Social Services committee backs higher funding for four state hospitals; Larned gets $30M boost

Social Services Committee on the state legislature recommended increased funding for four state psychiatric hospitals and sent those recommendations to the House Committee on Appropriations after a series of motions and voice votes.

Committee members focused first on Larned State Hospital, where agency witnesses described high staff vacancy rates and the agency's continuing reliance on expensive contract staffing to keep beds open. Scott Brunner, Deputy Secretary, said the agency used reappropriated dollars and higher-than-budgeted Medicaid revenue to cover contract staff this fiscal year and that fully staffing existing state positions would cost roughly $34 million and require hiring about 350 people. Brunner described a practice of delaying vendor payments and using journal vouchering to bridge timing gaps until appropriations arrive.

Lawmakers debated how much of the governor's or agency request to restore after the Legislative Budget Committee (LBC) deleted certain reappropriations. Representative Angela Carpenter proposed restoring $30 million for Larned's contract staffing fund (reducing a $32 million gap by accounting for about $1.5 million…