Agenda - 01-21-2025 ; 6-d - Orange County’s Proposed 2025 Priority Legislative Issues

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DRAFT 3 ORANGE COUNTY 2025 PRIORITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Mental Health, Behavioral Health, and Substance Use Issues — Seek legislation to develop and fund mental health and behavioral health facilities and services at the state and local level that: • Ensure adequate State-funded mental health, developmental disability and substance use disorder services and facilities are available, accessible and affordable to all residents; • Include dedicated resources for community para-medicine projects and enhanced mobile crisis response; • Support Medicaid reimbursement to EMS for behavioral health transport to crisis centers; • Establish a Medicaid code to reimburse behavioral health urgent care services at a sustainable rate; • Reduce the number of people with mental health issues in county detention centers by funding additional community-based mental health services and increasing in-patient beds at State hospitals and residential behavioral health facilities; • Ensure that state resources fund service provision costs, inclusive of crisis intervention and treatment; • Increase innovation waiver slots more aggressively to meet the Olmstead Act requirements to serve members of the public with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (current waiting list of approximately 17,000); • Increase compensation for mental health providers, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and direct support staff funded by innovation waivers and other Medicaid sources; • Approve and fund implementation of the 1115 Medicaid Waiver approved by the Federal government. This Waiver authorizes NCDHHS to invest in housing, food, transportation and reentry for more high-needs Medicaid recipients; and • Support legislation to: • Provide additional regulation on hemp-derived products such as Cannabidiol (CBD), and prohibiting those designed to resemble well-known candy and other snack food products; • Raise the legal age to purchase and use hemp-derived products to 21; and • Incorporate a ban on the flavoring of vape products. Support for Older Adults — Seek legislation to: • Strengthen the state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program by addressing staffing concerns associated with paid ombudsman positions (potentially seven (7) additional positions statewide) and defining roles and responsibilities of the county volunteer committees that monitor conditions in facilities; • Implement changes recommended by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' Adult Protective Services Improvement Design Team and provide recurring state funding to support needed capacity to protect all vulnerable older and disabled adults across the state; and • Provide additional funding to provide for the delivery of meals to those individuals across the state with limited mobility/access to meal sites.