President
Bush Signs the Second Chance Act Reentry Legislation into Law
On April 9th, President Bush signed into law the Second
Chance Act, legislation that will help States and localities better address the needs of individuals reentering the community from the criminal
justice system. The Second Chance Act, now Public Law 110-199, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in November of
last year by a bi-partisan 347 to 62 vote. The U.S. Senate passed the legislation in March by unanimous consent.
Chief sponsors Congressmen Danny Davis (D-IL), Chris Cannon (R-UT) and 14 additional bi-partisan Members introduced the House version of the
Second Chance Act, H.R. 1593; and Senators Joe Biden (D-DE), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S. 1060,
the Senate version of the Second Chance Act.
The Second Chance Act authorizes $320 million in grant programs for
the next two fiscal years. However, no funds have been allocated for the programs authorized in the Second Chance Act.
Funding must be secured through the annual appropriations process currently underway in Congress.
The Second Chance Act would reauthorize a Department of Justice
(DOJ) grant program for people returning to the community from incarceration. The Second Chance Act authorizes $55 million for
grants to States and local areas to create or strengthen the systems that help adults and youth transition into the community when they are released
from incarceration by providing drug and mental health treatment, job training and education opportunities, housing and other necessary services.
Grants could be used for various services, including:
-
Providing a full continuum of addiction treatment services including
outpatient, comprehensive residential services, and recovery services to people reentering the community from prison, jail or a juvenile
facility
The Second Chance Act also authorizes a number of grant programs that
seek to improve services for formerly incarcerated people:
Provisions Seeking to Strengthen Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment
Services:
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A grant program to States, units of local government, territories and Indian
tribes to improve the provision of drug treatment to people in prisons, jails and juvenile facilities and to reduce the use of alcohol and other
drugs by individuals with long-term addiction histories
-
A grant program through DOJ’s National Institute of Justice, in
consultation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), to public and private research entities to evaluate the effectiveness of depot
naltrexone for the treatment of heroin addiction
-
A grant program to States, localities and Indian tribes to 1) develop,
implement or expand comprehensive family-based addiction treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration for parents convicted of non-violent
offenses and 2) to provide prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents
Provisions Aimed at Improving Employment and Educational
Services:
-
A DOJ grant program to States, local governments, Indian tribes and other
public and private entities to evaluate methods to improve academic and vocational education for people in prison, jails and juvenile facilities;
best practices for such educational programs would then be recommended to the Attorney General and improvements could be made with grant
funds
-
A DOJ grant program to States, local units of government, territories and
Indian tribes to establish technology career training programs within prisons, jails and juvenile facilities; grant funds could be used to train
individuals for technology-based jobs and careers during the three-year period before release from incarceration
Provisions to Strengthen Services to Help Individuals Successfully
Reenter the Community:
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A DOJ grant program to State, Tribal and local courts, and state agencies,
municipalities, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, territories and Indian Tribes for reentry courts
-
A DOJ program, in coordination with the Director of the Bureau of
Prisons (BOP), to establish a reentry initiative for individuals incarcerated in Federal prisons; subject to availability of appropriations, BOP would
assess an individual’s skill level, generate a plan for the individual’s skill development and provide incentives for the
individual’s participation in skills development programs; incarcerated individuals would also receive assistance in obtaining identification
prior to release and developing a release plan; the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, would be required to take such
steps as are necessary to educate employers and the Workforce Investment Act’s one-stop partners and operators about incentives for hiring
formerly incarcerated people
The full text of PL 110-199 can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/. Information about the White House bill signing ceremony can be found at: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080409-2.html.
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House
Subcommittee Approves “Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008,” Legislation Would Place a One Year Moratorium on Seven Medicaid
Regulations
On April 9th, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Health approved by a voice vote H.R. 5613, the “Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008.” H.R. 5613,
introduced by Congressmen John Dingell (D-MI) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) and co-sponsored by 163 bi-partisan Members, would place a one-year moratorium on
implementation of seven regulations proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that seek to cut the costs of the program to the
federal government.
