State Rep. Aaron Miller introduced legislation to more equally designate funds for county mental health services throughout the state.
Miller, R-Sturgis, introduced a similar bill last session that had hearings before the House Appropriations Committee, but never made it to the House floor. The bill changes the way money is distributed to community mental health service programs based on criteria such as demographics, county unemployment rates and poverty rates.
The measure is House Bill 4091.
“I am proud to make HB 4091 my first introduced bill for this session,” Miller said. “There is a serious funding shortfall for some counties that do not fall into the top tier of the formula established back in the 1960s. Our two counties of St. Joseph and Cass, for instance, are receiving less money per person than other CMH authorities in the state. That is wrong.”
Miller said the issue was brought to his attention by a family in Sturgis who was told the local community mental health facility could not treat their adult daughter because it did not have the funding. The family was told they could move to a different part of the state where more funding was available, but that was not an option.
“The current formula flies in the face of fairness and counties on the short end of the funding formula are not able to sufficiently provide vital services to residents,” Miller said. “This problem has been 50 years in the making and we must find a solution.”
The bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.