Senate committee backs raising lottery vending-machine mental-health allocation and recommends EDIF oversight
Loading...
Summary
The Federal and State Affairs committee recommended increasing the statutory lottery vending-machine allocation for two mental-health programs from $8,000,000 to $16,000,000 and voted to ask Ways and Means to explore sweeping annual lottery transfers into the EDIF back to the general fund to enable legislative oversight.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs committee voted to recommend increasing the statutory allocation of lottery vending-machine funds for mental-health programming from $8,000,000 to $16,000,000 and forwarded the amended lottery budget to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Senator Blue, who carried the amendment, said the 2017 statutory set-aside of $8,000,000 was established when the programs were pilot projects and argued the programs have expanded statewide. "When we passed it, both of those programs were kind of in their pilot grama, And now we're realizing that these programs can be utilized across the whole entire state," Blue said. The amendment specifies a 75% allocation to crisis stabilization units and 25% to the clubhouse model.
Committee members pressed for accountability. Senator Tyson cautioned that some mental-health funds are not getting to intended services, citing concerns about executive compensation at a provider in Southeast Kansas and urging tighter spending controls. "The funds aren't getting where they need to," Tyson said, arguing for measures to ensure the money reaches mental-health stabilizing services.
Separately, the committee recommended that automatic transfers from the lottery into the Economic Development Initiatives Fund (EDIF) — roughly $42,000,000 annually, according to committee discussion — be swept into the state general fund beginning in fiscal year 2028 so that the legislature would scrutinize allocations. Chair framed the recommendation as a way to require programs that receive EDIF dollars to justify spending through the appropriations process rather than via automatic transfer. Committee staff cautioned that statutory changes and coordination with Ways and Means would be required to effectuate any sweep and to account for transfers from EDIF to other funds.
The committee carried voice votes on the mental-health allocation amendment and the lottery recommendation and forwarded the budget recommendations to Ways and Means for action.
