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Appropriators hear growing use of SUD voucher, recovery housing; IMD cap and opioid settlement funds shape requests
Summary
Agency staff told lawmakers the substance use disorder (SUD) voucher is seeing increased applications and expenditures, recovery housing assistance spending has grown and the state faces a 45% cap on IMD reimbursements that affects general-fund needs; opioid‑settlement grants are supplementing some initiatives.
Laura Anderson, policy director for the Behavioral Health Division, summarized the SUD voucher program and related housing and settlement funding during the committee’s hearing. Anderson said the SUD voucher, launched in July 2016, had approved more than 9,000 individuals overall and that the program continued to show growth in applications through December 2024.
Program mix and costs: Anderson told the committee that residential treatment and higher-cost services account for a disproportionate share of current expenditures. She noted a statutory cap enacted in 2021 that limits SUD-voucher reimbursements for residential (IMD) facilities with more than 16 beds to 45% of total voucher spending; the division’s modeling showed the 45% IMD cap would be met in March of the current fiscal year absent budget changes.
On recovery housing, Anderson said the Recovery Housing Assistance Program launched in May 2022 and reimburses up to 12 weeks of living expenses at approved recovery homes. As of the presentation the program had approved just over 1,200 individuals and the current-biennium appropriation of $1.5 million had been fully expended; the division said it identified internal savings to continue the program through the biennium and requested $1.5 million in the executive budget for the next biennium.
Opioid settlement funds: Anderson outlined the opioid settlement fund process. She said the state has received approximately $22.7 million to date from national settlements, of which $8.0 million was appropriated in the current biennium and the law governing settlement spending requires a portion to go to prevention and workforce. The settlement advisory committee used public listening sessions to set priorities and awarded grants for targeted projects including naloxone purchases, tribal partnerships and programmatic grants; Anderson said 65 applications requested roughly $59 million and 14 were awarded in the first round.
Committee questions touched on the IMD cap and whether legislation or budget language could allow funds to be reallocated within the SUD voucher appropriation to meet obligations. Chairman Nelson and Representative Steaman discussed potential statutory or appropriation-language options; agency staff said they could pursue bill language or amendments to allow reallocation and noted staff had identified bills that could carry amendments.
Ending: The division said it would provide additional specific data on program expenditures and award details and noted that some funding streams (opioid settlement grants) have explicit federal or settlement-linked requirements that constrain flexibility.
