[Timothy's Team] Senate Republicans Defeat Timothy's Law on Last Night of Session

[Bryan O'Malley]

Senate Majority Defeats Timothy's Law: After several days of non-stop
negotiations around parity legislation, the Senate leadership ended
discussions earlier this evening, choosing to pass S.7296-A rather than
Timothy's Law. The O'Clair's have rejected that controversial bill
(saying "It isn't Timothy's Law"), as it represents what would be the
weakest parity law in the nation. A collection of carve-out and
exemption language from states like Arkansas and Mississippi, the bill
excludes chemical dependency, employers with 50 or fewer employees, and
the vast majority of mental health diagnoses.

Over the past few days, there has been substantial movement towards a
new Assembly version of Timothy's Law, A.11694. Quite similar to the
original Timothy's Law, the new bill differs in two ways. First, it
would exempt sole proprietors from mandatory coverage, so that people
who pay for only their own insurance, and have no employees, would not
have to take parity-based coverage if they did not want it. Secondly,
and more importantly, the bill created a tax relief provision for all
small businesses that provide health insurance to their employees.
Addressing the concerns of small businesses, the Assembly offered $50
million in tax relief to resolve the perceived, albeit unproven, issue.

With the right kind of coverage attached to the right kind of protection
for employers, activity around the bill was fast and furious. But, by
the time the issue reached the floor of the Senate, the final vote was
quick and infuriating. 

As debate on S.7296-A began, long-time friend and Timothy's Law
supporter Senator Tom Duane made a motion to amend the bill, replacing
the contents of that bill with the original Timothy's Law bill,
A.8301/S.5329, which passed the Assembly in March. As noted below, the
debate was as passionate as it was painful. With Donna and Tom O'Clair,
joined by mental health advocates and Assembly sponsor Paul Tonko
watching from the Senate Gallery, several original Senate co-sponsors of
Timothy's Law took to the microphone to bash their own bill. Democratic
Senators turned towards the gallery and apologized to the O'Clairs for
the Senate's collective failure to pass Timothy's Law.


But at the end of the day, session will end without Timothy's Law. Even
though the bill the Senate passed fails to serve about 70% of the people
who would be reached by Timothy's Law, and doesn't even cover PTSD (so
survivors of September 11th, as well as victims of sexual predators
would not get the help they need), leaders have deemed their work to be
done. 

 

"I'm Sorry.  I'm very sorry." - At approximately 8:15 p.m., on the last
night of the Regular Legislative Session, Senator Eric Schneiderman,
Deputy Minority Leader in the New York State Senate, turned to Tom and
Donna O'Clair, who were seated in the Senate Gallery and said, "I'm
sorry.  I'm very sorry."

 

Senator Schneiderman and his colleagues in the Senate Minority, led by
Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, had just unsuccessfully tried to
prevent the Senate from ensuring that no action would be taken on
Timothy's Law this year.

 

In a spirited debate, despite the best attempts of Senate Democrats,
this vote failed, along strict party lines.  Although we cannot provide
you with an exact list of those who voted in favor or in opposition to
this amendment at this time, the information will be forthcoming
shortly.

 

We can, however, share with you some excerpts from the debate.

 

Senator Libous began the debate by explaining his legislation, S.7296-a,
on the floor, by noting that the Senate had promised to pass mental
health parity legislation this Session, and promising that the Senate
would indeed pass it tonight.  He noted, incorrectly, that this bill
(S.7296-a) covers children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD).  He went on to say that his legislation (S.7296-a, not S.5329,
which is also his legislation) would "protect the rights of small
businesses" by exempting employers with 50 or fewer employees.

 

Shortly after that, Senator Duane rose to introduce his amendment,
amending S.7296-a with Senator Libous' other legislation, S.5329, or
Timothy's Law.  In an impassioned speech on the matter, Senator Duane
summed the entire debate up in one simple phrase when he noted, "This is
a life and death issue.  It was a life or death issue for Timothy, it
ruined the life of his family."

 

Senator Schneiderman continued where Senator Duane stopped, commenting
on the fact that S.7296-a allows an insurance company to nullify such a
law merely by having an actuary issue a report saying that mental health
parity would increase premiums by 2% or more.  To this, he stated,
"We're passing a law that, I assure you, will never apply to one person
in the state."

