December 31, 2002

Public Interest Policy staff of APA's Public Policy Office (PPO) were actively engaged in many legislative and federal activities to promote psychology in the public interest in the 107^th Congress and with the Bush administration. PPO staff continue to interact on a regular basis with members of Congress, their staff and federal agency officials, both in coalitions with other organizations and independently. PPO activities include the preparation of legislative background materials, statutory, and formal comments on proposed legislation and regulation, as well as mobilizing the APA membership for grassroots advocacy efforts. PPO staff also identify and invite psychologists to testify at congressional hearings and APA congressional briefings, as well as represent the association on federal agency advisory boards and at executive branch meetings and White House conferences.

With the national agenda focused on homeland security and a possible war with Iraq, the 107th Congress adjourned without enacting many of the major health bills of importance to psychology. When the 108th Congress convenes on January 7th, there will be many new members of Congress in a Republican controlled House and Senate. To advance issues of concern to psychology, PPO will need active APA member support for our grassroots advocacy efforts.

This document provides an overview of activities undertaken during 2002 in the following public interest areas: aging; children, youth and families; disability issues; ethnic minority issues; gay, lesbian, and bisexual concerns; HIV/AIDS; media and technology; poverty; women; and cross-cutting mental health services initiatives. Additionally, PPO's Public Interest Policy staff administers the APA Congressional Fellowship Program, through which four psychologists are currently spending a year on the staff of a member of Congress and/or congressional committee.

Contributions to Legislation

Mental Health Appropriations Provisions -- Submitted report language and APA testimony to the House and Senate Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education Appropriations Subcommittees in support of increased Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 funding for critical programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, i.e., the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Indian Health Service (IHS), and the Administration on Children and Families (ACF), along with the Department of Education. PPO-proposed language incorporated into the Senate committee report included provisions in support of the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program and for a collaborative relationship between SAMHSA and the National Institutes of Health to promote the research to practice interface. PPO joined with various coalitions in writing to chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging increased funding for mental health services and research. Final action on FY 2003 appropriations will likely occur in January, when the new Congress convenes. The 107th Congress made history when both chambers failed to reach agreement on 11 of 13 appropriations bills to fund the federal government.

Disaster Response and Bioterrorism Legislation -- Advocated successfully for increased funding for emergency mental health services through SAMHSA in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks and drafted provisions for legislation introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and others to ensure the inclusion of mental health services in various proposals to assist the nation in efforts to prepare for and respond to bioterrorism.

Children's Mental Health Service Expansion Act (H.R. 5078) -- Worked with Rep. Patrick Kennedy's (D-RI) office and PPO Education Policy staff in drafting this child mental health training initiative. This bill was introduced on July 9 and includes PPO suggestions regarding definitions of providers and interagency collaboration. A Public Policy Advocacy Network (PPAN) Action Alert to increase the number of congressional cosponsors will be sent to key segments of the APA membership when the bill is prepared for reintroduction in early 2003.

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Reauthorization (H.R. 3839) -- Contributed language in the House-passed reauthorization bill to provide for full physical and mental health screenings for children in child protective service custody and for longitudinal research (among other research provisions). These provisions were also included in the bill passed by the Senate authorizing committee and will be in the bills debated in the 108th Congress.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Reauthorization -- Provided input to the House Education and the Workforce Committee and to Rep. Kennedy-s office regarding special education assessment and various other matters pertinent to IDEA reauthorization. More specifically, PPO developed a proposal for prevention/early intervention services and contributed language to establish demonstration programs and enhance research and related service personnel provisions. PPO also spearheaded the preparation of an 8/19 APA letter to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in response to the report of the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education addressing these same issues. PPO has continued this dialogue with Congress and the Department of Education in preparation for the new Congress.

Early Intervention Improvement Act (H.R. 5076)-- Contributed to the drafting of this bill, introduced by Rep. Kennedy, which focuses on improving Part C of IDEA by providing early identification and intervention services to children under five who have disabilities.

Nurturing Special Kids Act (S. 2671) and the Access to High Quality Child Care Act (S. 2758) -- Contributed to the development of these bills introduced by Senators John Edwards (D-NC) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), respectively, to ensure that specialized child care and targeted resources are available for children with disabilities and other special needs.

Women and Trauma Legislation -- Worked with Senator Edwards' office in drafting the "Women in Trauma Act of 2002" (S. 2204) and in introducing APA-drafted domestic violence research provisions as a separate bill, "Expanding Research for Women in Trauma Act of 2002" (S. 2559). This latter bill would include research on the psychological sequelae of violence against women, with particular attention to the increased risk for violence of special populations, including adolescents, older women, ethnic minorities, and women with disabilities.

