#Vote4MentalHealth Senate General Election Candidate Questionnaire For all Texas Senate Districts The candidates were asked the following open-ended questions: 1. Texas is experiencing a shortage of mental health and addiction care providers, especially in rural and underserved areas. How will you make sure more people have access to mental health treatment and services? 2. State and federal law requires mental health parity, or the equal treatment of mental health conditions and substance During February 2020 and September-October 2020, NAMI use disorders, compared to physical health conditions, in Texas’ Public Policy Team and our volunteers sent out a six- insurance plans. However, individuals in Texas still often question mental health policy questionnaire via Google Forms to receive unequal coverage for mental health treatment and every individual running for a state legislative seat in a contested services. What will you do to improve coverage for race. Candidates were also provided information on NAMI Texas’ mental health care? public policy platform. We are only sharing the results for 3. At least 30% of individuals in local Texas jails have a candidates who are in a contested race. If we have not received a severe mental illness, and more than half of justice- completed questionnaire from a candidate, we will indicate that we involved individuals nationwide have at least one mental have not received a response yet. Reminders were sent on a weekly health condition. What will you do to divert people with basis to candidates who had not yet responded to the mental illness from the criminal justice system? questionnaire. 4. Almost a quarter of individuals experiencing homelessness have a severe mental illness, and mental NAMI Texas is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) non-profit illness has been identified as the third leading cause of organization. We DO NOT endorse any candidates, or rank or alter homelessness nationwide. How will you help people with their answers in any way. We provide this information to educate mental illness who are struggling with housing? you on where candidates in your district stand on key mental 5. Half of mental health conditions begin by the age of 14 health issues and let you use this information to inform your vote and 75% begin by the age of 24, but these issues often go rd on November 3 . A candidate’s inclusion of answers here does not undetected and untreated until they reach a crisis point. indicate a preference or endorsement by NAMI Texas. Inclusion in How will you promote earlier intervention for people this guide does not indicate that NAMI Texas endorses any experiencing mental illness? candidate's positions provided in the questionnaire. We encourage 6. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, and NAMI members and mental health advocates to continue asking has faced serious challenges in ensuring individuals in important questions of legislative and local candidates and underserved areas have access to health care. What will #Vote4MentalHealth! you do to improve access to health care and reduce our high uninsured rate? More information on the #Vote4MentalHealth campaign can be found at namitexas.org/vote4mentalhealth-texas. #Vote4MentalHealth Senate General Election Candidate Questionnaire For all Texas Senate Districts Senate District 1 show promising results, and I would work to expand access to Bryan Hughes (R, Incumbent) creative solutions like that as a member of the legislature. Bryan Hughes has not responded to the questionnaire yet. 4. Housing: We need to prioritize affordable housing options for Texans all over the state. This should include supportive housing, Audrey Spanko (D) but even access to affordable housing without extra services is 1. System Capacity: Medicaid expansion will play an important necessary to curbing homelessness in Texas. Additionally, it will role in increasing access to mental health services, as it will bring be important to ensure that people experiencing homelessness also coverage to over 40,000 East Texans, many of whom live in rural have access to quality mental and physical health services. areas. Especially during a pandemic, we need to work to expand 5. Early Intervention: In order to ensure Texans can access the use of Telehealth services; however, for rural Texans these mental health services before they reach a crisis point, we should services have proved critical, and it will be necessary to continue encourage mental health screenings to begin at a younger age. One the expansion of Telehealth, even when we are no longer facing a way we can accomplish this is increasing the number of school global pandemic. social workers across the state, this would allow public school 2. Mental Health Coverage/Parity: For too long, the legislature students access to a mental health professional whenever they are has allowed health insurance companies to go unchecked. We on campus. should focus our efforts on holding these for profit companies 6. Access to Health Care: Senate district 1 is currently home to accountable, so Texans can attain necessary mental health 134,000 individuals without health insurance and has the highest coverage, in addition to the physical health coverage they are infant mortality rate in the state. I plan to fight for Medicaid receiving. We should also work to increase Medicaid expansion. Over 42,000 uninsured individuals in Senate District 1 reimbursement, making it more competitive with Medicare rates. would gain medical coverage if Texas expanded Medicaid. This would incentivize health care workers to improve and expand Expanded coverage also means women and children will have the the services they provide. coverage they need to seek life-saving medical services. Over the 3. Criminal Justice: This is a part of a broad and necessary last nine years four rural hospitals have closed in District 1. discussion of reimagining our criminal justice system. In order to Expanding coverage and insurance could help save other hospitals truly provide justice, we need to provide services to individuals, at risk of closing. even before they become justice-involved. First of all, expanded Medicaid will bring coverage to thousands of Texans who may be Senate District 4 suffering from a mental illness that would otherwise go untreated Brandon Creighton (R, Incumbent) and potentially could lead them to involvement with our broken Brandon Creighton has not responded to the questionnaire yet. criminal justice system. Additionally, mental health resources in Texas need to be accessible to all Texans, not just to those who can Jay Stittleburg (D) pay top dollar. Other ideas, like supportive housing programs, also 1. System Capacity: I will support programs that provides incentives for people that want to seek education for becoming a #Vote4MentalHealth Senate General Election Candidate Questionnaire For all Texas Senate Districts mental health and/or addiction care provider. I will also support 3. Criminal Justice: First off, I would legalize all drugs. When programs, such as public/private partnerships, to increase the there is no victim, there is no crime. This would significantly number of facilities that are available for treatment. reduce our prison population. We could encourage these 2. Mental Health Coverage/Parity: I will fight to ensure that individuals to seek the attention necessary once they are released health insurance programs provide adequate coverage for seeking from prison. As for the violent offenders, I would seek information mental health care and substance abuse treatment. from professionals to figure out how best to help them with their 3. Criminal Justice: I will support programs, such as mental mental illness. Our prisons are supposed to be "correctional" health courts and mental health officers, to ensure that we are facilities. Let's figure out what we can do to "correct" their getting people with mental health issues the help they need and not behavior. If it's mental illness, maybe we can find them the help simply incarcerating them as jail is no place for treatment and they need. unfortunately our jail system in Texas is the #1 mental health 4. Housing: I would get government out of housing. I would provider and that needs to change. encourage people to reach out and teach these people the skill of 4. Housing: I will support programs that provide training and building houses. If we provide them with skills that can provide education, rental and housing assistance and availability of them with food and shelter, then they can become entrepreneurs facilities to transition from homelessness to self-sufficient. through construction and growing food. This would get them 5. Early Intervention: I will support programs that provide outside, keep them busy, and feel productive. Government, availability of counselors and doctors in our public school systems however, is never the answer. to ensure that we can identify and treat mental health issues in our 5. Early Intervention: I would encourage people to find the help youth as early as possible to provide them the opportunity to lead a they need. full, healthy and productive life. 6. Access to Health Care: I would reduce government red tape. 6. Access to Health Care: My #1 priority if elected is to expand Government has failed and is the specific reason for all of these Medicaid in Texas. It is not the complete solution, but it is a good problems. Let the free market work itself. There is a stigma that we start and we need to start somewhere, because our state is doing need government in these underserved areas. People there don't nothing to address this issue at the moment. have much hope. Let's eliminate taxes, encourage entrepreneurship, encourage skill building and downsize state and Cameron Brock (L) federal government. 1. System Capacity: I would ease restrictions to access. 2. Mental Health Coverage/Parity: I would get government out Senate District 6 of it.