While lawmakers have advanced several bills aimed at increasing access to mental health services in the state, a panel tabled one measure last week after opponents lined up to testify against it, saying it would likely do just the opposite.
Rep. Scot Kerns, R-Great Falls, sponsored House Bill 619, which debuted in the House Taxation Committee on Tuesday, March 16. The bill would have required that nonprofit hospitals in cities with more than 20,000 people provide free mental health services equal in value to their property tax exemption annually, or that exemption would be revoked. However, the committee tabled the bill following overwhelming opposition from hospitals and medical associations.
In his opening remarks, Kerns predicted the bill would draw some opposition, but he said his bill would help reduce suicide rates in Montana, which are consistently among the highest in the nation. Kerns also noted that the bill only applied to hospitals in larger cities, as he predicted the requirement could put strain on rural hospitals.
Opponents said it would cause the same result Kerns was trying to avoid: putting undue burden on rural hospitals in providing mental health services.
Rich Rasmussen, CEO of the Montana Hospital Association, said the new requirement would destroy collaborative community health plans by consolidating psychiatrists in large hospitals. He also said the bill would strip resources the hospital invests in other areas of need, like substance abuse.
“This bill says that Helena knows better,” Rasmussen told the committee. “Helena says, ‘You must focus on mental health services.’ That has an impact in the community.”
In closing, Kerns raised an issue he had with the size of the total property tax exemption for the state’s hospitals and said he wished it was more narrowly directed toward mental health services.
“$15.869 million, these nine hospitals receive in property tax exemptions,” Kerns said. “Which is fine. All I’m saying is, with this bill, that they step up and provide, at no cost, mental health care for our communities.”
The bill was not the first measure this session looking to tackle the mental health crisis in Montana, nor the first attempt by Kerns, a first-year lawmaker and Lutheran pastor. Kerns sponsored a bill earlier in the session that would have created psychiatric “opportunity zones” designated by the state as areas in need of additional mental health providers and granted providers working in those zones an income tax credit. A House committee tabled the bill in late February.
However, two other mental health bills sponsored by Kerns are advancing through the Legislature. The House passed House Bill 490 on a 68-31 vote, mostly down party lines. That bill would allow for the licensure of mental health workers in Montana so long as they are licensed in good standing in another state. House Bill 549, passed by the House in a near-unanimous vote, would require that the state include specific data on former and current military service members in its biennial suicide reduction plan.
For Kerns, the effort is a personal one. During his service as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force until January 2020, he said he personally experienced the suicides of several service members and witnessed the devastation a lack of mental health support can cause. In an interview, he said he believes the solution lies in one-on-one, ongoing access to mental health services, which he hopes some of his legislation can help achieve.
“I think there needs to be an all-hands approach to figuring out how to address this mental health crisis that we have in Montana,” Kerns said in an interview.
The Legislature has so far had little appetite for mental health bills sponsored by Democrats, however. The House defeated a bill sponsored by Rep. Moffie Funk, D-Helena, in early February on a 50-50 vote that would have allowed schools to implement a “handle with care” program for students who experienced traumatic events. On March 11, the House also defeated House Bill 369, sponsored by Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, on another narrow 49-51 vote. That bill would have allocated part of the state alcohol tax to fund school-based mental health promotion programs.