Preventing Depression in Preadolescent and Adolescent Girls and Women Act (S.2427) -- Assisted Tamara Jackson, then APA Congressional Fellow in Senator Jeff Bingaman's (D-NM) office, in drafting prevention, treatment, and research provisions.

Domestic Violence Screening and Services Act (S. 2236) -- Provided input to Richard McKeon, then APA Congressional Fellow in Senator Paul Wellstone's (D-MN) office, to increase domestic violence screening and treatment, improve health care system response, and train health care providers via the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

Safe Motherhood Act for Research and Treatment (S. 2328) -- Contributed to drafting provisions of this bill, along with PPO Science Policy staff, which was proposed by Senator Kennedy (D-MA) to ensure quality prenatal and postnatal care.

In Promoting…

Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (H.R. 1343/S .625) -- Prepared and sent an APA letter to the full Senate on 4/26 urging support for this hate crimes bill. Sent an APA letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft on 5/15 commending the Department for federal intervention in the Shenandoah National Park murders and requesting Administration support for the legislation. Sent an Action Alert on 5/1 to 11 relevant APA division executive committees and targeted membership urging calls to the Senate in support.

Welfare Reform Reauthorization -- Sent an Action Alert to targeted APA members on 5/15 urging calls to the House in opposition to legislation that would not provide for mental health services and adequate child care to help women make a successful transition from welfare to work. The House bill (H.R. 4735) passed, but legislation approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on 6/26, which allows for time-limited "rehabilitative services" (including mental health and substance abuse treatment) as a work activity within the 30 mandated hours, was not considered. On 10/21, PPO sent a letter to key members of the Senate leadership, i.e., Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MI), Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and to the Chair and Ranking Members of the Finance Committee, Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT), respectively, to highlight the need to provide for mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence treatment to address other critical self sufficiency barriers in welfare reform legislation.

Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program -- Sent requests on 4/30 to Senate and House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations staff in support of $60 million in funding for this program, which was zeroed out in the President's budget and currently funded at $32.5 million.

Family Opportunity Act (H.R. 600/S. 321) -- Sent letters to key House and Senate members in support of this legislation to allow middle-income families of children with disabilities to "buy into" the Medicaid program to obtain health and mental health services. PPO staff, in coalition with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), conducted Hill visits to urge key congressional staff to support the bill. Although the Senate Finance Committee approved S. 321 by voice vote on 7/11, neither the Senate nor the House brought the measure up for consideration before Congress adjourned in December. On 12/10, Senators Kennedy and Grassley personally thanked CCD advocates, including PPO staff, for their efforts on this measure and recommitted themselves to supporting the bill when they reintroduce it in the next Congress.

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) reauthorization -- Engaged in a coalition effort to help achieve the reauthorization of JJDPA as part of the FY 2003 Department of Justice reauthorization. Included in the conference report was H.R. 863, the authorization of the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant. This legislation maintains the core protections for youth in the juvenile justice system, which had essentially been stripped away in earlier versions of the legislation and replaced by provisions to encourage waiving more youth to the adult criminal justice system. It expands an existing provision to require states to base assessments of disproportionate minority representation on all youth who come in contact with the juvenile justice system - not just those in confinement, continues the formula grant to states, and maintains the Title V local delinquency prevention grant program. PPO also staff met with Robert Flores, the new Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, on 8/20 to discuss agency priorities and opportunities for APA involvement.

Psychological Services in Hospice Care -- Met with representatives of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization on 10/9 as part of a concerted effort to explore regulatory and/or statutory changes to the Medicare hospice program to enhance the ability of psychologists to provide mental health services to hospice beneficiaries. PPO staff, in concert with John Anderson, the director of the APA Office on AIDS who serves as staff liaison to the APA Working Group on Assisted Suicide and End-of-Life Care, and Practice Government Relations Office staff, continue to investigate this and other opportunities to improve end-of-life care.

Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2002 (S. 2489) -- Lent APA support to this bill introduced by Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and John Breaux (D-LA) to provide respite care through the Health Resources and Services Administration. On July 9, the Senate Finance Committee approved the bill, which has yet to go to the Senate floor for consideration. Public Interest Policy staff attended a press conference to introduce the bill and conducted a literature search of outcome studies.

