Joint Budget Committee
The Joint Budget Committee spent its figure-setting session carving into the Behavioral Health Administration and the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, with staff recommendations landing $11.6 million in general fund below what the department requested. Most cuts moved on voice votes, but reductions to care coordination and case management drew Rep. Judy Amabile's objections, a delayed Fort Logan youth psychiatric unit drew Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer's, and a proposal to eliminate state-run transitional living homes was tabled amid an unresolved TABOR accounting snarl.
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Notable Quotes
“I'll just point out that every one of these beds is full. Every one of these beds is actually helping a human being stay safe, stay alive and stay out of trouble.”
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Sign in to subscribeThe Joint Budget Committee will come to order. We are considering figure setting for some parts of the Department of human services today. Ms. Pope, where shall we begin? Thank you, Madam Chair. Emily Pope, JBC Staff Today we're talking about the Behavioral Health Administration and the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health. I think we'll just do a quick view of the summary table on page one. That's spreads onto page two, just so you can see. This is your last DHS presentation, so you can see kind of overall what you're looking at for DHS. They do have over 30 requests, and Mr. Dermody and myself brought an additional 15 to you. So it's a lot of requests, a lengthy table. Our recommendations are coming in at 11.6 million general fund less than what the department has requested. And that doesn't include several reductions that would occur outside of the long bill and separate legislation if they were approved by you. So with that, I think we're going to start off by talking about the bha. On page six, you can see the summary table for what they have requested. They have brought five requests that are…
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