Ga. Rep Todd Jones, R-Forsyth, gave an update on the state’s mental health reform during a Feb. 21 press conference.

ATLANTA — Georgia’s bipartisan mental health reform package is seeing some progress, according to lawmakers at a Feb. 21 press conference.

Decatur Democrat state Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver and Todd Jones, R-Forsyth announced the filing of House Bill 520, which would build upon the foundation of Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act (HB 1013), championed by the two and late Speaker David Ralston during the 2022 legislative session.

HB 520 seeks reform Georgia’s mental health care delivery system and address workforce shortages. If approved, the bill would expand the state’s loan forgiveness program for mental health care providers.

“We know that workforce deficiencies are at the heart of many of the problems all our businesses and all our social services are facing this year and will for the immediate future,” Oliver said. “We want more of the mental health service providers to be able to take advantage of the $10 million we appropriated last year and if they are serving people in Georgia and still have a student loan, we want them to apply and get the benefits.”

Oliver said mental health professionals have also experienced barriers from licensing boards. She said the boards should be more responsive, efficient and shift toward online services as part of the modern world, which the bill proposes to address.

The proposal would also extend alternative disciplinary actions to license suspensions to mental health professionals and includes a funding mechanism that would allow the Georgia General Assembly to appropriate funds in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget for crisis services in Fulton, Laurens and Muscogee counties.

Rep. Jones said the proposal would also create new authorities for sharing and collecting data among health care agencies and establish rules for transferring data in compliance with federal and state law.

“One of the things we learned over not just this past year, but we’ve heard continuously that the lack or how about this the inability of agencies to share data with each other in terms of the care for not just minors, but also adults is absolutely something that we need to focus on,” he said. “And we’re going to focus on how it is that we can do that within the federal and the state construct.”

The 51 page bill makes way for a pilot program mental competency screenings, a bed study analysis for critical mental illness, and gathering agency input to create one definition of “severe mental illness.”

Determining a unified definition could help get people better treatment, Jones said.

In addition, HB 50 aims to address those with both mental health and substance abuse issues, a population Jones said is taxing on the state’s resources.

“Constantly, we see them basically going between health care, the jail or prison system homelessness, and then you can almost take that triangle and just either go clockwise or counterclockwise,” Jones said. “What we want to be able to do is bring together the healthcare community… law enforcement.. our sheriffs and our prisons want and once and for all determine, how can we stop that cycle?”

{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}The legislation is co-sponsored by House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula; House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon; and House members in the Georgia Mental Health Caucus. {/span}

{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}Representatives from Georgia Council for Recovery, in a statement, lauded the filing of the bill, which they say advances {span}recovery-friendly policy involving mental illness substance use disorders.{/span}{/span}{/span}

{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}”Georgia is experiencing a historic increase in the use and misuse of drugs and alcohol, including a record number of deaths by overdose,” said Neil Campbell, executive director of GCR. “…We anticipate that moving forward, there will be future legislation to address the lack of capacity for all behavioral health services, which is why building and sustaining a well-trained workforce is essential and will be addressed in HB 520{/span}{span style=”color: #0e101a;”} in 2023.”{/span}{/span}

{span style=”color: #0e101a;”}The approval of HB 1013 last year was accompanied by $180 million in additional funding for initiatives addressed in the bill.{/span}