Dispatch from Jones St: HB 672 Accountability for State Funding MH/DD/SAS Update

Today House Bill 672: Accountability for State Funding MH/DD/SAS passed the Senate Health Committee today with a favorable report and will be heading to the Senate floor.

Here is what HB 672 does:

-This bill has the support of advocates, providers, the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and LMEs.

-The first section of this bill requires LMEs that use single stream funding to on a bi-annual basis to receive to report on the allocation of service dollars and receive public comment during a regularly scheduled board of directors meeting.

-The second section focuses on HUD group homes and apartments. The General Assembly appropriates state funding to group homes to be used in conjunction with federal HUD funding. After the biennial this funding can be moved. However, in some cases the removal of our state funding to these group homes and apartments can jeopardized our agreement with the federal matching money and the HUD contracts.

This section of the bill will require LMEs to seek approval for the reduction in funding from the Department of Health and Human Services prior to adjusting any funding associated with HUD group homes or apartments.

-The final section of this bill will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze the effectiveness of single stream funding in LMEs that have been working with single stream for a year or more. These findings will be reported to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services as well as the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee in the House and Senate.

We appreciate all the hard work of advocates who have emailed and called their legislators in support of this legislation!