Master FIR (1988)

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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Miera		DATE TYPED:	2/25/01		HB	924
SHORT TITLE:		Enhanced Youth Behavioral Health Services				SB
					ANALYST:		Dunbar

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY01	FY02	FY01	FY	Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
	$ 500.0			Rec	General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates/Relates to Appropriation in The General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Children Youth and Families Department

Health Policy Commission

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

HB 924 appropriates $500.0 from the general fund to CYFD to provide enhanced mental health and psychological services, including additional diagnostic testing, counseling and other mental health services at the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center and the Camino Nuevo Youth Center in Bernalillo county.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

HB 924 appropriates $500.0 from the general fund to CYFD for expenditures in FY02. The expenditure is recurring and any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY02 shall revert to the general fund. This appropriation is not part of the CYFD's request and was not included in the Executive recommendation.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD writes that the contract services described in this bill will have an administrative impact on the CYFD contracts personnel. CYFD does not elaborate on the additional impact and it is assumed that the impact in not significant.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The New Mexico Girls School, which is located on the same campus as the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center is not named in the bill. As written, services could not be provided with these funds to residents of the New Mexico Girls' School.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The HPC provided the following information:

•Preliminary studies suggest that at any given time, at least one in five children and adolescents may have a mental health problem that, without help, can lead to a variety of additional problems, including school failure, family discord, alcohol and other drug use, violence, or suicide.

•Large-scale research studies have reported that up to 3 percent of children and up to 8 percent of adolescents in the U.S. suffer from depression.

•Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problems that occur in children and adolescents. According to one large-scale study of 9 to 17 year olds, entitled Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA), as many as 13 percent of young people had an anxiety disorder in a year. (NIMH)

•Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder of childhood, estimated to affect 3 to 5 percent of school-aged children. (NIMH)

•In the U.S., eating disorders are most common among adolescent and young women. In addition to causing various physical health problems, eating disorders are associated with illnesses such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders.

•According to one study, one percent of adolescents ages 14-18 were found to have met criteria for manic-depressive illness or cyclothymia, a milder form of the illness, in their lifetime. (NIMH)

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