We wanted to update you all regarding the things VOICE has been doing to promote change to the current law. We met with Senator McKell a few weeks ago in an effort to get him to schedule an interim hearing regarding changes or updates that need to be made to the law. He seemed very interested and spent several hours discussing issues and how they are affecting families needing mental health services as well as our industry.
The main issues that were discussed were as follows:
Appeals system of Violations, Corrective Action Plans and Notice of Agency Actions
Definition of Restraints
Definition of Seclusion
Number of Clients who need Congregate Care Services but cannot receive them due to current laws
An assessment tool to rank clients based on needs and services
Staffing Ratios
Staffing Difficulties due to abuse they have to endure because of the new laws
These are just a few of the topics that we discussed with Senator McKell. He has now set up an Interim Hearing to determine if opening a Bill File is justified. If a Bill File is opened then this would allow us to make suggestions on what changes need to be made to the current law.
The Interim Hearing has been scheduled for June 15, 2022 at 1:15pm.
The hearing will be held in Room 110 of the Senate Building, which is the easternmost building on the Capitol Hill Complex. Options to join via zoom will be available as well.
See below for those links. Zooming into one of these meetings can be a bit confusing so please set up time to learn how to do this before the hearing starts.
All programs participation in this hearing is crucial. Two VOICE representatives have been invited to testify and will only have about 10 minutes total. We need support for this from as many Congregate Care programs as possible so they understand our level of interest.
Please come support in person or via zoom.
DETAILS:
When: June 15, 2022 at 1:15 pm MST
Where: Zoom link will be available here when the committee begins: https://le.utah.gov/committee/committee.jsp?year=2022&com=INTPOL.
Linked here is a document with that information as well: https://le.utah.gov/Interim/2022/html/00002159.htm.
Any questions please reach out to a member of the VOICE Board or respond to this email.
Respectfully,
VOICE Team