Congressional Testimony/Briefings/Hill Visits

Early Head Start Impact Study -- Coordinated a 6/28 congressional briefing at the U.S. Capitol entitled, "Improving Outcomes for Young Children: The Early Head Start Impact Study." Opening remarks were delivered by Windy Hill, Associate Commissioner of the Head Start Bureau, and presenters included Rachel Chazan Cohen and Helen Raikes, Administration for Children and Families; John Love and Ellen Kisker, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.; and Tammy Mann, National Resource Center for Early Head Start. PPO's Dan Dodgen served as moderator. The briefing was part of the National Decade of Behavior Initiative and cosponsored by the Society for Research in Child Development, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. The House Education and the Workforce Committee was the congressional sponsor.

Child Abuse Prevention -- Coordinated a 6/11 congressional briefing on child abuse prevention at the U. S. Capitol sponsored by APA Division 37's Section on Child Maltreatment and the Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law. Presenters included APA President Philip Zimbardo (who delivered introductory remarks), Jeffrey Haugaard of Cornell University, and Sharon Portwood of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dan Dodgen served as moderator. Hill visits with the presenters' congressional representatives and senators were conducted before and after the briefing.

Women's Mental Health -- Arranged for Gwendolyn Keita (APA's Director of Women's Programs) to present APA testimony on 1/30 entitled, "Women's Mental Health: What Do We Know and What Do We Need?" at a congressional briefing on women's health sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation and Women's Policy, Inc.

Girl Neighborhood Power! -- Cosponsored a 4/24 briefing "A Promising Approach to Youth Development" with Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, Crispus Attucks Association, Girls, Inc., National Center of Policy Research for Women and Children, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust -- Helped coordinate the participation of Vicki Mays (National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics) and Brian Smedley (Institute of Medicine) on the newly released Institute of Medicine report on health disparities in the 4/12 event of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.

Federal Agency Initiatives

White House - Office of the President

President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health - Contributed to President Bush's appointment of psychologists to the 15-member commission, working in concert with the Practice Directorate. The three APA members on the commission are Deanna Yates (President-elect of the Texas Psychological Association), Stephen Mayberg (Director, California Department of Mental Health), and Larke Huang (Director of Research/Senior Policy Associate at Georgetown University's Center for Child Health and Mental Health Policy). The commission's mandate is to conduct a comprehensive one-year study of the nation's mental health service delivery system and make recommendations for improvement. Public Interest Policy staff attended the commission's first meeting on June 18-19 and continue to represent APA at the monthly meetings held in the D.C. area. Together with the Practice Directorate, PPO staff worked with Diane Marsh (Chair of APA's Task Force on SMI/SED) to prepare invited testimony, which she presented to the commission on July 19.

PPO also worked with APA's Office on Aging and the Practice Directorate to write testimony that was presented on 10/4 by Debbie DiGilio, APA's Aging Issues Officer, during the public comment portion of that month's commission meeting. This testimony highlighted the unmet mental health needs of older adults, the effectiveness of psychological services for them, and the need to ensure that psychological services are more widely accessible to this population. PPO provided the commission's Subcommittee on Aging with psychological research, publications, and resources that represented a broad range of issues related to the mental health concerns of older adults. PPO also submitted materials on school mental health and child mental health training to Larke Huang to support her work as co-chair of the Subcommittee on Children and Families.

PPO attended the 11/1 press conference for the release of the commission's interim report and worked with APA's Public Communications Office to prepare a laudatory media statement in response, which was posted on the APA Web site and sent to the commission executive director and key commissioners. PPO and the Office on Aging also sent a more detailed written response to the commission's Subcommittee on Aging in which we applauded the commission for its efforts, highlighted important areas that were overlooked in the Interim Report or needed additional consideration, and included policy recommendations for improving the care and quality of life of older adults.

Treaty on the Rights of Women -- Sent an APA letter to President Bush on 8/12 and to the full Senate on 10/8, co-written with APA's Women's Programs Office and the International Affairs Office, urging the Administration to support U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, also known as the Treaty for the Rights of Women.

Department of State

Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS -- Sent a 5/30 letter on behalf of APA and our Committee on Psychology and AIDS to Secretary Colin Powell, commending him for his strong support for a holistic approach to prevention (including condom use), treatment, and research efforts in the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS.

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Office of Strategic Planning

HHS Strategic Plan for 2003-2008 -- Spearheaded the development of an APA inter-directorate comment to DHHS regarding the eight goals and related objectives proposed in the draft HHS Strategic Plan for 2003-2008. This six-page APA letter highlighted such issues as behavioral research, mental health training, cultural competence, and the needs of specific populations, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Administrator Welcome -- Arranged a welcoming meeting on 1/16 for the new SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie with APA executive staff and attended subsequent preliminary meetings with him as part of the Mental Health Liaison Group (2/22) and the National Prevention Coalition (2/20).

