APA Services, Inc. has been a long-standing partner with SPTAs on state advocacy, regularly offering legal and practical analysis, identifying unintended consequences, recommending strategy, and providing alternate language for legislation. Since SPTAs are ultimately responsible for executing advocacy initiatives in their home states, the State Legislative Grants program provides the critical financial support needed for this work, which benefits the practice of psychology, access to care, and application of psychological science, all of which are in keeping with APA’s strategic goals.
Some of the issues that APA and the SPTAs have worked to support include PSYPACT, prescriptive authority, Medicaid, psychology licensing laws, the role of psychologists in custody evaluations, and network adequacy laws. While PSYPACT and prescriptive authority remain popular issues year after year, others have included telehealth and improving the workforce shortage. Last year, the list of issues expanded even further to include parity in practice, managed care, and Cultural Competency CE requirement. Later this year, we expect to see an emphasis on legislative initiatives that increase access to care and improve population health.
APA’s Office of Legal and State Advocacy (LSA) manages the grant program and provides legal consultation and feedback to the SPTA applicants. The Committee of State Leaders (CSL), which serves as an advisory group to the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) to support state psychological associations, evaluates all applications to ensure fair distribution of award funding. The CSL grant subcommittee weighs substantial factors like the urgency of the legislative or regulatory issue, the description of the advocacy strategy, and the SPTA’s financial need. The grant subcommittee then makes recommendations to the full CSL for final approval of award funding.
The State Legislative Grant Program continues to improve each year. Developments in the processes have increased the submission of quality applications, and the accelerated release of funding to SPTAs in emergency situations has assisted states with urgent legislative issues. The success stories SPTAs have shared in final reports, summarizing the use of funding and results of advocacy efforts, are testimony to how imperative these grants are to advance psychology and protect the patients being served.
