According to experts in the field, the need for mental health services in New York has never been greater, but the funding for mental health services has remained almost flat.

It’s one of the reasons that two lawmakers are pushing for a change to the state’s constitution.

Assemblymember Didi Barrett and Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick are sponsoring this small change to the constitution that they hope has a big impact (A.5238/S.3995). As my colleague Nick Reisman reported, the proposed change would make both mental and physical health "matters of public concern, and provision, therefore shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions."

In other words, equal standing in the eyes of the state's governing document.

Barrett argues the amendment would provide a “constitutional commitment for families and individuals” in New York after years of being the first services cut from the budget. Advocates for mental health are supportive of the change.

“This new language would raise the level of accountability by the governor and Legislature to address the ever-mounting mental health needs of New Yorkers, both in terms of both greater funding and statutory protections,” Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of New York Association Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, told Capital Tonight. “The devastating impact of the traumas of the last few years has given us stark evidence as to why our state must prioritize our commitment to address the mental health and addiction related struggles of New Yorkers in need.”

Andrea Smyth, executive director of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health agrees. “Assemblymember Barrett is modernizing the public charge to address the whole heath care needs of New Yorkers: physical and mental health needs on equal footing,” she told Capital Tonight.