The Association of Community Mental Health Authorities of Illinois : LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE : April 18 and April 19, 2012

SAVE THE DATE

ACMHAI SPRING LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE

Wednesday, April 18 and Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hilton Hotel, Springfield, Illinois

Keynote Speakers:

Opening Session, 11:15 Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dan Rutherford, Illinois State Treasurer

Closing Session, 12:00 Thursday, April 19

Julie Hamos, Director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services

This year ACMHAI's Spring Legislative Conference will have great content and networking opportunities for leadership, staff and partners of mental health boards and boards for the care and treatment of persons with a developmental disability. Whether a large or small behavioral health authority, ACMHAI member or non-member, there are common issues and big changes underway that will affect our communitites, our children and families in need, our agencies, and our service systems.

ACMHAI once again will be co-hosting a Legislative Reception on Wednesday, April 18 following our Legislative Briefing and visit to the Capitol.

This year, too, we want to extend a special invitation to those across Illinois who are working on a newly-formed Community Mental Health Committee to assess your community's behavioral health system. We welcome the opportunity to meet you and share these two days.

Conference Registration and Hotel Reservations will begin March 5, 2012.

Conference registration including the Opening Luncheon, Legislative Reception, Member Roundtable Breakfast and Closing Luncheon is $100.

For more information about the Spring Legislative Conference contact:

Phyllis Russell, Executive Director, ACMHAI

phyllis@acmhai.org/217-369-5168

For the The Association of Community Mental Health Authorities of Illinois:
http://www.acmhai.org/

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ACMHAI is gathering information and making connections. Last year Illinois Public Act 97-0439, an amendment to the Community Mental Health Act, was signed into law. The legislation requires counties and Cook County townships with no local mental health authorities to form mental health advisory committees comprised of seven community stakeholders by the end of December 2011. The mental health advisory committees are charged with identifying and assessing current mental health services, monitoring the expansion or contraction of those services and, if necessary, recommending additional needed services. These committees are NOT mental health authorities, having neither tax levy nor funding capacity. ACMHAI is now conducting a survey of counties and townships to determine which have appointed committees, are in the process of appointing committees, believe they are exempt from the requirement or were unaware of the requirement. Through these contacts, we have had requests for assistance and information, which we were pleased to provide.

ACHMAI welcomes Phyllis Russell as the Association's new Executive Director. Phyllis brings to the Association extensive experience in human services, community systems of service, public policy, legislative advocacy and association management. Most of her career has been in Illinois, where she has worked in communities from Rockford to Chicago to Springfield and Metro East (the Illinois portion of the St. Louis metro region). Phyllis joined ACMHAI December 1. She looks forward to traveling across the state in 2012 visiting ACMHAI members to introduce herself and learn about the issues, initiatives, challenges and opportunities in their communities.