NUHW Honors Mental Health Parity Advocates at Leadership Conference

NUHW Honors Legislative Advocates at Leadership Conference

The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) recognized two prominent state legislators for their efforts in promoting mental health parity during its Leadership Conference held on September 27 in San Francisco.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) and State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) were honored with the titles of Assemblymember of the Year and State Senator of the Year, respectively. The awards were presented at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA, attended by around 300 NUHW stewards.

“I’m a huge, huge fan of NUHW,” said Wiener upon receiving his award. “You’re not the biggest union, but you are among the mightiest. It’s been an honor to stand with you on the picket line at Kaiser. And, it’s been an honor to lock arms with you in passing bills.”

Wiener has authored pivotal mental health legislation, including SB 855 in 2020, which expanded Californians' access to necessary mental health and addiction treatments, and SB 221 in 2021, which NUHW sponsored to ensure health plans provide timely return therapy appointments.

Additionally, Wiener introduced SB 770 last year, aiming to work towards a single-payer, Medicare for All healthcare system in California.

Assemblymember Pellerin, in her acceptance speech, shared personal experiences with her family's struggles in accessing behavioral health care, which motivated her collaboration with NUHW on recent legislation. One of these, AB 3221, was signed into law by Governor Newsom, allowing the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to conduct more efficient investigations using digital tools.

Pellerin also authored AB 3260, a bill designed to assist Californians facing delays from health plans in addressing care requests or grievances. Although it passed the State Assembly, it stalled in the State Senate due to the DMHC's overestimated cost projections. Pellerin pledged to reintroduce the bill next year, saying, “We’re going to fight back next year. And we’re going to get it to the governor’s desk, mark my words.”

NUHW President Sophia Mendoza remarked, “We’re proud to honor State Senator Wiener and Assemblymember Pellerin for their leadership in strengthening the rights of patients to get behavioral health care that meets their needs and empowering state enforcement agencies to hold health insurers accountable.”

NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli added, “Our union is committed to achieving parity for behavioral health care, and we couldn’t have two bigger champions in that fight than Scott Wiener and Gail Pellerin. We’ve accomplished incredible things together, and there’s so much more we can do to ensure that California patients get timely and appropriate behavioral healthcare.”