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

SPONSOR Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/07

HB 521

SHORT TITLE Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$2,500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

Human Services Department (HSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 521 appropriates $2,500.0 to the Local Government Division (LGD) of the

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) for a regional alcohol detoxification and

treatment center in De Baca County and for substance abuse treatment continuum of care

initiatives in Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Quay, Roosevelt, San Miguel and Union

counties.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $2,500.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

General Fund.

House Bill 521 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Access to substance abuse treatment is difficult in rural and frontier areas because of the relative

shortage of trained providers. All the counties targeted by this appropriation are considered

frontier and are Health Shortage Professional Areas for Mental Health by the federal Health

Resources Services Administration. Individuals who require even basic substance abuse

treatment services must travel several hours to find those services,

HB 521 does not specify how much of the appropriation would go to the substance abuse

continuum of care initiatives and what these initiatives would be. Residential treatment is the

most expensive and least effective of substance abuse treatment methodologies. Outpatient

community-based services have been found to be the most effective substance abuse treatment

services. However, for those in need of more intensive services, a facility closer to the

individual’s community would make family and friends’ participation in the recovery process

possible.

DFA notes that there are six counties that have detoxification programs that receive a total of

$2.8 million from the DWI program at the Local Government Division: Bernalillo, Rio Arriba,

Sandoval, San Juan, Santa Fe and Socorro.

A detoxification program is defined as a residential program that provides physical care,

education and counseling to persons who enter the program physically dependent on alcohol.

The program offers short-term (up to 10 days) services necessary during the process of physical

withdrawal from alcohol dependence and to motivate the persons to accept further treatment for

alcoholism as appropriate to their case.

Treatment may include long term treatment or outpatient treatment, which means that clients

would have to leave their communities and stay in the treatment facility. The family support

system for these individuals may not be available because of the long distances that family

members would have to travel. There is also the issue of having treatment services provided only

to the client. It is also important to provide treatment and services to other members of the

family.

The other portion of this bill provides for alcohol and substance abuse treatment continuum of

care initiatives in Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Quay, Roosevelt, San Miguel and Union

counties. Treatment continuum care indicates long term care for these individuals in those

counties. The point that is important to make is the definition of "long term care", which should

be the development of infrastructure of services for education and support of the individual. This

can be anywhere from three years or longer, depending on the level of care.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

HSD and DOH note that the portion of the appropriation that is for substance abuse continuum of

care initiatives should go to the department that is the home of the behavioral health services

division, which provides the majority of funding for public substance abuse treatment programs.

House Bill 521 – Page

3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

DFA notes that it is important that medical facilities be located close to or in the same

community as the detoxification and treatment center. If the individual who has an alcohol or

drug abuse disorder has a medical emergency, it is critical to provide medical services as quickly

as possible. A portion of the appropriation would go to turn the old hospital building at Fort

Sumner into a detoxification and treatment center. DFA notes that Fort Sumner does not have a

major hospital to provide medical services. Ambulance service takes patients to surrounding

communities including Guadalupe County, Clovis and Roswell.

WEP/mt