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

SPONSOR Morales

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/02/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Border Mental Health Services

SB 432

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$1,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Human Services Department (HSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 432 appropriates $1 million from the general fund to The Human Services

Department to be equitably distributed to licensed community mental health centers providing

comprehensive community support services in rural and border areas.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall revert to the

general fund.

HSD adds that:

Any behavioral health services provided to Medicaid-eligible individuals would be eligible for

federal match if all the following criteria are met:

.

The service must be a benefit under the NM Medicaid State Plan

House Bill 432 – Page

2

.

The provider must be credentialed as a Medicaid provider of that service as part of the

ValueOptions New Mexico contracted provider network

.

The provider is providing services as licensed.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HSD adds that there are currently twenty-eight licensed community Mental Health Centers

(CMHCs) in New Mexico. Given that the “rural and border areas" of New Mexico encompass

almost the entire state, any distribution would include most NM community mental health

centers, and any “equitable" distribution would be minimal.

The Department of Corrections contributes that by providing access to mental health treatment

programs, it could give individuals on probation or parole another coping mechanism to use to

avoid committing new crimes and committing violations of their conditions of probation/ parole.

This could also cause a decrease in the Department’s probation/parole caseloads.

MW/nt