PORTLAND, Ore. – Gov. Tina Kotek signed five bills aimed at strengthening Oregon’s behavioral health workforce and expanding access to mental health and addiction services.
Kotek celebrated the legislation at a ceremony at the University of Oregon’s Ballmer Institute. The bills remove barriers to entering the profession, expand the workforce, improve workplace safety and protect young people from negative mental health outcomes relating to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
“Oregon’s behavioral health professionals are stretched thin, and Oregonians in crisis are waiting too long for care,” Kotek said. “The new laws celebrated today address this challenge – four bills take action to support our workforce by cutting red tape, improving safety, and expanding pathways into the field, and one bill sets guardrails around emerging technologies that could harm our youth.”
First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson spent the past year gathering perspectives from providers across Oregon to hear how the behavioral health workforce crisis affects them and their clients. House Bill 4083, Cutting Red Tape for Behavioral Health Workers, is the first bill to come out of the Behavioral Health Talent Council’s work and reflects what workers told them they need to stay in the field and continue serving their communities.
House Bill 4083 streamlines Medicaid credentialing so qualified workers can start serving patients sooner, reduces administrative burden so providers can spend more time focused on clients and expands access to clinical supervision. House Bill 4069 requires behavioral health employers to develop and implement written safety policies and plans for the physical safety of behavioral health workers, especially those who experience safety risks and violence when working with high acuity populations.
House Bill 4115 streamlines the background check process for behavioral health workers, including extending checks from two to three years and making checks portable across care settings. Senate Bill 1547 creates a credential for behavioral health professionals from the Ballmer Institute who are specially trained to work with adolescents.
Kotek also signed Senate Bill 1546 that requires AI chatbot operators to disclose artificial interactions and implement safeguards to protect users, especially minors, from self-harm or suicidal ideation. According to Sen. Lisa Reynolds, D-Portland, the bill is considered one of the strongest of its kind in the nation.
“SB 1546B requires that when people are at their lowest, chatbots refer them to mental health experts and crisis lines, which are proven to be effective interventions that save lives and that the bots remind users that it is artificial content, not a human,” Reynolds said.
Shyra Merila-Simmons, executive director of Clatsop Behavioral Health, said professionals that are ready to provide care are stuck in unnecessary holding patterns. She said the bill streamlines credentialing, reduces the administrative burden that workers are drowning in and allows the flexibility needed in rural communities to ensure associates receive clinical supervision.
Liz O’Connor, a behavioral health triager and AFSCME member, said behavioral health workers deserve to feel safe at work and to know they will go home at the end of their shift. “HB 4069 passing is the first step towards increasing safety for people who work in this field, as well as the clients they serve,” O’Connor said.
According to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, Oregon faces a behavioral health workforce crisis. The commission surveyed 14 behavioral health profession types and found that nine have alarmingly high turnover risk, with more than two-thirds of workers intending to quit.