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Senate committee advances bill moving mental‑health fee rules into statute, retains 5% cap
Summary
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 2020 to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation after the Department of Health and Welfare said the bill moves a dormant sliding‑scale fee schedule from regulation into statute, retains a 5% income cap and preserves a guarantee that inability to pay will not bar services.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 2020 to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation after the Department of Health and Welfare told the panel the bill would move a dormant sliding‑scale fee schedule from regulation into statute, retain a 5% cap on income for client payments and explicitly preserve that no one will be denied services for inability to pay.
The change is intended to make the fee structure easier for contractors to administer now that the state no longer directly provides the services and a contractor (the Magellan contract) is delivering them. Jared Larson, legislative and regulatory affairs chief at the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee the fee schedule in regulation has been effectively dormant since 2020 and that the bill is budget neutral. "We do retain the 5% cap on income to determine how much someone should pay, but we also maintain the requirement that nobody is denied services for an inability to pay," Larson said.
Why it matters: Committee members said the statutory change would help contractors implement billing under the state's managed‑care arrangement and reduce administrative burden. Senator Melissa Wintrow told committee staff she had discussed the bill in detail with department staff and that she was reassured the 5% cap and the non‑denial guarantee would remain in place.
Supporters described the bill as a technical cleanup that transfers necessary provisions from rule to statute now that services are contracted out under the Magellan contract effective July 1. Larson described the bill as "budget neutral" and said moving the provisions into statute will make them easier for contractors to carry out.
Procedural: Senator Blaylock moved to send the bill to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation; the motion was seconded. The committee passed the motion by voice vote. The record does not include a roll‑call tally.
Next steps: With the committee recommendation, House Bill 2020 advances to the full Senate for floor consideration.
