Committee reviews mental health services budget, agency seeks transfer exemptions to cover Idaho Behavioral Health Plan costs

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard a presentation on the Division of Mental Health Services budget Tuesday, where agency officials outlined prior one-time appropriations, ongoing grants and a request for transfer-exemption authority to move funds across program categories.

The division provides children’s and adult mental health services, including assessments, clinical case management, residential treatment and therapeutic foster care for children with serious emotional disturbance and a system of care for adults with serious and persistent mental illness, analyst Alex Williamson told the committee.

The department seeks a supplemental appropriation of $6.7 million in federal funds for fiscal 2025 to access federal grants tied to the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan (IBHP), and a smaller ongoing federal operating request of $261,400 for grants administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Williamson said. The agency also requested exemptions to the 10% program-transfer limitation in Idaho Code 673511 for fiscal 2025 and removal of transfer limitations for 2026 so the department can move funds department-wide into adult and children’s mental health for unforeseen expenditures.

“Those funds are sitting there, available to them,” Williamson said, describing federal grants that were originally appropriated for 2022 but not usable because IBHP’s go-live was delayed until July 2024.

Department director Alex Adams told the committee the IBHP procurement and contract work attracted legal challenges that contributed to multi-year delays. “This was, I believe, the largest contract in the history of the state,” Adams said, adding that legal challenges and careful contracting lengthened the timeline. He said once the legal issues were resolved, the department prioritized doing the implementation correctly rather than rushing it.

Senators pressed agency officials about why the procurement took so long and about the budgetary consequences. Senator Cook asked whether earlier delay cost the state. Adams said legal challenges and the size of the contract caused delays; once resolved, the department provided weekly then monthly updates as the rollout stabilized.

Committee members also raised 988 crisis-line administration. Representative Tanner and others asked about the vendor Janus, noting Janus’ public statements on diversity, equity and inclusion, and whether Magellan — the contractor that oversees behavioral-health vendor relationships — might handle tasks differently. Adams said 988 funding and operations cross multiple agency budgets (substance abuse, public health and Medicaid). The department is “agnostic” about which vendor provides services; its contract is with Magellan, which then contracts with service providers that meet standards.

Advocates and several senators urged the committee to grant the requested transfer exemptions to allow the Department of Health and Welfare flexibility to move funds among personnel, operating and trustee/benefit categories. Williamson and the director said restrictions that prevent the department from moving appropriations between object classes have forced tighter actions in the past, including temporary suspension of some children’s mental-health services when the department lacked the statutory authority to reallocate funds.

The analyst’s slides also traced the division’s five-year appropriation and expenditure history, noting 2022 one-time supplemental funding of $15 million for psychiatric residential treatment facility accreditation grants for children and additional one-time and ongoing funding in later years for community behavioral health clinics and stand-up of the 988 crisis line.