National Advisory Council Meetings -- Presented supportive and very well received APA statement at 2/5 SAMHSA meeting and at 2/8 meeting of the Center for Mental Health Services (the latter focused on APA's post 9-11 response).

Appropriations -- Cited as a SAMHSA supporter at the very start of Administrator Curie's 3/12 budget testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS- Education. Public Interest Policy staff met with SAMHSA Associate Administrator Daryl Kade on 3/14 to discuss critical programs addressing child trauma, HIV/AIDS, the Minority Fellowship Program, and health services research.

Recruitment for Senior SAMHSA Positions -- Sent e-mail notices to about 15 targeted APA divisions, all the state psychological associations, and former APA Congressional and Executive Branch Fellows to encourage our members to apply for the following SAMHSA senior position openings: Deputy Director (12/4), Director of the Center for Mental Health Services (10/23), and Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (10/16).

Nominations for National Advisory Councils/Committees -- Solicited nominations from APA staff, governance groups, key divisions, and congressional fellows to serve on the national advisory committees for SAMHSA and its three centers (i.e., Center for Mental Health Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment), along with the Advisory Committee for Women's Services. Submitted five formal slates on 4/10 with the vitae of a total of 14 APA members. Individuals have yet to be notified of their status.

Advisory Group -- Participated in a CMHS-sponsored advisory group meeting on 2/27 for the Coalition for Human Resource Development within Systems of Care.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Notice of Funding Opportunities -- Alerted 12 APA divisions, all state psychological association executive directors, and about 1300 PPAN members on 5/17-20 about $5.9 million available to fund injury and violence prevention initiatives.

Agency Priorities -- Met with APA member Rodney Hammond, Director of the CDC Division on Injury and Violence Prevention, on 2/25 to discuss agency priorities.

Administration on Aging

Older Americans Act Implementation -- Submitted preliminary comments on 5/29 to the Administration on Aging concerning the upcoming proposed regulations implementing the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2001.

Indian Health Service (IHS)

Children's Mental Health Site Visits -- Worked with IHS and the National Indian Child Welfare Association to coordinate site visits focusing on children's mental health services at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Pima-Maricopa/Salt River Reservation in Arizona, and Phoenix Indian Medical Center. A follow-up document will offer policy recommendations addressing these services.

Other DHHS

Working Groups -- Attended DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson's interagency working group on Promoting Healing and Restoring Hope for America's Children and Families on 4/18 and served on a technical review group on 1/30-31 to examine The Effects of Incarceration on Children, Families, & Low-Income Communities, sponsored by the DHHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Children and Media -- Worked with a diverse coalition of public health, education and child advocacy groups to express concern over a recently proposed rulemaking at the FCC that pertains to loosening the rules on corporate consolidation in local media markets. This is of concern to APA due to the lack of information on the potential impact of corporate consolidation on children and minorities. The coalition sent a formal letter near the end of the year to FCC Chairman Michael Powell requesting an exploration of the lack of attention to children and minorities. PPO has also had several conversations with FCC staff and will continue to pursue this concern in 2003.

Other Non-Governmental Agency Initiatives

Terrorism and Mental Health -- Played an instrumental role, in collaboration with the Science Directorate, in the appointment of APA member Gerard Jacobs to the newly formed IOM Committee on the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism and Systems of Response and in the testimony of five psychologists at the first meeting on 10/7. Those who testified were: Ruby Brown (Arlington County, Virginia, Department of Human Services), Margaret Heldring (America's Health Together), Margaret Pepe (American Red Cross), Roxanne Cohen Silver (University of California, Irvine), and Beth Todd Bazemore (University of South Dakota).

APA Congressional Fellowship Program

The APA Congressional Fellowship Program, now in its 28th year, places psychologists in congressional offices for one year as part of the larger American Association for the Advancement of Science policy fellowship program. The 2002'2003 APA Congressional Fellows are: Catherine Cozzarelli, who is working with Senator Jeff Bingaman (D'NM), Linda Demaine, who is working for the Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic staff, Neil Kirschner, who is working with Representative Pete Stark (D'CA), ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, and Mischa Thompson, who is working for Representative Charles Rangel (D'NY), ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Additional information about PPO and its initiatives can be found at: http://www.apa.org/ppo/.

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