Missouri Legislative News 2010
Missouri Department of Mental Health Budgets from 1971 to 2010
What You Can Do!
Review the good bills and the bad bills. Then visit, call, email, fax or write your Missouri State Representative and Senator to express your personal opinion about this legislation, urging them to support or oppose (as the case may be) the selected bills.
Go here to find out who your Missouri State Representative and Senator are and how to contact them.
Encourage your legislators to enact legislation to curb psychiatric fraud and abuse by forwarding to them the model legislation described below.
Model Legislation
These proposed bills are models upon which governments can develop their own laws to safeguard citizens against psychiatric fraud and abuse:
- Prevent the use of physical or mechanical restraint procedures in psychiatric facilities.
- Prevent any sexual contact, with or without consent, between a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist with their patients.
- Prevent school settings from being used for mental health screening without written, informed parental consent.
- Prohibit involuntary commitment without due process of law and with the protection of a person’s right to liberty.
- Provide written, informed consent for electroshock therapy.
Click here to download the Model Legislation.
Suggestions for writing to your legislators
Review these handy pointers for writing to your legislators and other government officials.
HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, SS= Senate Substitute, HCS = House Committee Substitute, SCS = Senate Committee Substitute, HJR = House Joint Resolution, HCR = House Concurrent Resolution, SR = Senate Rule
Bill Number in BOLD represents exceptionally good or bad.
These are not the only good and bad bills, but they are definitely in need of your letters. Start your letter writing campaign today!
The Missouri legislative session ended May 14, 2010. Updates are provided below on what passed and what did not pass.
You can find out more about the Missouri General Assembly at http://www.moga.mo.gov/.
Overview of Session Ended 5/14/2010
There were not as many psychiatric–related bills introduced this year as in previous years. To some extent this reflects budgetary restraint, as it was well known that this was not the time to pass legislation for any major expansion of government programs. But it may also reflect the fact that public sentiment against psychiatry is increasing.
Here are the numbers of pro– and anti–psychiatric bills passed and failed. Where separate bills were bundled together and passed as one, they are counted separately. Where the same measure has been duplicated in multiple bills, they are counted as just one. “Anti-psych” includes bills of a more general nature that can be used against psychiatry or to protect patients.
- 9 Pro-psych bills passed
- 3 Anti-psych bills passed
- 15 Pro-psych bills not passed
- 9 Anti-psych bills not passed
To find out more about any particular bill, go to the Joint Bill Tracking page on the Missouri State Government web site.
Pro–Psych Bills Passed
- HB 1311 AUTISM COVERAGE
- HB 1695 DWI COURTS
- HB 2226 & SB 754 COMPLAINTS AGAINST COUNSELORS
- SB 754 MISSOURI EATING DISORDER COUNCIL
- HB 1894 ATTITUDES EDUCATION
- SB 744 & HB 1894 CERTIFYING ACCOUNTS
- HB 2226 LICENSURE OF SOCIAL WORKERS
- HB 2226 MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPISTS
- HB 2010 APPROPRIATIONS
Anti–Psych Bills Passed
- SB 774 MENTAL HEALTH SAFETY
- HB 2226 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AGAINST CERTAIN HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
- SB 842, SB 1007 & HB 1894 PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITALS EXEMPTION REPEALED
Pro–Psych Bills Not Passed
- HB 1731 OBESITY
- HB 1733 & HB 1734 EATING DISORDERS
- SB 602, SB 607, SB 612, SB 615, SB 725, SB 821, HB 1289 & HB 1377 DRUG TESTING (AND TREATMENT) FOR WELFARE
- SB 661 TOBACCO CONTROL
- SB 995 DEPT OF CORRECTIONS PILOT
- HB 1215 SCREENING (GENERAL)
- HB 1463 SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER
- HB 1296 AUTISM EARLY DETECTION
- HB 1450 EARLY INTERVENTION
- HB 1398 ABUSE AND NEGLECT CASES
- HB 1600 WORKERS’ COMP FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS
- SB 742 & HB 1886 MO HEALTHNET OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
- SB 828 & HB 1590 BOONE COUNTY COUNSELOR (ATTORNEY)
- SB 951 STATE LEGAL EXPENSE FUND
- HB 2133 IMPAIRED PROFESSIONALS
Anti–Psych Bills Not Passed
- SB 639, SB 959 & HB 1790 FALSE CLAIMS ACT
- HB 1985 COMMITMENT PROCEDURES
- HB 1298 TRANSFER OF PATIENTS
- HB 1447 CASELOAD STANDARDS
- HB 1631 SEXUAL CONTACT WITH PATIENT
- HB 1688 WHISTLE BLOWERS
- HB 2105 CASE MANAGEMENT
- HB 2242 STAFFING LEVELS
- HB 2306 TRANSITIONING TO MOST APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENT
