Joint finance committee reviews mental health services budget, agency seeks transfer exemptions to cover Idaho Behavioral Health Plan

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Thursday heard a presentation on the Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Mental Health Services budget and a departmental request to ease transfer limits so the agency can move funds across program categories for unforeseen needs.

Analyst Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the division’s budget pages begin at 2-91 in the committee book and that the division is organized into children’s mental health and adult mental health programs. Williamson said the division’s authorized staff count was 305 full-time positions before committee action this week reduced the count to 278.23 FTP.

The request matters because the division is seeking authority to tap federal grants tied to the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan (IBHP), which went live in July 2024 after earlier delays. Williamson told the committee the department is asking for a FY2025 one-time federal appropriation of $6,700,000 to cover the first year of IBHP grant activity and an ongoing federal operating increase of $261,400 to administer grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Why it matters: committee members pressed how the state will access federal grant dollars that were appropriated in earlier fiscal years but could not be used because IBHP’s go‑live date shifted. Williamson said the appropriation was originally timed to 2022 and the department now needs explicit authority to access the grants for work that occurred after the actual start date in 2024.

Williamson also described a departmental request for exemptions to statutory program-transfer limits. Specifically, the department asked the committee to exempt it from the 10% program-transfer limitation set out in Idaho Code §67-3511 so it can move resources into adult and children’s mental health to cover unforeseen expenditures in FY2025 and to have no transfer limitations in FY2026 beyond those established in statute.

Department remarks: Alex Adams, director of the Department of Health and Welfare, described the procurement and start-up timeline for IBHP and the contract process. Adams said the IBHP procurement “was the largest contract in the history of the state,” and that the department faced about a year of legal challenges, which delayed implementation. He urged caution in rushing large contracts: “when this went live in July, tried to provide the committee, I think initially weekly updates, then we switched to monthly updates and then it tapered off, because this, albeit with some speed bumps, went relatively smooth.”

Committee questions focused on timing, procurement delays and the reasons the department now seeks flexibility to reassign funds across budget categories. Adams and Williamson said the exemption request is intended to let the department use under‑spent and differently categorized resources to meet entitlements and unexpected program costs without repeatedly returning to the legislature for transfers.

What was not decided: the transcript records discussion and questions; it does not record a committee vote on the transfer-exemption requests during this hearing. The committee was briefed and members asked for follow-up information.

Provenance: The committee heard the mental health services presentation beginning when Alex Williamson introduced herself and the division (transcript excerpt: "Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with legislative services office. First up on the agenda today is the division of mental health services.") and concluding when Williamson closed her remarks and stood for questions (transcript excerpt: "And with that, Mr. Chair, I will conclude my remarks and stand for any questions.").