Senate panel hears competing views on bill to decentralize psychiatric care and fund regional facilities

The Senate Appropriations Committee, Human Resources Division opened a public hearing on Senate Bill 2096, a proposal that would reallocate funding toward regional behavioral‑health facilities and services and provide $5 million for limited upgrades to the existing Jamestown facility.

Supporters told the committee the bill would decentralize acute psychiatric care into four regional hubs and expand residential supports, while opponents warned the plan could weaken the state hospital safety net and raise Medicaid eligibility questions.

Senator Tim Mathern, the bill’s prime sponsor, said Senate Bill 2096 offers “a forward‑thinking alternative” to building a single new state hospital. “Instead of putting $300,000,000 into Jamestown, I suggest we take $100,000,000 and give a quarter of it to the Bismarck region, a quarter of it to the Minot region, a quarter of it to the Grand Forks region, a quarter of it to the Fargo region,” Mathern said, describing an approach that would permit the Department of Health and Human Services to contract with local providers or build facilities where private providers are…