Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Visits HRDI and TASC Services

(Chicago, IL)– Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) met recently with staff and clients from the Human Resources Development Institute (HRDI) and Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC).  HRDI and TASC are among several nonprofit organizations that work together to provide substance abuse treatment and case management services for Illinois residents with complex social, health, and economic needs.

HRDI President Joel Johnson led Congressman Jackson’s tour of two HRDI treatment facilities in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, expressing appreciation for the Congressman’s support of treatment and recovery services in his role as a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee.

Working with a statewide network of licensed treatment programs such as HRDI, TASC places nonviolent, court-mandated clients into treatment as an alternative to incarceration, offers ongoing case management and client advocacy, and provides reports to judges and other referring entities. Statewide, TASC significantly improves clients’ success in treatment. Criminal justice clients who receive TASC case management and monitoring services are twice as likely to complete treatment as other criminal justice-referred clients who do not receive TASC services.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. speaks to staff and clients of HRDI and TASC. Photo by TASC staff.

 

Gov. Pat Quinn OK’s Restoration of Illinois Substance Abuse Treatment Funding

(Springfield, IL) – Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation Monday that restores $28 million to Illinois substance abuse treatment services that were cut inadvertently earlier this year.

The legislation, Senate Bill 2412, reallocated money within the current Illinois budget to reinstate the treatment funding.

The following budget line items were restored:

• Addiction Treatment Medicaid: $7.6M
• Addiction Treatment Services: $16.9M
• Addiction Treatment for DCFS Clients: $2M
• Addiction Treatment for Special Populations: $1.5M

The bill also includes $30 million for community-based mental health services, mental health centers, burial services for the homeless and the poor, homelessness prevention programs, and need-based financial aid for college students.

Finally, the legislation will ensure that no state-run mental health or developmental disability centers will be closed this fiscal year.

“The successful effort to restore funding to Illinois substance abuse treatment services had many legislative champions, especially Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, State Representatives Sara Feigenholtz, Barbara Flynn Currie, Kenneth Dunkin, Patricia Bellock, and Rosemary Mulligan, as well as State Senators Heather Steans, Dan Kotowski, Jacqueline Collins, William Delgado and Mattie Hunter,” said TASC President Pamela Rodriguez. “We are deeply grateful to them, and to all who voted to restore funding for these essential services.”

The current state budget runs until June 30, 2012.

 

Illinois Lawmakers Vote Overwhelmingly to Restore Illinois Substance Abuse Treatment Money

TASC, Inc. President Pamela Rodriguez

(Chicago, IL) – The Illinois legislature on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to restore nearly $30 million to community substance abuse treatment providers throughout Illinois, drawing praise from advocates.

“This supplemental budget immediately restores substance abuse treatment money to community care providers who received less money than intended in the state’s original budget,” said State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), chair of the House Human Services Appropriations Committee.

The budget fix, Senate Bill 2412, which shifted money from various state accounts without increasing state spending, added $28 million to substance abuse treatment care and restored spending to other key state programs.

The bi-partisan bill passed the House 92-20, and in the Senate, 50-5.

“We focused on the 99%,” said Feigenholtz. “Our budget priorities reflected their needs.”

The restoration of the substance abuse treatment money for community providers drew deep praise from a top treatment advocate.

“The successful effort to restore funding to Illinois substance abuse treatment services had many legislative champions, especially Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, State Representatives Sara Feigenholtz, Barbara Flynn Currie, Kenneth Dunkin, Patricia Bellock, and Rosemary Mulligan, as well as State Senators Heather Steans, Dan Kotowski, Jacqueline Collins, William Delgado and Mattie Hunter,” said TASC President Pamela Rodriguez. “We are deeply grateful to them, and to all who voted to restore funding for these essential services.”

The legislation also included $30 million for community mental health services.

Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the bill.

Lawmakers Dennis Reboletti, Adam Brown, Mattie Hunter Open Way for Seized Drug Money to Help Fund Addiction Treatment

(Chicago, IL) – A bi-partisan group of Illinois state lawmakers this year opened the door to a possible new source of funding for addiction treatment agencies: money seized from drug dealers.

The legislation, House Bill 2048, was introduced by State Representative Dennis Reboletti (R-Addison) and sponsored by State Representative Adam Brown (R-Decatur) and State Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago). It empowers local state’s attorneys with the discretion to make grants to Illinois treatment agencies and half-way houses from the monies and the sale proceeds of all other property forfeited and seized under state drug laws.

The bill, which won unanimous support from both legislative chambers, was signed by Governor Pat Quinn on August 4.

“As government budgets for substance abuse treatment continue to shrink, it is deeply encouraging that lawmakers can work together to develop creative solutions to address the need for treatment funding,” said Pamela Rodriguez, president of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC).

