Judy Gallant

In early January, the Maryland General Assembly started their annual 90-day legislative session. Also in January, Lt. Governor Rutherford announced $500 million of new funding in Maryland’s FY2019 budget for the opioid crisis and substance use disorder services, as well as an Executive Order signed by Governor Hogan creating a new Commission to study Mental and Behavioral Health.

We continue working in collaboration with our friends at the Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition at the MHA in supporting efforts to increase behavioral health funding in order to improve student outcomes in schools, as well as efforts to eliminate restrictions to medication-assisted treatment and other substance use treatment options and ensuring access where it is most needed, such as in Maryland correctional facilities. Additionally, we support their efforts to amend the proposed legislation to raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $15/hour to include a commensurate boost in funding for behavioral health resources. The additional State funding is necessary to support increasing reimbursement rates for community behavioral health workers. Over 260,000 Marylanders rely on the State’s public behavioral health system for their mental health and substance use treatment needs, and without the additional funding for this bill, Community Mental Health Centers could be forced to reduce or eliminate services.

Bill to promote trauma-informed approach in public schools

House Bill 256, State Department of Education-Guidelines on a Trauma-Informed Approach, is offering Maryland’s Legislature the opportunity to enact the kind of law that Margot outlined in her report, that DC Councilmember David Grasso is calling on DC to enact. The initiative proposed in the Maryland bill defines a “trauma informed approach” as “a method for understanding and responding to an individual with symptoms of chronic interpersonal trauma or traumatic stress,” and provides funding for a Trauma-Informed Schools Expansion Program. This would include developing a curriculum for intensively training teachers and staff in some schools on the trauma informed approach, which would “recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in students, teachers and staff” (emphasis mine), ensure identification of those individuals who have experienced trauma, enable staff to learn the appropriate manner for responding to an individual who has experienced trauma and “actively resists retraumatizing a student teacher or staff member who has experienced trauma.” It is proposed as a pilot program, with mechanisms in place to assess results. I am impressed and pleased by the forward-thinking Maryland legislature on this matter.

“Red Flag” law

A “Red Flag” bill, also known as “Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO)” legislation, was passed in 2018 and became effective on October 1st. Passage of this bill was a part of Maryland’s response to the call for action on gun control. The law permits law enforcement, family members, and health professionals, including clinical social workers, to request a court order to prevent an individual who poses an immediate danger of causing personal injury from possessing a firearm on a temporary basis. Our lobbyist, Pam Metz Kasemeyer, informed us of a timely briefing she attended before the Judiciary Committee, which clarified that the law creates a framework to file a petition for an ERPO but does not create any obligation for a health care professional to do so. It is a tool that can now be utilized by law enforcement, family, other individuals, and health care providers, but does not require a health care provider to utilize this tool. Similarly, there is no liability associated with utilization or non-utilization of the petition process. For more complete information, you can view the fiscal and policy note on the legislation here: http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/fnotes/bil_0002/hb1302.pdf.

We have an ethical responsibility to consider our decision-making process about whether to call police and/or petition the court to remove guns and whether this could potentially violate someone’s privacy or constitutional rights. These are important considerations for us to examine in utilizing this and other legal tools available to us, as we also weigh the potential to save lives. A GWSCSW CEU ethics workshop regarding some of these issues is being planned by Linda Friskey at a date yet to be determined.

Interested in any of these topics? Please contact Judy Gallant at judy.gallant@verizon.net or sign up online at our website to volunteer to help our legislative committee. We’re stronger working together.

Judy Gallant, LCSW-C, is the director of the Society’s Legislation & Advocacy program, as well as chair of the Maryland Clinical Social Work Coalition, our GWSCSW legislative committee in Maryland. She maintains a private practice in Silver Spring.