 

Senator Liz Krueger also spoke on the amendment, imploring her
colleagues to support it, noting that the legislation which served as
the amendment (S.5329, Timothy's Law) had already been introduced, and
that, "54 members of this chamber are already on record, committed to
the bill that is now Senator Duane's amendment before us."

 

At this point, debate on the amendment ceased, the vote was taken, and
in the end, the Senate Majority voted against Timothy's Law, ensuring
that the bill would not be passed during the Regular Legislative
Session.  Senator Libous himself voted against the amendment, in
essence, voting against his own bill.  Almost every member of the Senate
Minority voted in favor of this amendment, in essence, voting for
Timothy's Law.  A full list of the vote will be provided as soon as
MHANYS can obtain it.

 

It was then that debate on S.7296-a began.  In his remarks on the bill,
Senate Minority Leader David Paterson noted that, "It is almost as if we
are going back 30 years and questioning if mental illness exists at
all."

 

He went on to note that, "I think, in many ways, in this legislation
(S.7296-a), we are blaming the victim."

 

When Senate Minority Leader David Paterson finished his eloquent
address, the true importance of the matter being discussed in the Senate
Chamber came to light.  In a rare move, Senate Majority Leader Joseph
Bruno offered debate on a bill on the floor.

 

After noting that, "This is not political grandstanding in any way.This
is about taking a giant step forward to create parity for those who have
a mental illness of any kind," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
defended this legislation that would discriminate against the majority
of New Yorker's living with mental illness.

 

Senator Bruno made mention of compromise legislation that had been
offered by the Assembly, and endorsed by the O'Clair family, which would
have enacted Timothy's Law and provided small businesses with up to a 3%
tax credit to offset any premium increases which they may experience.
In response to this, he stated emphatically that the Senate would not do
a bill that had tax credits in it.  He went on to note that they would
not do it tonight, or over the summer, or next year, due to the fact
that it was irresponsible to pass tax credits while the state was facing
such a large budget deficit.

 

Later, while explaining her vote against S.7296-a, Senator Liz Krueger
made mention of the fact that the Senate Majority had recently
introduced and passed legislation that would have provided a $665
million tax credit to small businesses.  The tax credit being discussed
in the compromise version of Timothy's Law was estimated to be between
$47 and $96 million.

 

In explaining his vote in support of S.7296-a, Senator John DeFrancisco
stated that to have passed the amendment (S.5329, Timothy's Law), "would
be irresponsible."  

 

Senator DeFrancisco remains to this day a co-sponsor of S.5329, and has
spoken in support of the measure to advocates on multiple occasions.

 

Senator Libous, who felt compelled to explain his vote in support of
S.7296-a and against the amendment, his own piece of legislation,
S.5329, stated, "The amendment is fuzzy."  

 

During his explanation, Senator Libous also confused an earlier
statement he had made, that this legislation was not political and
should not be partisan, by comparing Timothy's Law and mental health and
substance abuse parity to two of the most controversial, partisan, and
strictly political issues of our day.  Senator Libous noted quite
clearly that mental health parity, ". is an issue similar to abortion,
the death penalty and others."

 

However, upon explaining his vote in support of the amendment, while at
the same time echoing a number of his colleagues on both sides of the
aisle in saying that S.7296-a will not pass the Assembly, Senator John
Bonacic made possibly the most prescient statement of the evening when
he made one simple observation.

 

 Senator Bonacic said, "It's not over yet."

 

And it is not over, please continue to watch as MHANYS promises to keep
you updated in the upcoming days and weeks about what you can do to help
make Timothy's Law a reality this year.  We thank all of you for helping
us get to this point.  We thank Senate Minority Leader David Paterson,
Senator Thomas Duane, Senator Liz Krueger and Senator Eric Schneiderman
and their colleagues for their comments on the floor and their continued
support of Timothy's Law.  We thank Assemblyman Paul Tonko, Assemblyman
Peter Rivera, Assemblyman Pete Grannis and their colleagues in the
Assembly for all of their hard work.

 

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