Expanded access to mental health treatment in Nebraska is one step closer to passing

LINCOLN, Neb (KLKN) – Nebraska health officials say mental health conditions are rising nationwide, and services are not always easy to find.

But there’s one bill moving forward in the Legislature that would expand access to mental health and substance treatment to Nebraskans.

It advanced to the second round of debate on Wednesday on a voice vote.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln, who said that during her six years in the chamber, she’s heard many times how a lack of mental health services is overwhelming prisons and law enforcement officers.

Sen. George Dungan said that as a lawyer, he’s represented a number of clients who said they needed mental health treatment but couldn’t get it, and he thinks components of this bill will help.

“They’re going to do a real number on reducing some of the criminal justice issues we’re seeing,” he said. “Pretty much every single person I’ve represented and that others have represented who are in the criminal justice system are dealing with substantial mental health or substance use issues.”

Wishart’s bill would aid the development of at least six clinics in Omaha, Lincoln, Fremont, Kearney and Hastings through the state’s Medicaid program.

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The bill would also provide services on an outpatient basis, expand the capacity for those services and establish more coordination for delivering service with community partners.

The clinics called for in the bill are similar to federally qualified health centers that provide a variety of health care services to low-income families.

Numerous groups are backing the bill.

“From the ACLU of Nebraska to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to the Veterans Coalition, to the Nebraska Medical Association,” said Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln. “It is really an impressive set of advocates and individuals that have come together to support this commonsense measure.”

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard opposed the bill and said not everyone who misbehaves and ends up in the criminal justice system has a mental health issue.

He said what really needs to be done is to have more discipline in schools.

“I’m not here to tell you today that I don’t believe there are people who have mental health issues; that’s not the case,” he said. “But I’m telling you, every person who has a behavioral issue does not have mental illness. It doesn’t appear to me that this bill seems to be the answer.”

Erdman said the bill would also require teachers and people who are not mental health experts to address mental illness.