“The gap between the treatment need and availability is widening,” added Rodriguez. “I want to thank Representative Reboletti, Representative Brown, and Senator Hunter for their hard work and Governor Quinn for approving the new law, which is a step toward reducing that gap.”

The new public act is a direct outcome of recommendations made by the Illinois Disproportionate Justice Impact Study Commission, a statewide, bipartisan group established in 2008 to examine the impact of Illinois drug laws on racial and ethnic groups.

The Commission’s final report, released to the Illinois legislature in December 2010, recommended that local jurisdictions define a fixed portion, or criteria that would trigger the allocation of a portion, of existing drug asset forfeiture funds to support treatment and diversion programs in addition to enforcement and prosecution activities.

In addition to Brown and Reboletti, House sponsors included State Representatives Connie Howard (D), Jim Sacia (R), Chapin Rose (R), Esther Golar (D), Rita Mayfield (D), LaShawn Ford (D), Monique Davis (D), and Camille Lilly (D).

In addition to Hunter, Senate sponsors included State Senators Jacqueline Collins and Donne Trotter.

The new law takes effect on January 1, 2012.

TASC, Inc. has a 35-year history of promoting social justice and providing alternatives to incarceration in Illinois. TASC’s Racial Justice Initiative, including dissemination of the findings of the Illinois Disproportionate Justice Impact Study Commission, has received generous support from The Chicago Community Trust.

TASC, Coalition for Whole Health Recommend Coverage of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services in Essential Health Benefit Package

(Chicago, IL) — Substance use disorder and mental health services must receive equitable coverage in the implementation of health care reform, according to the Coalition for Whole Health, a group of national organizations that seek improved coverage for and access to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery services. TASC is an active member of the Coalition.

Based the standards of the National Quality Forum and other extensively researched protocols and evidence-based practices, the Coalition recommends that under the Affordable Care Act (health care reform), the essential health benefits package must minimally include the benefits outlined below:

• Mental health and substance use disorder assessment, placement, and treatment
• Laboratory services, including drug testing
• Emergency services, including crisis services and hospital-based detoxification services
• Pharmacotherapy and medication-assisted treatment
• Rehabilitative, habilitative, and recovery support services
• Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management
• Maternal and newborn services, including screening and brief interventions for maternal depression and substance use disorders and referral to treatment
• Pediatric services, including screening for substance use, suicide risk, and other mental health problems

As a significant step toward creating a healthy and just society, TASC supports these recommendations for improved coverage and access to care. To read the Coalition’s recommendations in full, please click here.

To find additional resources and webinars on the coverage of substance use disorder and mental health services under health care reform, please visit the Legal Action Center’s page on National Healthcare Reform.

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OUR VIEW: Governor Quinn Should Sign Budget with Restored Funding for Addiction Treatment

TASC appreciates the General Assembly’s work in restoring FY12 funding for addiction treatment and case management. These funds originally had been eliminated in Governor Quinn’s proposed FY12 budget.

Thanks to the House sponsorship of Speaker Michael Madigan and Representative Sara Feigenholtz, along with the Senate Sponsorship of Heather Steans, House Bill 3717 appropriates funding for community-based addiction treatment with only a 1 percent cut from current-year funding. This represents a major victory for sound fiscal and public policy. It also slows a three-year trend of steady funding cuts to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA). 

State budget cuts have resulted in diminished access to addiction treatment for those who seek it—even as new designer drugs emerge and prescription drug abuse is on the rise. DASA’s funding for TASC services has decreased 27 percent in the past three years. We have absorbed these budget cuts through layoffs and service reductions, and we have made further adjustments to maximize the efficiency of our services and the leanness of our infrastructure.

Enough is enough. 

The legislature agrees.

TASC’s statewide services for courts and probation are mandated by law and funded through DASA. Through clinical case management, we place clients into community-based treatment programs, monitor their progress, support their recovery, and make reports to the courts. This balance of opportunity and accountability works: defendants who are sent to TASC are twice as successful in treatment as other criminal justice-referred clients in Illinois. Through TASC’s work, people enter recovery, obtain employment, and reunify with their families.

Illinois taxpayers spend $25,000 to incarcerate a nonviolent, drug-using offender for a year, whereas the cost of community-based drug treatment, combined with TASC supervision, is less than $5,000. Each person sent to TASC and treatment instead of prison saves taxpayers $20,000. When it costs taxpayers five times more to incarcerate a nonviolent offender than it does to treat his or her addiction, the choice is easy.

The decision of the Illinois legislature to restore funds to treatment and case management is not only a sound fiscal decision, but a solid public safety decision as well. For clients mandated to TASC as an alternative to incarceration, arrests for both drug crimes and property crimes were reduced by 71 percent compared to before they came to TASC.

We thank the members of the Illinois House and Senate for restoring these critical funds to save taxpayer dollars and make our communities safer. We urge the Governor to follow suit.