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Committee advances bill adding peer-support behavioral health services to reentry grants
Summary
Lawmakers voted to send a sponsored bill to the Committee of the Whole after sponsors amended the statute for reentry grants to explicitly allow credentialed peer-support behavioral-health services. Supporters said the change recognizes an evidence-based reentry tool; no fiscal note was required.
House Bill 1129 would expand an existing CDOC-sponsored reentry grants program to expressly allow peer-support behavioral-health services and establish a credentialing expectation for peer providers.
Rep. Lorena Garcia and Rep. Dylan Ryden, the bill’s sponsors, told the House Judiciary Committee the measure adds language to allow behavioral-health and peer-support services to be eligible for work-and-reentry grants already administered by the department. “All we’re trying to do here is just say behavioral health should be a viable granting option,” Rep. Garcia said during the hearing.
Why it matters
Supporters, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Colorado, said peer support is an evidence-based, cost-effective approach that improves reentry outcomes. Ray Marenstein, executive director of NAMI Colorado, told the committee that peer specialists can be credentialed, deliver measurable benefits and in some cases move people into paid work after training.
Stakeholder engagement and amendment
Committee discussions and a technical amendment (L003) narrowed the scope to credentialed, evidence-based peer programs and added language to professionalize the role. Sponsors stressed the bill was designed to expand an existing grant program rather than create a new appropriation. The committee heard one critical witness who expressed concern the bill would not address some systemic problems in existing reentry programs; sponsors replied the bill is narrowly targeted to broaden eligible services.
Outcome
The committee advanced HB 1129, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. Sponsors and supporters said they will continue stakeholder outreach as the bill proceeds.
Ending note
Supporters framed the change as a modest statutory update to better recognize peer support in reentry funding, while noting that adequate implementation funding and credentialing resources are a separate policy consideration.
