Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Early Childhood Mental Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances voluntary early-childhood mental-health home-visiting bill after public testimony
Summary
The committee passed HB 2313 to authorize a voluntary, evidence-based home-visiting program focused on early childhood mental health; a citizen-lobbyist testified she and others "oppose this bill as written," citing diagnosis rates, psychotropic prescriptions, and missing opt-out and metrics provisions.
House Bill 2313 would authorize the Department of Health to establish a voluntary, permissive evidence-based home visiting program focused on early childhood mental health. Sponsor Chairman Hawk described it as modeled on an existing nurse-family program and emphasized that "it is strictly permissive and voluntary." The committee voted to advance the bill to government operations.
Public testimony was sharply critical of the bill as drafted. Britney Ruiz introduced herself to the committee and said, "we oppose this bill as written," citing Tennessee data she described from a Vanderbilt survey and raising concerns that parental consent/opt-out language and tracking metrics were missing; she asked the committee to add provisions ensuring parents understand mandatory-reporting implications and to require outcome metrics and DCS-referral tracking.
