Division 3 work session reviews HB2 line items for DHHS: shelters, opioid abatement, WIC, Medicaid and program suspensions

Division 3 of the House Finance Committee spent most of the session reviewing House Bill 2 sections affecting the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), asking department staff for clarifications and flagging several items for further committee work.

Opioid abatement and shelter funding: Nathan White, DHHS chief financial officer, explained that the governors HB2 proposal shifts funding for shelter services to the opioid abatement trust fund. Section 85 in HB2 would provide $10,000,000 from opioid abatement dollars across the biennium (two $5,000,000 allocations) and supplement an earlier prioritized needs request the department made; White said this action "maintains the status quo" for shelter funding and noted existing contracts fund roughly 934 contracted shelter beds. Committee members pressed whether opioid abatement funds are restricted to opioid-response activities; Katia Fox, Division for Behavioral Health director, deferred legal scope questions to the attorney generals office while noting the state had renewed a public-health emergency for opioids.

Program suspensions and lapses: Members reviewed multiple suspended programs that would require new general-fund appropriations if restored, including graduate medical education and catastrophic…