SENATE MEMORIAL 69

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER TO RECONVENE THE J. PAUL TAYLOR EARLY CHILDHOOD TASK FORCE TO CONTINUE THE TASK FORCE'S WORK IN IMPROVING COLLABORATION AMONG STAKEHOLDERS AND DEVELOPING FURTHER AN EARLY CHILDHOOD BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ACTION PLAN.

     WHEREAS, in the 2013 first session of the fifty-first legislature, and in the 2014 first session of the fifty-second legislature, House Memorial 75 and Senate Memorial 5 were passed respectively, requesting the university of New Mexico health sciences center to convene the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force in honor of former legislator and tireless children's advocate J. Paul Taylor; and

     WHEREAS, during 2014, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has built solidly on its first year by expanding participation to include the human services department, the four medicaid managed-care organizations and the legislative finance committee; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has worked collaboratively with a broad-based coalition of state, managed-care, medical, community and legislative stakeholders to identify gaps in funding and develop a system to recognize and respond to risk factors in young children and their families; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has developed recommendations to strengthen the state's early childhood behavioral health services system to respond to risk in children and families, including recommendations to modify medicaid funding and billing and develop needed linkages among primary and behavioral health and community systems; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has served for two years to successfully create a public-health-driven early childhood behavioral health action plan for infants and children to age eight and their families; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has worked to develop a system to identify unserved and underserved at-risk children and families; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has promoted evidence-based local community behavioral health programs in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has worked to identify how current service delivery systems could be used for the prevention of child abuse and neglect; and

     WHEREAS, the work of the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has built upon New Mexico's existing structures by creating linkages among health, behavioral health and community systems to establish a coherent, efficient and accessible infrastructure to recognize and respond to risk factors in families that place infants and young children at risk for their health development, health and safety; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has reviewed existing state data systems that could be used to collect critical data to support rigorous evaluation of programs and the promotion of evidence-based programming; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has developed a budget-neutral state policy for early childhood behavioral health and child abuse prevention by maximizing efficiencies through existing systems, connections and enhancements, including maximizing dollars that already exist in state and federal funding streams that are required for successful implementation; and

     WHEREAS, the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force has presented its preliminary recommendations to the legislative finance committee and to the legislative health and human services committee during the 2014 interim; and

     WHEREAS, among the preliminary recommendations of the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force was the recommendation that the task force's work be continued for another year to allow it to work collaboratively for the successful implementation of the infant and early childhood behavioral health action plan and child abuse prevention plan;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force be requested to continue improving collaboration among stakeholders to support the implementation and

sustainability of the recommended early childhood behavioral health action plan and child abuse prevention plan, including the development of reimbursement and billing code modifications and data collection for program evaluation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force recommend best practices for a trauma-informed community service and state delivery system, including recommendations for a work force development training plan to sustain the infant and early childhood behavioral health action plan; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the J. Paul Taylor task force be requested to expand its membership to include experts from the university of New Mexico school of law and Pegasus legal services for children; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to charge the chair and vice chair of the legislative finance committee and the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee with a review of the feasibility of the J. Paul Taylor early childhood task force's preliminary recommendations with respect to the budgeting, oversight, data collection and reporting requirements that those recommendations will entail; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the chair of the legislative health and human services committee, the chair of the legislative finance committee, the secretary of children, youth and families and the chancellor for health sciences of the university of New Mexico.

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