1 1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEES 2 ----------------------------------------------------- 3 JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING 4 In the Matter of the 2021-2022 EXECUTIVE BUDGET ON 5 MENTAL HYGIENE 6 ----------------------------------------------------- 7 8 Virtual Hearing Conducted via Zoom 9 February 5, 2021 10 9:36 a.m. 11 PRESIDING: 12 Senator Liz Krueger 13 Chair, Senate Finance Committee 14 Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee 15 PRESENT: 16 Senator Thomas F. O'Mara 17 Senate Finance Committee (RM) 18 Assemblyman Edward P. Ra Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) 19 Senator Samra G. Brouk 20 Chair, Senate Committee on Mental Health 21 Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther Chair, Assembly Committee on Mental Health 22 Senator John W. Mannion 23 Chair, Senate Committee on Disabilities 24 2 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti Chair, Assembly Committee on People with 5 Disabilities 6 Senator Pete Harckham Chair, Senate Committee on Alcoholism 7 and Substance Abuse 8 Assemblyman Phil Steck Chair, Assembly Committee on Alcoholism 9 and Drug Abuse 10 Assemblyman Michael Cusick 11 Senator Diane J. Savino 12 Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara 13 Senator John Liu 14 Assemblywoman Melissa Miller 15 Senator Gustavo Rivera 16 Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh 17 Senator Sue Serino 18 Assemblywoman Chantel Jackson 19 Senator Anthony H. Palumbo 20 Assemblyman Khaleel M. Anderson 21 Assemblywoman Vivian E. Cook 22 Senator Roxanne J. Persaud 23 Assemblyman Harry B. Bronson 24 3 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry 5 Senator Robert G. Ortt 6 Assemblyman Harvey Epstein 7 Assemblywoman Carmen N. De La Rosa 8 Senator John E. Brooks 9 Assemblyman William Colton 10 Assemblyman Chris Burdick 11 Assemblywoman Judy Griffin 12 Assemblyman Erik M. Dilan 13 Senator James Tedisco 14 Assemblywoman Rebecca A. Seawright 15 Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski 16 Senator Peter Oberacker 17 Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo 18 Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus 19 Assemblyman Keith P. Brown 20 Assemblyman Edward C. Braunstein 21 Senator Simcha Felder 22 Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson 23 Assemblywoman Karen McMahon 24 4 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Ann Marie T. Sullivan Commissioner 6 NYS Office of Mental Health 13 23 (OMH) 7 Theodore Kastner 8 Commissioner NYS Office for People With 9 Developmental Disabilities 152 159 (OPWDD) 10 þÿ Arlene Gonzÿýlez-Sÿýnchez 11 Commissioner NYS Office of Addiction 12 Services and Supports (OASAS) 245 251 13 Denise M. Miranda Executive Director 14 NYS Justice Center for the Protection of People with 15 Special Needs 301 307 16 Melissa Genadri Poverty & Health Policy Associate 17 Children's Defense Fund-New York -and- 18 Andrea Smyth Executive Director 19 NYS Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health 20 -and- Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D. 21 President and CEO Family and Children's 22 Association 354 364 23 24 5 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Leslie Feinberg Director 6 Supporting Our Youth and Adults Network (SOYAN) 7 -and- Luis Alvarez 8 Chair CUNY Coalition for Students 9 with Disabilities 380 10 Ruth Lowenkron Director, Disability Justice 11 Program NY Lawyers for the Public Interest 12 -and- Harvey Rosenthal 13 Executive Director NY Association of Psychiatric 14 Rehabilitation Services 386 15 Christine Khaikin Health Policy Attorney 16 Legal Action Center -and- 17 Briana Gilmore Community Advocate 394 18 John J. Coppola 19 Executive Director NY Association of Alcoholism 20 and Substance Abuse Providers -and- 21 Allegra Schorr President 22 Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers & Advocates 23 -and- Dr. Angelia Smith-Wilson 24 Executive Director Friends of Recovery New York 402 411 6 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Glenn Liebman CEO 6 Mental Health Association in New York State 7 -and- Kelly A. Hansen 8 Executive Director NYS Conference of Local 9 Mental Hygiene Directors -and- 10 Wendy Burch Executive Director 11 National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York State 12 -and- Amy Dorin 13 President and CEO The Coalition for 14 Behavioral Health 423 15 Russell Snaith Founding Member 16 New York Alliance for Developmental Disabilities 17 -and- Sebrina Barrett 18 Executive Director Association for Community Living 19 -and- Susan Platkin 20 New York Self-Determination Coalition 21 -and- Susan Constantino 22 President and CEO Cerebral Palsy Associations 23 of New York State -on behalf of- 24 New York Disability Advocates (NYDA) 438 454 7 1 