(Ed. Note; This is the third in a series on mental illness from a Baldwin County viewpoint.
This week: the efforts of a county commissioner to seek more state funding and what the Georgia General Assembly has done thus far in that regard.)
Henry Craig is a man on a mission, and he makes no bones about it.
The Baldwin County Commissioner and current president of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) has made public awareness and increased state funding for mental illness, his number-one priority, and he appears to have allies under the gold dome in Atlanta.
The Georgia General Assembly passed one measure, House Bill 1013, in 2022, and that bill initiated the movement for additional funding. In this year’s session, House Bill 520 was introduced in the House of Representatives and passed overwhelmingly, 163-3, but stalled in the Senate. District 25 Rep. Todd Jones co-sponsored that bill.
Movement on that legislation is Craig’s aim now.
“My goal is to increase pressure on the legislature and governor to move forward with HB 520 or another version that moves the intent of what they started two years ago forward,” he said.
According to Craig, it’s a matter of increasing the number of mental health professionals, the number of beds for those who are mentally ill, and the data to define the policy and what resources are needed to follow the policy.
As ACCG president, Craig attends many functions, and he misses no opportunity to spread his message.
“I am using any meeting I can to access people’s ears about the issues,” he said, pointing out that the ACCG has meetings across the state, and he attends those, with state legislators usually present.
Craig said he is taking the advice given to him years ago by his friend and a pastor, Tony Fraley.
“He said, ‘Henry, just do something.’ “I am not asking or demanding that the legislature do everything on (HB) 520. I’m not giving them a list of things they need to do. I’m saying, ‘just do something.’” Craig is utilizing another tool to get the needed attention. He is circulating a resolution that urges the legislature and governor to continue efforts in the 2024 session “to enhance Georgia citizens’ access to vital mental health services, including the provision of state budgetary funding for additional behavioral health crisis centers across the state, additional co-responder units, and other resources to assist those mental health and substance abuse disorders.”
Craig is working diligently to convince commissioners in all 159 counties to adopt that resolution, and as of this past Tuesday afternoon, the number that had done so according to the ACCG office was 85.
“As that number gets bigger,” he said, “it’s harder and harder not to listen. It’s harder and harder to keep me out of their office.”
Jones, meanwhile, said in an interview this week that he and State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver were assigned the bill to co-sponsor. However, he does have a personal interest.
“My oldest son was diagnosed with a severe case of mental illness 11 years ago,” he said. “So, that’s a personal connection, one obviously his mother and I take very seriously.”
As a legislator, Jones sees the need for more involvement by the state.
“From a policy standpoint, as I speak with sheriffs, district attorneys, public defenders, judges, justices, it is clear that mental health and substance abuse is at a near pandemic level, not just in our state, but in our country,” he said. “And, unfortunately, dual diagnosis, which is effectively mental illness and substance abuse, is much more common than people understand, because it’s not atypical for a mental health patient to try to self—prescribe or self-medicate and, effectively, start using illegal drugs.”
Jones feels there are two priorities of the bill, now in the Senate.
The first is to address “familiar faces,” referring to those who suffer from mental illness who are in jails and receive care but typically cannot properly care for themselves upon release and end up locked up again. Pro-actively addressing familiar faces – reducing their stay and treatment in county jailswill a decrease the cost of treating those individuals, freeing up that money to help others in need of the services, Jones said. “Meaning we become more efficient in terms of cost per patient.”
“There’s not hard, scientific data, but we believe five to seven percent of all mental health and substance patients are familiar faces,” said Jones. “The challenge in Georgia is they take up about one-third of the resources. So, our goal is to become more proactive in addressing them.”
Jones said the other priority is attracting more professionals.
“The second goal is the ability to develop greater workforce attraction policies, then workforce retention policies. We have a dearth of professionals who can address these two issues in our state, especially in the rural parts of our state,” he said.
Jones pointed out that the necessary costs are calculated as the policy requests progress, and he is hopeful necessary funding will be available to carry out the goals set forth in the bill.
“I can’t speak for the appropriations committee, but the expectation would be, based on the past, we have traditionally followed good policy with good appropriation.”
Jones would not speculate on why the measure did not pass the Senate, though he did note that with so many bills each chamber must consider, time sometimes becomes a factor.
“From my viewpoint, they (the Senate) were being cordial, they were working with us,” he said. “We were doing a Senate substitute. We just ran out of time.”
Locally, State Sen. Rick Williams of Milledgeville supports Craig’s position.
“The state has to take more responsibility, in my opinion,” he said recently. “We have got to open up more clinics and facilities to get people help and to provide them safe surroundings and to keep them from being abused while they are so vulnerable.”
Williams didn’t want to speculate on the bill’s future.
“It’s still alive and will be debated next session,” he said.
Jones also would not predict a specific outcome for the bill, which on the Senate side is in the committee chaired by Dr. Ben Watson.
“I’m anticipating we are going to have a lively debate and discussion around mental health and substance abuse,” he said. “Dr. Watson and I have not discussed it in terms of how that may look. I think as we get into the special session at the end of November, early December, we will have that conversation.”
The legislature must redraw congressional district lines due to a recent court order declaring them invalid as drawn following the 2020 census, and Governor Brian Kemp has called for the special session to meet the court’s deadline.
Craig said Wednesday morning Georgia cities are now getting involved as well.
“The Georgia Municipal Association is following ACCG,” he stated. “Fifty mayors across the state have followed ACCG in making their own appeal to our state leadership.”
(Next week: a look at how mental illness creates problems, issues, and costs in the court system and Sheriff’s Departments.)