prevent suicide by law enforcement officer.
[(A) Johnson]
Position: Seeking Amendment (Change “10 year requirement” to “ongoing training with frequency to be determined by police chiefs”); Hanbury to meet with police training commission regarding this issue and keep COLA up to date on progress.
IV. Other Business
A. NJPA Leadership Meeting Summary -
COLA Succession Plan and Membership—current COLA members encouraged to reach out to colleagues, listserve members, etc. and/or present at other meetings, such as ECP, in order to promote interest in COLA
--previous member Eric Dranoff expressed interest in rejoining COLA, we discussed our approval of welcoming him back to complete his term
Marketing and Promoting NJPA Advocacy Efforts–NJPA will provide quarterly updates to members in order to promote successes in legislation and advocacy; continue with Friday Update, Bombardieri offered to supply a monthly newsletter regarding legislative action, NJ politics; discussed option of having a CE program which would provide orientation to legislative process to members (will try to meet criteria for APA approval); discussed grassroots efforts; recommendation to put out a notice in the Friday update regarding recruitment for COLA members and/or member involvement in legislative events ; add a field in NJPA membership information to include legislative (state and federal), in addition to county.
NJPA Representatives (Psychology Advocacy Delegates) – Accountability Plan
Feedback to the NJPA Leadership is requested for the June 9, 2017 NJPA Leadership Meeting.
-- Boertzel-Smith stated that at a recent leadership meeting, there was a discussion regarding the need to create a mechanism to facilitate NJPA members joining state committees AND create a feedback loop for those members to follow-up with COLAregarding their involvement
--suggestion: create a form for members to complete with regard to their involvement in outside organizations and have them report to COLA via email or phone prior to COLA meeting, tracked on COLA agenda. Pievsky and Boertzel-Smith will work on a written summary of the Psychology Advocacy Delegates process and procedures.
B. Legislative Events –O’Scanlon (Axelbank); Rible (Lee)
All events went well; very positive to have NJPA members attend these events
C. COLA Subgroup - Psychology Advocacy Delegates
Mental Health Association in New Jersey -
--discussed importance of developing some level of involvement with MHANJ; MHANJ may be reluctant to formally partner with NJPA due to perceived conflict of interests; discussed how we can develop some level of collaboration with MHANJ; for example, can we reach out on a specific issue/bill which both organizations support
D. 2017 Legislator of the Year
COLA’s 3rd Legislator of the Year—discussed nominees who have sponsored bills relevant to NJPA
E. Regulations Review
Report from Dennis Finger, NJPA BoPE Liaison
“Revisions to psychologist regulations can be proposed to the BoPE at any time.”
Copy of the 2015 COLA Subgroup Suggested Regulations changes attached for review.
--per Boertzel-Smith, COLA subgroup regulations denied prior to sunset on regulations; Dennis Finger recently approached BoPE and was informed that NJPA could approach at “any time” with suggested changes to the regulations.
--suggestion to reach out James Wulach regarding his suggestions to changes, if he’s willing to comment on suggested changes
F. Bill Tracking – Cutting down of bills
--discussion regarding need to reduce the number of bills that we choose to monitor. Decision not to retroactively delete bills from the past, but rather to be more selective in the future in designating bills to monitor.
G. COLA and Forensic Committee Joint Research Project - Taping a Session Issue
Feedback to the Board on this issue is requested for the September 15, 2017 Board meeting.
COLA agreed to extend an invitation to Dr. Ed Rosenberg, forensic psychologist, to attend a portion of the June COLA meeting through Zoom in order to share his experience on this issue
H. Grassroots Support
Waters and Boertzel-Smith will work on a Friday Update call out to members to indicate that COLA is looking for interested NJPA members to join our directory of statewide NJPA members who will, with the guidance of COLA, assist NJPA in offering opportunities to educate legislators on the role of psychologists and the science of psychology within New Jersey. COLA will provide training and support.
V. NJPA Legislative Priorities - Update
A. Telepsychology
--per Bombardieri, Assembly and Senate plan to get this bill to the Governor by June 27
B. Medical Necessity
--meeting with Assemblyman Coughlin last Thursday, and he plans to move the bill into committee in early June
C. Medicaid
--per Axelbank, current legislation requires Medicaid rates to match Medicare rates; however current bill as introduced includes a narrow definition of “evidence based” treatments in a registry which does not adequately pertain to clinical work; Axelbank and NJPA wrote letter and offered to testify regarding need to amend this bill; Huttle has agreed to amend the bill per NJPA recommendation
Update - Boertzel-Smith working with APAPO to provide NJPA with options on how to present change to NJ Medicaid reimbursement for student interns and post-doc individuals. / Update – bill amendments from May 11, 2017
--suggestion to approach Mental Health Association regarding potential collaboration on this issue
--suggestion to also include “properly supervised psychology graduate students, interns, and permit-holders” in Medicaid bill, which is crucial for access to care for patients as well as addressing training and internship crisis in our field
--Boertzel-Smith to make contact with APAPO
--Bombardieri put in a call to the Division regarding rates for pediatric services; the understanding is that rates will go up July 1st.
D. RxP
--per Bombardierihoping to gain support from legislatorsand post bill by November
VI. Meeting Adjourned
8:58pm
Minutes Submitted Respectfully,
Ashley Gorman, Ph.D, ABPP
Upcoming 2017 Meetings
June 7, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
October 18, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA
November 15, 2017 7pm-9pm COLA