SENATE MEMORIAL 33

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Jacob Candelaria

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE INTERAGENCY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PURCHASING COLLABORATIVE AND ITS CONSTITUENT AGENCIES MAXIMIZE NEW MEXICO'S ACCESS TO FEDERAL GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR THE STATE'S MENTAL HEALTH, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT SERVICES INFRASTRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS.

     WHEREAS, New Mexicans face a persistent epidemic of mental and behavioral health challenges, including substance abuse; and 

     WHEREAS, according to the 2012 final report of the drug policy task force established pursuant to the 2011 legislative session's Senate Memorial 18, the combined costs to New Mexico for medical disorders, trauma, physical property damage, criminal and judicial expenses and losses in productivity associated with New Mexico's mental and behavioral health crisis exceed two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) a year; and

     WHEREAS, the federal substance abuse and mental health services administration of the United States department of health and human services, also known as "SAMHSA", estimates that mental, emotional and behavioral disorders among youth in the United States, as a whole, represent a total annual cost of two hundred forty-seven billion dollars ($247,000,000,000) to the nation's economy; and

     WHEREAS, a 2012 report by the federal office of national drug policy finds that each one dollar ($1.00) invested in an evidence-based prevention program can reduce costs related to substance abuse disorders by an average of eighteen dollars ($18.00); and

     WHEREAS, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the "Affordable Care Act", contains provisions to strengthen mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services; and

     WHEREAS, the Affordable Care Act provisions related to mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services include provisions for health care work force training and preparation, for health care system innovations and for increasing access to, and improving the quality and the cost of, mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services; and 

     WHEREAS, the Affordable Care Act provides a number of funding opportunities for states to develop their mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems; and

     WHEREAS, in particular, the Affordable Care Act provided for eighty-eight million dollars ($88,000,000) in funding to SAMHSA for federal fiscal years 2011 and 2012 through the federal prevention and public health fund to support SAMHSA's grants to states for mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems; and

     WHEREAS, President Obama submitted a budget request of one hundred five million dollars ($105,000,000) from the federal prevention and public health fund for federal fiscal year 2013 to support SAMHSA's grants to states for mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has availed itself of very little of the federal money available to support states' mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems; and

     WHEREAS, though SAMHSA's center for substance use prevention had a total budget of forty-eight million four hundred thousand dollars ($48,400,000) in federal fiscal year 2012, New Mexico received none of the four grants available through the center for that year; and

     WHEREAS, in federal fiscal year 2012, SAMHSA's center for mental health services had a total budget of one hundred fifty-six million one hundred thousand dollars ($156,100,000) and provided grants to states that totaled a maximum of forty-four million four hundred thousand dollars ($44,400,000) each, and New Mexico received three out of the fifteen grants; and

     WHEREAS, in federal fiscal year 2012, while SAMHSA's center for substance abuse treatment had a total budget of one hundred seven million one hundred thousand dollars ($107,100,000) and the center provided sixteen grants with a reported maximum amount of twenty-five million eight hundred thousand dollars ($25,800,000) apiece to state grantees, New Mexico received none of the sixteen grants; and

     WHEREAS, in all, New Mexico received only approximately one-half of one percent, or one million seven hundred thousand dollars ($1,700,000), of the three hundred eleven million seven hundred thousand dollars ($311,700,000) in SAMHSA's center for substance abuse prevention, center for mental health services and center for substance abuse treatment center available grants; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico agencies urgently need to avail themselves of whatever funding opportunities exist to address the state's mental health and behavioral health crisis, including its status among the states worst hit by substance abuse;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative and its constituent agencies be requested to take urgent action to research and apply for any and all federal grants for mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative be requested to work with the human services department's office of health care reform to poll the state agencies that belong to the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative to learn which of those agencies has applied for federal grants for mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services infrastructure and systems and, by November 1, 2014, report to the governor, the legislative finance committee and the interim legislative health and human services committee on the following:

          A. any applications that these state agencies have made for federal grants;

          B. any allocations that the federal government has made to state agencies;

          C. which federal grant applications were denied and the reasons for the denials; and

          D. state agencies' explanations for not applying for federal grants for which they are eligible; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the director of the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative and the secretary of human services.

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