April 25, 2001
Honorable Susan C. Tucker
Chair, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs
State House, Room 416-A
Boston, MA 02133
Honorable Antonio F. D. Cabral
Chair, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs
State House, Room 26
Boston, MA 02133
Re: House 3741, An Act Assuring Fairness for Clients of DMH Residential Programs
Dear Senator Tucker and Representative Cabral:
On behalf of the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC) and the Coalition for the Legal Rights of People with Disabilities (CLRD), I write to urge your support for House 3741, An Act Assuring Fairness for Clients of DMH Residential Programs. I understand that the Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs will hear this bill on May 8th. This legislation is a priority for both MHLAC and CLRD, and we urge you to report the bill out favorably at that time.
House 3741 would extend the life of a current law, the "Community Residence Tenancy" (CRT) Law, which was passed as outside Section 308 of the Acts of 1995 and which will sunset on June 30, 2001. The CRT Law has provided needed due process protections from eviction for residents of community programs licensed by the Department of Mental Health (DMH). Unless House 3741 is passed, these rights will evaporate and residents may once again find themselves evicted without a hearing. The process established by the CRT law and administered by DMH has worked well, creating a predictable and deliberate course of action when conflicts arise in community programs. It should be preserved.
Recognizing the quickly approaching date on which the current CRT Law sunsets, the House has included in its FY 2002 budget, as part of the DMH line item for adult mental health and support services (5046-0000), language which would postpone the law's expiration date until June 30, 2002. We applaud the inclusion of this provision, and hope the Senate budget includes comparable language. We, nonetheless, still urge that House 3741 be enacted, as its passage would obviate the need to revisit this issue on a year to year basis.
I am enclosing a fact sheet which provides further details regarding the bill. If you would like any further information, please feel free to contact me at extension 25. Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Very truly yours,
Jennifer Honig, Esq.
Co-chair, CLRD
Enclosure
c: Members, Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs
Christine Griffin, Esq., Disability Law Center, Co-chair, CLRD
Ernest Winsor, Esq., Mass. Law Reform Institute
VIEW a fact sheet for CRT.