Latest news with #Bill142
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kotek vies for new investments in behavioral health workforce, treatment access
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After releasing her 2025-2027 budget proposal, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek testified in the Oregon legislature on Tuesday in support of new investments meant to bolster behavioral health across the state. During testimony for Senate Bill 142, Governor Kotek said four key investments in the bill will increase the behavioral health workforce while also increasing access to care. 'Right now, depending on where you live or what help you need to address a mental health or addiction challenge, there are probably not enough people available to help you,' Kotek said. 'At the same time, people considering a career in mental health and addiction care struggle to enter and stay in the field. We need to keep working to fix these problems.' DON'T MISS: Kotek's 2025-27 budget proposal focuses on homelessness, housing, education The bill includes a $20 million investment for workforce development that the governor said would bring about 4,000 people into mental health and addiction care careers. That funding would also help expand education and workforce training by increasing instructor capacity and supporting clinical placement capacity. The bill allocates another $5 million for scholarships to support an additional 200 students pursuing careers in addiction or mental health care. Another $8.9 million would go towards loan repayment and forgiveness programs so an estimated 140 master-level clinicians can resolve their student loan debt if they work for publicly funded behavioral health systems for up to two years. Lastly, the bill would allocate a 'crucial' $13.8 million in grants for tribes and community health care providers to retain staff, Kotek said, noting the funding would support at least 1,000 employees for community-based providers and tribes. The funding would support retention strategies such as housing stipends, loan repayment and other wraparound supports. Oregon DOJ acknowledges Frank Gable is innocent The bill comes as Kotek's overall budget recommendation includes $90 million to add over 360 behavioral health treatment beds in Oregon. State Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) also testified in support of the bill, saying even though the Ways and Means Committee is facing tight purse strings, the state should allocate the investments under the bill. 'I think we all know that our state is struggling to do a good job in the behavioral health space whether it's (getting) the outcomes we want, (having) enough appointments, (having) enough providers, and if we don't sort of invest in the workforce, we're going to continue to be 49th or 48th in the country in terms of access and support and things that we're trying to do,' Rep. Nosse said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now In written testimony in support of the bill, Dr. Evaon Wong — the dean and professor for Portland State University's School of Social Work — urged lawmakers to pass the bill. 'There is a clear and urgent need for additional behavioral health providers with advanced training and diverse backgrounds to provide behavioral health care and coordination in Oregon,' Wong said. 'Every year, the School of Social Work prepares over 1,000 students to meet the state'sworkforce needs in behavioral health. PSU is committed to providing high quality and accessibleeducation to our students, who have mostly been people who reside in our state. The majority ofgraduates also remain in the state, including our rural communities, to work after graduation,' Wong added. 'The additional opportunity for upfront investments through SB 142 will help PSU sustain, strengthen, and expand capacity to admit, successfully retain and graduate more students in behavioral health-related fields, including support for student scholarships and funded placements. Such investment will continue to support strong pathways to the helping professions, from undergraduate to graduate degrees.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion: Parents want to protect their children online. Lawmakers should help them
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the food we eat and the chronic diseases we suffer, including among children. Much has been said, for example, about the dangers of early onset diabetes for our youth. The fact is that kids' food intake, their nutrition, has a huge impact on their future lives. Bad habits in childhood will result in poor health in adulthood, or sooner. So, how is it that society seems less concerned with kids' intake of unmonitored online content? Without question, it can and will be even more damaging than poor nutrition now and later in adult life. The numbers paint a grim picture. Roughly 1 in 12 children in America are exposed to sexual abuse online. In 2020 alone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received 21.7 million reported cases of child online sexual enticement. This is not a theoretical problem. Every inappropriate and harmful bit of content is just a button-click away. Pornography. Violence. Self-harm. Once something remote and hard to get, this content is now widely available to children — anywhere, anytime. Here is the worst part: Even the most responsible parents may never know about the dangerous content their kids are accessing. This cannot stand. Unlimited and unchecked online access is tearing at the very fabric of our families. That is why the Utah Eagle Forum has fought year after year to protect the most vulnerable among us. Parents have a God-given right to protect their children and their family. We do not expect government to raise our children for us, but it is a legitimate government function to help ensure that parents have the necessary tools to do it themselves. In this legislative session, the Utah Legislature can face this issue head-on. Utah Senate Bill 142, The App Store Accountability Act, sponsored by state Sen. Todd Weiler (R-Woods Cross), would require app store providers to enact significant child protection mechanisms. It requires app stores — like those run by Apple and Google — to verify the age of the purchaser, then requires that minors under 18 secure parental consent before downloading apps. This allows parents to monitor the content their child can access on their devices. We are very happy to note that Sen. Weiler's SB 142 easily passed out of the Utah State Senate with a strong majority vote and now moves on to the House. At the federal level, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced a bill of the same name to require app stores to implement parental approval safeguards for children under 16 — in all 50 states. These bills at the state and federal levels would give parents the tools to protect their children. The public supports these reforms. Around 81% of adults in the United States already support a parental consent requirement for teens to make a social media account. More than 79% of parents support legislation that would require parental approval for teens under 16 to download apps. The good news is that this legislation is practical and implementable. The app stores already have the technological capability to enact these changes and are the most logical point of intervention for parents. There would be no major additional costs for companies to implement these safeguards, and personal data is no more at risk than it is with normal app store use. Other bills in Congress have directed unelected bureaucrats to decide what is best for your children, which is the wrong approach. Putting parents first and giving them modern tools to protect children is the better course. Utah lawmakers at both state and federal levels should pass the common sense and pro-family App Store Accountability Act to give our kids a chance to have a childhood free from the harms of online exploitation. The question is: Will elected officials listen to the pleas of parents asking for help?
