California Lobbyist Fund
CASP’s California State Advocacy Group (SAG) has been meeting regularly for more than a year to discuss public policy issues impacting the delivery and sustainability of services in the state.
Led by Yvonne Bruinsma (CASP Board Member) and Michelle Heid (CASP Member), the California SAG regularly collaborates with community stakeholders, including CalABA. The SAG has determined that network adequacy and unsustainable payer reimbursement rates are primary concerns. (For an overview of the work of the SAG, please see the California Advocacy page.)
Although the state recognizes that behavioral and mental health providers in California are struggling and that the provider network to serve its citizens is inadequate, the state has failed to include ABA services among several recent rate increases for other mental and behavioral health services. In collaboration with CASP leadership, the California SAG has determined that a dedicated lobbyist is needed to represent CASP Member organizations’ interests in Sacramento.
Based on a preliminary survey of the SAG members last week, many of you shared that your organizations could contribute to a fund that would allow CASP to hire a lobbyist for the 2024 legislative session in California. As a next step, we would like to collect some additional information from all of the 47 CASP member organizations operating in California.
The anticipated cost of engaging the lobbyist is $60,000. As a point of reference, if all member organizations were able to contribute equally, each organization would contribute $1,300. While that is the suggested minimum contribution, we understand that some smaller organizations may not be able to contribute that much — and we hope that larger organizations will be able to do more.
Please complete this short form to indicate how much your organization will be able to contribute.
The deadline for bill introductions in the California legislature is February 16th, after which the session will start moving quickly. If possible, please take action before Friday, February 23rd.
Learn more about the fund and how the SAG will work with the lobbyist.
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updated 3/4/24 at 3:42 pm ET
