+ = Policy and Political Advocacy 10/23/2017. PA General Assembly PA Psychological Association Justin Fleming Director of Government Affairs

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1 Policy and Political Advocacy For Psychologists With, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE Three branches of Government in Pennsylvania EXECUTIVE LEGISLATIVE JUDICIAL EXECUTIVE BRANCH LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Pennsylvania s Governor is Tom Wolf, he is a Democrat from York County, PA. The Governor has a cabinet of Department Secretaries that move his agenda forward. Secretary of Health Pennsylvania s Legislative Branch is Comprised of the PA House and PA Senate. + = Secretary of DHS Secretary of Labor & Industry PA General Assembly LEGISLATIVE BRANCH (cont d) KEY LEGISLATIVE FIGURES There are 253 members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. 203 House members and 50 Senators. The Republican Party holds large majorities in both chambers, in the House and in the Senate. Pres. Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati PA Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman Minority Leader Jay Costa 1

2 KEY LEGISLATIVE FIGURES State Representatives PA House John Lawrence 13 th District Chester, Mindy Fee 37 th District Brett Miller 41 st District Speaker Mike Turzai Majority Leader Dave Reed Minority Leader Frank Dermody Keith Greiner 43 rd District P. Michael Sturla 96 th District State Representatives State Senators David Hickernell 98 th District Dauphin, David Zimmerman 99 th District Bryan Cutler 100 th District Scott Martin 13 th District Ryan Aument 36 th District Mark Gillen 128 th District Berks, Jim Cox 129 th District Berks, THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS NAVIGATING BILL COMMITTEE SENATE The website for the PA General Assembly is Find a bill here. You must search using HB # or SB #. GOVERNOR HOUSE COMMITTEE Search here for your legislator. You can search using your address or county. 2

3 READING A BILL Reading a bill can be tough, but cracking the code is the key. LOCAL GOVERNMENT MATTERS Arrows in the right hand margin of a bill marks are where changes need to be made. A strikethrough indicates material that should be deleted from the bill. CAPITAL LETTERS and underscoring indicate material to be added to the current version of the bill. Light face brackets indicate material to be omitted from the Act. From city council meetings in Philadelphia to Commissioners meetings in Elk County, local government matters. Local and county governments definitely have a great impact on our daily lives with zoning, tax collection and permitting rules. WHY SHOULD YOU ADVOCATE FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSION? WHAT DID PPA ACCOMPLISH DURING THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION? Professional advocacy provides you with the opportunity to take ownership, and have a say in what s expected of you as a psychologist. Currently, there are no psychologists who are members of the General Assembly. It is your responsibility to inform them about how to enhance the profession. In June 2016, Governor Wolf Signed SB 772, the Psychology Modernization Act, making it Act 53 of 2016 Act 53 made much-needed changes to the PA Psychological Practice Act. The Act had not been altered since WHAT ARE PPA S MAIN LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES FOR THE SESSION? FEDERAL ISSUES AFFECTING THE PRACTICE OF PSYCHOLOGY PHYSICIAN DEFINITION This session, PPA is focusing on passage of bills which accomplish three main goals: authorizing telepsychology services statewide, strengthening mental health parity, and studying the issue of starting school later for high school students. In addition, we are supporting a bill which shields child victims of human trafficking from prosecution and provides supports for those children. SB 780 and HB 1648 are the bills which authorize telepsychology, HB 440 is a mental health parity bill, HB 762 authorizes the PA Dept. of Education to study later start times, and SB 554 is the safe harbor from human trafficking bill. The Medicare Mental Health Access Act will allow psychologists to practice without unnecessary physician supervision. This legislation would add psychologists to the definition of physician under Medicare and increase access to mental health, particularly to those in rural and lower populated areas. 3

4 FEDERAL ISSUES AFFECTING THE PRACTICE OF PSYCHOLOGY PHYSICIAN DEFINITION PPA S ADVOCACY DAY! Continued monitoring of any changes to the federal Affordable Care Act PPA engagement and advocacy at the APA Practice Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. PPA held its Advocacy Day on Monday, May 8, We offer a 1.5 hour CE event about the legislative process and other legislative initiatives which affect psychologists. This year we had a press conference at 1:30 p.m. in the East Wing Rotunda to discuss issues related to overcoming interpersonal violence, specifically human trafficking. I encourage you as a professional psychologist to attend the Spring 2018 advocacy day and make your voice heard! THE LEGISLATIVE MEETING Know your roles in advance Meeting with staff is okay (sometimes better!) Stay on message and be brief Clearly explain how the legislator can help Support a specific legislation or policy Oppose legislation or policy Write letters/contact leadership to indicate support for a policy Evaluate meeting and follow up with legislator AND POLITICAL ADVOCACY Dialogue with your legislator Schedule time to visit the district office of your state rep./state sen. Inform him/her about issues that affect you as a psychologist. Tougher to say no to someone with whom you have a relationship. Educate the public about: Issues important to the psychology profession and mental health practice. Write articles/op eds/letters to the editor about psychology. AND POLITICAL ADVOCACY (cont d) AND POLITICAL ADVOCACY (cont d) Provide Testimony to the General Assembly You are the expert in psychology and mental health practice. Legislators have many areas of expertise but, again, there are no psychologists currently in General Assembly. YOU are the authority! Donate to PennPsyPAC PennPsyPAC is the Political Action Committee for the psychology profession. The money donated to PennPsyPAC goes to legislators and candidates who are supportive of professional psychology and mental health care. For more information about PennPsyPAC or do donate, visit 4

5 HOW DOES PPA LOBBY AND ADVOCATE FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS? In the past, PPA has employed a building block strategy. Every legislative session, we aim to introduce one or two bills which allow psychologists to practice in areas which were once reserved for physicians. We focus on tangible goals which we can achieve, rather than platitudes. WHAT ARE THESE BUILDING BLOCKS? Examples of this strategy include: Making sentencing recommendations Law passed which allows psychologists to evaluate impaired drivers. Having psychologists make evaluations for child custody. WHAT ARE PPA s BREAD AND BUTTER LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES Fighting insurance companies in the areas of prior authorization, reforming managed care and ensuring proper billing for service. Questions? THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION PPA opposes so called truth in advertising bills which place silly restrictions on what non physicians can do, and how they represent themselves. Please feel free to contact me at or send me an e mail at justin@papsy.org. 5