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SESSION SNAPSHOT: Lawmakers show support for curtailing cellphone access, diversity initiatives
Sen. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, presents a resolution to the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 27, 2025. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) The third week of Arkansas' 95th General Assembly saw a slight increase in action as committees considered more bills. New legislation continued to be filed, including one bill touted by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a mental health event Wednesday that would make good on her promise to ban cellphones in public schools. Supporters of Senate Bill 142 said it would help students better focus on their education and address a root cause of the decline in children's mental health — unrestricted access to social media. The bill would require districts' phone policies to include exemptions for health reasons, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), extracurricular activities and emergencies. Echoing conversations at the federal level, Arkansas lawmakers this week engaged in discussions around diversity, equity and inclusion, beginning with an Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus meeting Monday focused on Walmart rolling back its DEI initiatives. Company officials said they remain committed to creating a culture of 'belonging' for associates, and insisted bullying and harassment would not be tolerated. Black lawmakers questioned if they could again count on the global retailer's support against Senate Bill 3, which mirrors a 2023 bill to 'end state-sponsored discrimination.' Lawmakers noted Walmart's opposition to the 2023 bill, but officials said the company had no position on SB 3. Again sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, SB 3 targets diversity-related initiatives and would, among other things, amend a scholarship designed to attract qualified minority teachers to the Delta, a rural area with a significant Black population and a known teacher shortage. Despite concerns presented in committee and on the Senate floor, the full Senate approved the bill Wednesday, which will likely be considered by a House committee next week. The Arkansas Senate confirmed more than three dozen governor-nominated members to state boards and commissions Tuesday, with the only opposition directed at a former Republican lawmaker who now works for a Little Rock lobbying firm. Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, requested that the Senate vote separately on Grant Hodges' appointment to the Board of Corrections. King argued the former state representative from Centerton wasn't qualified for the position. Two other Republicans joined King in voting against Hodges' appointment, which passed on a voice vote. Arkansas Senate confirms ex-lawmaker to state prison board over one member's objection King, who's been a vocal opponent of the state's plan to construct a 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County, announced during a press conference Thursday morning that he filed six pieces of legislation related to public safety. 'We've had a series of soft-on-crime bills, catch-and-release bills, and we've had a consistent pattern of underfunding corrections and public safety,' King said. 'What's happened today is it's created a three-headed monster — we have a high incarceration rate, we have a high crime rate and we have a high prison overcrowding rate.' Senate Bill 143 proposes transfering $100,000 from sales tax collections to Arkansas State Police for crime reduction and prevention programs, and to assist the Division of Community Correction in the provision of probation, parole and post-release supervision services. Senate Bill 145 would require money the state receives from lawsuits concerning funds from the General Improvement Fund or its successor be used for the same purposes. Senate Bill 144 would allow counties to enter into an 'inmate close-to-home partnership' to construct or expand a facility for a shared county jail to house inmates awaiting transfer to the Division of Correction. At least one county must be one of the eight that contribute the most inmates to the Division of Corrections' total population. Senate Joint Resolutions 7 and 8 propose amending the Arkansas Constitution concerning medical marijuana and casino gaming, respectively. SJR 6 would allow proceeds from the sale of medical marijuana and casino gaming to support crime reduction and recidivism initiatives. King's hope is to increase public safety by lowering the number of people going to jail and the recidivism rate, but that will take money, he said. Arkansas lawmakers filed more than 200 new bills and resolutions this week, including: House Bill 1243 from Rep. Kendon Underwood, R-Cave Springs, aims to increase transparency with campaign contributions and expenditures. House Bill 1280 by Rep. Mindy McAlindon, R-Centerton, would prohibit state agencies from using public funds to purchase promotional items made in China. McAlindon's House Bill 1323 would limit the investment of Arkansas' pension and retirement system funds in entities 'closely connected' with China and its governing party. House Bill 1283 by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, would require the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish K-12 digital media standards. House Bill 1297 by Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, would regulate the use of artificial intelligence, algorithms and other automated technologies by healthcare insurers. An amusing quirk of the Legislature is the duty of Rep. Stephen Meeks, a Greenbrier Republican and most senior House member, to rattle off a procedural list (ala an auctioneer) at the end of each House session before lawmakers can formally adjourn. That tradition came to an end Thursday, when his colleagues approved updated House rules allowing him to declare an abbreviated version from now on. In case you hadn't had the chance to enjoy this in person, you can see his final (at least for now) lengthy proclamation here at the 2:33 p.m. mark. No legislative meetings are scheduled for Friday, but lawmakers will resume their work on Monday. You can find an updated schedule of meetings and agendas on the Arkansas Legislature's website. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
