Legislators in the Nevada Senate Committee on Jobs and Economy on Friday heard a request in Senate Bill 4 for $14,585,755 to fund jail-based behavioral health programming and competency restoration services.

Andrea Rivers, administrator for the Division of Public and Behavioral Health, told senators the request would allocate roughly $7,069,836 to Clark County and $7,515,919 to Washoe County to implement the jail-based competency program. "The increase ... equaling the 14,585,000 before you today, accounts for the passage of AB467 that allows for restoration of competency," she said.

Drew Cross, program lead, explained the bulk of added expense is for "skilled clinicians who will carry out those evaluations within the respective detention centers," and that custody staffing increases in some counties may also be required. Cross said Washoe County has provided a fuller, itemized estimate while Clark County has supplied vendor-based estimates that still need refinement.

Sen. Wynne noted the SB4 total exceeds an earlier SB281 appropriation (~$11.9M) and asked for an explanation of the discrepancy; Rivers and Cross cited program scope expansion and the need for qualified psychologists and psychiatrists to produce competency restoration reports. Sen. Neal asked whether recent SMART program reports exist; Cross said monthly and quarterly data are maintained and can be provided to the committee.

Washoe County representative Cadence Mateevich urged swift action during public comment, saying the expanded amounts would allow the county to include competency restoration and avoid terminating the program in 2026 if the funding was not approved.

The committee requested additional county-specific cost detail from Clark County and directed staff to collect program metrics and data underlying the county allocations.