Email your House member TODAY to urge a YES vote for HB 2170

HB 2170 would become state law governing the uses of seclusion and restraints in our public schools. This issue has been around the Statehouse for nearly a decade, and it is time for it to be resolved.

Some schools have said they don't need a law, their policies are fine, to which we have said, this law is not written to address the majority of schools which do the right things, this law is written to make enforcement possible, with the weight of the law, for schools that do NOT do the right thing.

Others have said, why not just keep these as rules and regulations .. to which we have asked would we consider it OK for "rules" instead of "laws" to be in place when we, as adults, are improperly manhandled by someone else? The improper uses of restraints and seclusion are sometimes a result of school personnel not managing their own behavior, and the result -- in the adult world -- at a minimum would be the charge of battery, or worse.

Simply stated, there should be a law against practices which put children at risk. Now is the time to make it happen. Urge your member of the Kansas House to vote YES for HB 2170. Do so today, for the bill is on the house floor and could be acted on as early as tomorrow.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR


The following is a draft message proposed by the Disability Rights Center:

Hi, I am a voter in your House District. Substitute for HB 2170 will be voted on by the full House this week. Will you please vote YES on Sub. for HB 2170? Please let me know where you stand. I support this bill and I am following it with interest. 

Kansas parents have been waiting TEN YEARS for an effective policy to protect their children from the dangerous and deadly tactics of restraint and seclusion in public schools. 

This bill is a compromise. The underlying policy was originally written by staff at the Kansas State Department of Education. It is based on the current regulation, but it fixes the fatal flaws in that policy. This bill also follows the common-sense recommendations from the US Dept. of Education on restraint and seclusion. It is supported by Kansas families and 30 Kansas disability organizations. Even the Kansas Association of School Boards is neutral on the bill. The bill ensures accountability and school safety in a reasonable and fair manner. This bill would create common sense standards to protect students and teachers alike from the dangerous use of restraint and seclusion. It has no fiscal cost. 

Senate committee passes mental health drug bill

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee passed a bill yesterday that would allow KanCare managed care companies to regulate mental health patients' access to anti-psychotic medications. 

Mental health advocates oppose the bill, warning legislators that it would add administrative barriers to a treatment system that is already challenging to navigate, send some high-risk patients into crises, and shift a sizable portion of the system's costs onto hospitals and jails. 

Currently, state law guarantees Medicaid patients' access to whatever behavioral health drugs their physician or psychiatrist sees fit to prescribe. The bill, SB 123, would allow the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to decide how managed care companies would be allowed to regulate patients' access to mental health drugs. 

Bills introduced in the Senate are expected to pass the chamber by Feb. 27, before being referred to the House. 

Read the entire KHI News article. 

KDADS to restructure grants for advocacy groups

KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett
Photo courtesy of KHI News. 

The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services recently announced that it will not renew its grants with five in-state organizations that advocate for people with developmental disabilities, mental illness, addiction issues, or for emotionally disturbed children.

The grants, totaling $518,000, will end June 30th of this year.

Appearing last week before the House Social Services Budget Committee, KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett said the department's decision not to renew its grants was driven by its desire to reconfigure the five programs in ways meant to break down some of the "compartmentalization" that separates some of its grantees.

KDADS posted a formal request for information on its website asking providers to suggest ways to improve the current network of services.

Learn More...

State hospital funding freeze moves forward

Kansas won't be allocating any additional funds to its four hospitals that serve people with developmental disabilities and/or mental illness.

House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey.
Photo courtesy of KHI News

Budget committees in the House and the Senate have adopted Gov. Brownback's plan for keeping the hospitals at their current spending levels through 2017.

Committee members did not discuss recent reports that renovations in Osawatomie State Hospital's deficiency correction plan are expected to cost $3 million. This comes at the heels of federal surveyors citing the hospital for overcrowding and other concerns. If these deficiencies aren't corrected the hospital will lose millions of dollars in federal Medicaid payments.

House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey said Monday that under-staffing is a key issues for many of the facility's shortcomings. Vickrey said he and other area legislators asked KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett to put together a plan to reduce direct-care worker turnover in Kansas.

Vickrey and Sen. Molly Baumgardner plan to organize a public forum where employees, family members, and community members can weigh in on the hospital's future. According to Baumgardner, KDADS officials will attend the forum tentatively set for the evening of March 2, or 3.

Read more.