Concurrent Resolution Moves Forward

Julie Elginer, Co-Chair of SPAC has been working relentlessly with many of our partners to make the new Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) legislative plan a reality.

In summary after tremendous bipartisan support in the Assembly Health Committee, AB 159 was indefinitely held in suspense as part of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Given that California is facing an additional $15-20B fiscal shortfall in 2010, SPAC needed to take a revised approach. In November, the SPAC delegation voted to pursue the three pronged approach of (a) a concurrent resolution, (b) working with the CA Women’s Caucus OR the CA Commission on the Status of Women to hold informational hearings on PMAD and (c) approaching the CA Research Bureau to consider a research publication on this issue.

Concurrent Resolution (ACR 105)
On December 11, 2009, SPAC leadership met with Jackie Koenig (Legislative Director for Assembly Member Nava’s office), Liz Fuller (Consultant to the CA Women’s Caucus) and Lucy Krohn (Chief of Staff for Assembly Member Saldana - Chair of the CA Women’s Caucus). At that time, SPAC submitted the language for the Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) which was the work of numerous stakeholders, including many of those who testified on behalf of AB 159. The resolution was modeled largely off of ACR 51 (Koretz – 2003), and declares the month of May 2010 as Perinatal Depression Awareness Month in California. The resolution also requests that the StateDepartment of Health Care Services, the State Department of PublicHealth, the State Department of Mental Health, First 5 California, Postpartum Support International, and other stakeholders to work together to explore ways to improve women’s access to mental healthcare at the state and local levels, to facilitate increased awareness andeducation about perinatal depression, to explore and encourage the useof prenatal screening tools, and to improve the availability of effectivetreatment and community support services. Nava's office introduced the resolution this week. There were nine co-authors upon introduction, which illustrates the bi-partisan support for this effort.

to review a copy of the resolution, please click on the following link:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=acr_105&sess=CUR&house=A&author=nava

Informational Hearings
The California Women's Caucus has expressed interest in holding a legislative briefing/hearing in May during Women's Health Month on issues impacting maternal health, including PMAD. The hearing will likely be coordinated with the Assembly Health Committee in Sacramento. This will allow the content to become public record, and content of such committees is circulated to all legislators, staffers and gubernatorial staffers through the daily “pink sheet.” The hearing is being targeted for either Tuesday, May 4 or May 11. However we have learned that it is entirely possible the hearing might not occur despite all our best efforts as it is not uncommon that items relating to the fiscal crisis or pending legislation force cancellation of scheduled hearings. If the hearing goes forward, SPAC will assist in the identification of speakers and will be involved publicizing the hearing. Please tentatively mark your calendars!

CA Research Bureau Request
A Policy Analyst has been assigned who has been assigned this topic, is incredibly motive to move this issue forward. He is in the process of developing a project proposal for his leadership within the Bureau. Additionally, he is interested in holding a larger “stakeholders” meeting soon. Names of following organizations were provided as interested stakeholders:
LAC Perinatal Mental Health Taskforce, PSI, CMA Foundation, ACOG, Office of Women’s Health, County Mental Health Directors Association and more.

For more information on Federal postpartum legislation, please see the Perinatal Pro Weekly Blog at http://perinatalpro.com/. This week's highlights include:
The MOTHERS Act now passed in Senate & Time Magazine includes Katherine Stone’s MOTHERS Act Letter among Best of the Year