2021-2022 Executive Budget Mental Hygiene 2 2-5-21 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Carlene Braithwaite Executive Committee Member 6 NYC Fair -and- 7 Kevin Allen Chair 8 Local 372 NYC Board of Education Employees, DC 37 AFSCME 9 -on behalf of- Substance Abuse Prevention and 10 Intervention Specialists (SAPIS) 11 -and- BJ Stasio 12 President Self-Advocacy Association 13 of New York State -and- 14 Nick Cappoletti CEO 15 LIFEPlan CCO NY 462 476 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 8 1 CHAIRWOMAN KRUEGER: Good morning. My 2 name is Liz Krueger. I'm the chair of the 3 Senate Finance Committee. And my partner in 4 these dual hearings is Helene Weinstein, 5 chair of Assembly Ways and Means. 6 Today is Friday, February 5th, it's 7 9:30. We're having our seventh virtual joint 8 legislative hearing on the 2021 Executive 9 Budget, the sections of the budget that 10 relate to mental hygiene. 11 Let's see. Just -- I got out of order 12 already, which is fine. These hearings are 13 conducted pursuant to the New York State 14 Constitution and Legislative Law. 15 Today the Senate Finance Committee and 16 the Assembly Ways and Means Committee will 17 hear testimony concerning the Governor's 18 proposed budget for the Office of Mental 19 Health, the Office for People With 20 Developmental Disabilities, the Office for 21 Addiction Services and Supports, and the 22 Justice Center for the Protection of People 23 With Special Needs. 24 Following each testimony there will be 9 1 some time for questions from the chairs of 2 the fiscal committees and other legislators 3 on the relevant committees for today's 4 hearing. 5 I will now introduce members from the 6 Senate and Assembly. And Assemblymember 7 Helene Weinstein, chair of Ways and Means, 8 will introduce members from the Assembly. I 9 will also then be, in between, introducing 10 Senator Tom O'Mara, ranking member of the 11 Senate Finance Committee, who will introduce 12 members from his conference, and the Assembly 13 will follow suit. 14 We have lots of Senators here already 15 today. So, let's see, I see Pete Harckham, 16 chair of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse; 17 Roxanne Persaud, John Mannion, John Liu, John 18 Brooks. Continuing along, Diane Savino. I 19 think that's the Senate Democrats so far. 20 But as more people come online, we 21 will be introducing them during the course of 22 the hearing. 23 And why don't I just quickly hand it 24 to Tom O'Mara, ranker on Finance, to 10 1 introduce the other members of his 2 conference. 3 (Zoom interruption.) 4 CHAIRWOMAN KRUEGER: Mute your phone. 5 SENATOR O'MARA: Good morning. Thank 6 you, Chairwoman Krueger. 7 We are joined on our side this morning 8 by our Republican Minority Leader Rob Ortt. 9 We're still waiting for a couple other of our 10 members to join us, and I will announce them 11 as they do. So thank you, and good morning. 12 CHAIRWOMAN KRUEGER: Good morning. 13 Thank you. 14 And again, just to clarify for 15 everyone, because we have so many 16 representatives of the government today, that 17 when you are the chair for the relevant 18 committee, you get 10 minutes to ask 19 questions. But since we have technically 20 chairs of multiple committees here, you only 21 get -- please mute yourself if you're not 22 actually supposed to be talking on-screen. 23 Thank you. 24 So, for example, Ann Sullivan will be 11 1 the first commissioner to testify for the 2 Office of Mental Health. Then we will let 3 the others testify. So we'll go through the 4 four commissioners first, and then we will 5 take the questions from the chairs and 6 rankers and then other legislators. 7 So for those of us who are just 8 listening, let's just get comfortable for a 9 while. And the clock is set for 10 minutes, 10 Commissioner -- 11 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Uh -- 12 CHAIRWOMAN KRUEGER: Oh, I'm so sorry. 13 I'm not doing any of that now. I'm first 14 handing it to Helene Weinstein to introduce 15 the Assemblymembers. I apologize. More 16 coffee this morning. 17 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Thank you, 18 Senator. 19 So we have with us Assemblywoman 20 Gunther, chair of our Mental Health 21 Committee, Assemblyman Phil Steck, chair of 22 our Alcoholism Committee, Assemblyman 23 Abinanti, chair of our Disabilities 24 Committee; Assemblyman Anderson, Assemblyman 12 1 Aubry, Assemblyman Bronson, Assemblyman 2 Burdick, Assemblywoman Cook, Assemblyman 3 Cusick, Assemblyman Dilan, Assemblyman 4 Epstein, Assemblywoman Griffin, Assemblyman 5 Santabarbara, Assemblywoman Seawright, and 6 Assemblyman Zebrowski. And I'm sure there 7 will be more members joining us. 8 Now I'd like to just turn it to our 9 ranker on Ways and Means to introduce the 10 members of his conference before we begin.