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Committee advances bill to revamp statewide behavioral health collaborative, add planning resources and regional focus
Summary
House Bill 329 would elevate and reconstitute New Mexico’s statewide behavioral health planning collaborative, add funding and expand planning to include housing and criminal-justice supports; the committee approved a due pass with no recommendation and indicated substantial amendments may follow.
Representative Luhan introduced House Bill 329 to reestablish and strengthen New Mexico’s statewide behavioral health collaborative, widening its planning remit to better coordinate behavioral health services, housing supports, treatment for substance use disorder, and services for people involved in the criminal justice system.
The sponsor said the existing collaborative has been dysfunctional and had not met in over a year; the bill would create a renewed structure, appoint a director (to be vetted by a small committee) and give the collaborative resources to oversee behavioral health spending and planning across agencies. “We have a behavioral health collaborative that is really dysfunctional. In fact, it hasn’t met in over a year,” the sponsor said, arguing oversight is needed after significant behavioral-health appropriations in the prior fiscal year.
Members discussed how the bill would interact with related measures (including Senate Bill 3 on regional plans) and asked that additional stakeholder organizations be explicitly included. Eric Chenier, who testified as an expert, asked whether the bill should name the behavioral health director or allow the secretary’s designee; the sponsor said she would accept friendly language making the secretary’s designee acceptable and work with colleagues on aligning regionalization and oversight provisions.
Committee members agreed the bill needs some amendments but expressed broad support for improved oversight and regional planning. A motion for a due pass with no recommendation was carried by voice vote; the committee recorded the vote at 7–0 and the bill will advance to the next committee with noted intent to refine membership and clarify roles.
Ending: Sponsor and committee members agreed to collaborate on amendments clarifying membership, agency roles and oversight of behavioral-health spending before the bill moves further in the process.