The seven CMS regulations seek to limit certain types of
services reimbursable under Medicaid provided by addiction treatment, mental health treatment and other healthcare providers.
Reimbursement payments under Medicaid for targeted case management, rehabilitation, school-based transportation and outreach, hospital
outpatient and other services provided through the health care system would be restricted under the proposed rules. Although CMS
has estimated that the proposed rules would reduce federal spending by $15 billion over a period of five years, other studies have estimated that the
impact of these rules on the States would be approximately $50 billion over five years.
Similar legislation to H.R. 5613, S. 2819, was recently introduced
in the Senate by Senator Rockefeller (D-WV). S. 2819 has eleven bi-partisan co-sponsors and is awaiting review in the Senate
Finance Committee.
At the Health Subcommittee mark-up session, H.R. 5613 chief
sponsor Congressman Dingell, chairman of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, expressed his strong support for the legislation, asserting
that the bill would help protect the health of millions of Medicaid beneficiaries by delaying the CMS regulations. In addition,
Chairman Dingell asserted that passage of H.R. 5613 would allow for further examination of the impact of the CMS rules in shifting costs to the
States and in affecting providers’ ability to provide healthcare services.
During the mark-up session, a number of bi-partisan Members
expressed their support for H.R. 5613. Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX), Ranking Member of the full Energy and Commerce Committee,
thanked Congressman Dingell for agreeing to amend the legislation to clarify that the moratorium would apply only to the seven CMS regulations and
not any future ones. Referring to the Bush Administration’s previous statements of opposition to H.R. 5613, Congressman
Barton urged against a Presidential veto of the bill.
H.R. 5613 is expected to be reviewed by the full House Energy and
Commerce Committee on April 15th. The text and status of both H.R. 5613 and S. 2819 can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
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Legislation
Seeking to Provide Full Continuum of Care for Substance Use Disorders for Veterans Introduced in the House
On March 6th, Congressman Michael Michaud (D-ME) and seven
bi-partisan co-sponsors introduced H.R. 5554, the “Veterans Substance Use Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act of 2008.”
H.R. 5554 seeks to expand and improve health care services available to veterans from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for substance
use disorders.
H.R. 5554 would require that each VA medical center provide ready
access to a full continuum of care for substance use disorders for veterans in need of such care. Under the legislation, this
continuum of care is defined as including:
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Screenings for substance use disorder in all settings
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Detoxification and stabilization services
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Intensive outpatient care services
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Relapse prevention services
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Outpatient counseling services
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Residential substance use disorder treatment for veterans with severe recurring
substance abuse or substance dependence
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Pharmacological treatment to reduce cravings, including opioid substitution
therapy
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Coordination with groups providing peer to peer counseling
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Short-term, early interventions for substance use disorders
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Marital and family counseling
Additionally, the “Veterans Substance Use Disorders Prevention and
Treatment Act” would require that the VA Secretary provide for outreach to veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation
Iraqi Freedom to increase awareness of the availability of care, treatment and services from the VA for substance use disorders.
H.R. 5554 also would authorize a $1.5 million per year pilot
program to test the feasibility of providing veterans who seek treatment for substance use disorders access to a computer-based self-assessment,
education, and specified treatment program through a secure Internet website operated by the VA.
In addition, H.R. 5554 would require the Secretary of the VA
to include a detailed report to Congress on the care, treatment and services provided by the VA during the most recently completed fiscal
year. The report must include data from each VA medical facility, including information about the number of veterans who received
substance use disorder screening; the number of veterans for whom a disorder was identified after a screening at a VA facility; the number of
veterans who were referred by a VA facility for care, treatment or services; the number of veterans who actually received care, treatment or
services; and the availability of the full continuum of care.
H.R. 5554 currently has eleven bi-partisan co-sponsors.
The House Committee on Veterans Affairs’ Subcommittee on Health is scheduled to hold a hearing on H.R. 5554 on April 15th.
The full text and status of H.R. 5554 can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
For further information, please contact: Gabrielle de la
Gueronniere, Deputy Director for National Policy, at gdelagueronniere@lac-dc.org or Nisha Thakker, Policy
Associate, at nthakker@lac.org.
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