HOUSE BILL 63

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Joni Marie Gutierrez

AN ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR SERVICES FOR PERSONS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. APPROPRIATION.--

          A. Six million seven hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($6,725,000) is appropriated to the following departments in the following amounts for expenditure in fiscal 2009:

                (1) to the human services department:

                     (a) two million nine hundred thousand dollars ($2,900,000) to support specific treatment services for medicaid-eligible recipients with autism;

                     (b) one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for extension of the first session of the forty-eighth legislature's Senate Bill 197 study group to expand statewide stakeholder representation and to conduct public forums to identify regional needs and priorities;

                     (c) one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000) to study service needs and best practice treatments for high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder who do not meet the criteria for developmental disability;

                     (d) one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the behavioral health collaborative's development of a flex-funding program for the autism spectrum disorder population; and

                     (e) three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) for behavioral health collaborative seed money for development of in-state residential treatment centers for the autism spectrum disorder population, including related policies, standards and oversights; and

                (2) to the department of health:

                      (a) one million dollars ($1,000,000) to support statewide diagnostic and autism spectrum disorder-specific groups in a minimum of four counties for specific treatment services for persons who are not eligible for medicaid; and

                     (b) two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for creation and implementation of a statewide autism spectrum disorder surveillance and registration program in a minimum of four counties, coordinated with other relevant parties; and

                (3) one million dollars ($1,000,000) to the higher education department to develop and implement pre-service programs focusing on best practice interventions for persons with autism spectrum disorder.

          B. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the general fund.

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