Agenda - 05-04-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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3 1 Representative Meyer said there has been a good group of advocates working on 2 involuntary commitments, and also the broader intersection of mental health and policing. He 3 said he was been trying to work with them. He said Representative John Autry has drafted four 4 bills at the request of the advocates, and he is shopping those bills to some of the Republican 5 leaders in the House, but as of now there are no Republican co-sponsors on the bills. He said 6 they will be filed this week, and does think it is possible that at least one of them will be a 7 bipartisan bill. 8 Senator Foushee said there is not much to report on the Senate side. She said the 9 Senate's main focus over the last several years has been Medicaid transformation. She said 10 there is not much happening besides what the Representatives shared. She said there may be 11 some intersection between what is done for school children, as it relates to mental health, but 12 she cannot see anything that expands beyond providing the services that are more needed 13 because of the pandemic. She said there has to be some rectifying and ensuring the services 14 needed at that level are appropriated. She reiterated that anything beyond rolling Medicaid 15 transformation has not come up in the Senate. 16 Representative Insko said she believed there would be a bill to increase Innovation 17 Waiver slots. She said she and Representative Hawkins filed a bill to increase it by 1,000 beds. 18 She said a Republican in the House filed a similar bill. She said there is interest on both sides 19 of the aisle. 20 Commissioner Bedford said within the County there is a Behavioral Health Taskforce 21 looking at the specific issue of a crisis diversion facility, as part of needs that were exposed 22 through Criminal Justice Resource Department. She said this group's work is trying to keep 23 people out of jail and out of the criminal justice system. She said other counties have been able 24 to [cut out due to technical issue]. 25 Chair Price said several years ago, the National Association of Counties (NACO) was 26 looking into keeping mental health out of jails and prisons. She said several of the 27 Commissioners have been on tours in the State and across the country to facilities where 28 people never see handcuffs or bars and there is a warm hand off to mental health. She said 29 she visited a facility like that in Wake County. 30 Commissioner Hamilton read the priority on Full Funding of the Leandro Remedial 31 Action Plan: 32 "Support equity and racial justice by fully funding the Leandro Remedial Action Plan, 33 which details additional comprehensive, targeted education funding over the next eight 34 years, predominantly to low-wealth and minority communities, in order for the State to 35 come into compliance with its constitutional obligation to provide every student a sound 36 basic education." 37 She said based on her experience serving three terms on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City 38 School (CHCCS) Board of Education, the state has not been keeping up with funding needs for 39 public education, especially in the low wealth and minority communities. She said teachers 40 need to be paid more, especially with the stresses of teaching online, but even before that there 41 was insufficient funding for teachers, students, and facilities. 42 Representative Insko said every time this issue goes to court it wins, but nothing 43 happens. She said the last ruling was that the state needed to put in $8 billion a year for eight 44 years. She asked and Commissioners with a law background to share what else they thought 45 could be done. She said Democrats taking the majority would help, but besides that was 46 unsure. 47 Commissioner Greene said this presents a question of separation of powers, and if the 48 legislature or the courts have authority over the other. She said ultimately they need to change 49 the composition of the legislature as Representative Insko said. 50 Representative Meyer said Commissioner Dorosin is one of the litigants in the current 51 case, and he has been coordinating with him on legislation strategy and litigation strategy. He