The 2023 Legislative Session has made it just past the half way mark. Your Legislative Committee has been very busy reviewing amendments and monitoring hearings and work sessions, particularly during the lead up to the first Chamber deadline of March 31st. We are now facing the Second Chamber Deadline of May 19th. On May 17th the Revenue forecast will be released and the focus will shift to all things budget. Certain policy and state agency budget bills in Ways & Means will start to be passed as we inch our way closer to the end of Session. The legislature must wrap it up by midnight on June 25th.
Bills of interest:
HB 2757-A:
This bill expands and provides funding for coordinated crisis services system, including 988 suicide prevention and behavioral health crisis hotline. This bill comes from a facilitated work group that the Oregon chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI OR) brought together, which included behavioral health providers that included psychologists, the Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Providers (AOCMHP), and Lines for Life. It also included people with lived experience and others. The group met for over a year to develop this legislation implementing Oregon’s 988 system. The Oregon Psychological Association is in support of this bill.
This bill was voted out of the House Behavioral Health Committee on March 13th on a party line vote and was sent to the House Revenue Committee where a public hearing was held on April 27th to discuss the portion of the bill that provides for a 50 cent a month telecom fee.
If you would like to personally voice your support for this bill please feel free to reach out to members of the House Revenue Committee.
HB 2626:
This bill adds licensed mental health professionals and certified medical laboratory scientists and medical laboratory technicians to types of providers eligible for tax credit allowed to rural medical care providers. This bill includes psychologists as eligible for this tax credit. The Oregon Psychological Association is in support of this bill.
This bill was voted out of the House Behavioral Health Committee on March 27th unanimously and was sent to the Joint Tax Expenditure Committee. It currently does not have a hearing date.
If you would like to personally voice your support for this bill please feel free to reach out to members of the Joint Committee on Tax Expenditure.
HB 2578:
This bill directs Oregon Department of Human Services to establish, by rule, continuing education (CE) requirements for mandatory abuse reporters. Your OPA Legislative Committee reviewed this bill and had concerns that this additional CE would be redundant for those who are licensed providers. Our OPA lobbyists worked with the other licensed providers lobbyists as well as the proponents of the bill to get an amendment that would provide an exemption for people licensed by a health licensing board. The House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services held a hearing on February 8th, but the bill did not gain any traction, was not scheduled for a work session and ultimately died during the First Chamber deadline.
HB 2458:
This bill prohibits practice of conversion therapy by certain professionals.
In 2015, OPA supported a similar bill (HB 2307), which prohibited the practice of conversion therapy by any mental health care or social health professional if the recipient was under the age of 18. HB 2458 expands the prohibition of the practice of conversion therapy regardless of the recipient’s age. The Oregon Psychological Association submitted a statement in support of the bill. The House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee held a hearing on this bill on February 14th. The bill was not scheduled for a work session by the First Chamber deadline and ultimately died in committee.
If you are interested in joining our legislative committee please feel free to reach out to Ryan Dix, OPA Legislative Chair, at [email protected].
Resources:
Oregon Legislature website
Find your Legislator
Legislative Session Participation Guide
