JFAC approves multiple behavioral-health supplemental appropriations, adds language on federal funds and transfer exemptions
February 21, 2025 | Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, JOINT, Committees, Legislative, Idaho
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The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Friday approved a package of supplemental and fiscal-2026 budget items for behavioral health programs, voting to allow agencies to spend previously awarded federal grants and to shift funds among expenditure classes in certain mental-health budgets.
The committee voted to appropriate $6,743,800 in federal Cooperative Welfare funds for Idaho Behavioral Health Plan (IBHP) contract implementation for fiscal year 2025. The motion passed on a roll call that the clerk recorded as 15 ayes, 5 nays.
The committee also approved a set of related FY2026 actions, including a $261,400 federal grant increase tied to IBHP implementation; language was adopted to allow the Division of Mental Health Services to transfer funds between trustee and benefit payments and personnel costs in accordance with Idaho Code 67-3511. That FY2026 IBHP motion carried on a roll call the clerk recorded as 18 ayes, 0 nays (9–1 in each chamber previously; committee summary by the clerk produced the 18–0 total).
Separately, the group approved supplemental funding to cover civil-commitment expenditures in community hospitalization — a 1-time general-fund addition of $2,663,500 — and forecast adjustments at State Hospitals West and South that shifted federal revenues onto dedicated and general-fund lines to reflect changes in collections and how managed-care receipts are recorded. The community hospitalization supplemental passed with a roll call recorded as 19 ayes, 1 nay.
Budget staff told the committee some of the changes were “forecast adjustments” or the result of federal grant timing and new accounting treatment for managed-care receipts; the committee adopted condition, limitation and restriction language that would apply to the behavioral-health items and a separate provision that addresses the treatment of federal funds if the federal funding were reduced or revoked.
“Due to some delays with the go-live, that appropriation for those funds expired and the agency is asking for the appropriation to spend those unused funds,” Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said when introducing the IBHP supplemental request.
Senators and representatives on the committee also approved language exempting certain divisions from the usual transfer limitation so that divisions can move appropriations between expense classes for trustee/benefit payments and personnel costs in response to program implementation realities and federal award timing.
Why it matters: The voted appropriations and language let the Department of Health and Welfare move forward with federal grant-funded implementation steps for the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan, and they acknowledge near-term accounting and cash-flow shifts for state psychiatric hospitals and community hospitalization programs. The federal-fund language is intended to limit the state's liability if future federal support changes.
What’s next: The items approved by JFAC will be included in the committee’s recommendations to the full Legislature and, for any items requiring further legislative action, will be carried forward through the regular bill process. The committee recorded the votes and adopted associated reporting and transfer language for follow up.
Ending: The committee’s behavioral-health package included a mix of one-time and ongoing appropriations, federal-grant spending authority and technical language changes that staff said reflect grant timing, managed-care accounting changes and anticipated workload shifts in mental-health programs.
The committee voted to appropriate $6,743,800 in federal Cooperative Welfare funds for Idaho Behavioral Health Plan (IBHP) contract implementation for fiscal year 2025. The motion passed on a roll call that the clerk recorded as 15 ayes, 5 nays.
The committee also approved a set of related FY2026 actions, including a $261,400 federal grant increase tied to IBHP implementation; language was adopted to allow the Division of Mental Health Services to transfer funds between trustee and benefit payments and personnel costs in accordance with Idaho Code 67-3511. That FY2026 IBHP motion carried on a roll call the clerk recorded as 18 ayes, 0 nays (9–1 in each chamber previously; committee summary by the clerk produced the 18–0 total).
Separately, the group approved supplemental funding to cover civil-commitment expenditures in community hospitalization — a 1-time general-fund addition of $2,663,500 — and forecast adjustments at State Hospitals West and South that shifted federal revenues onto dedicated and general-fund lines to reflect changes in collections and how managed-care receipts are recorded. The community hospitalization supplemental passed with a roll call recorded as 19 ayes, 1 nay.
Budget staff told the committee some of the changes were “forecast adjustments” or the result of federal grant timing and new accounting treatment for managed-care receipts; the committee adopted condition, limitation and restriction language that would apply to the behavioral-health items and a separate provision that addresses the treatment of federal funds if the federal funding were reduced or revoked.
“Due to some delays with the go-live, that appropriation for those funds expired and the agency is asking for the appropriation to spend those unused funds,” Alex Williamson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said when introducing the IBHP supplemental request.
Senators and representatives on the committee also approved language exempting certain divisions from the usual transfer limitation so that divisions can move appropriations between expense classes for trustee/benefit payments and personnel costs in response to program implementation realities and federal award timing.
Why it matters: The voted appropriations and language let the Department of Health and Welfare move forward with federal grant-funded implementation steps for the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan, and they acknowledge near-term accounting and cash-flow shifts for state psychiatric hospitals and community hospitalization programs. The federal-fund language is intended to limit the state's liability if future federal support changes.
What’s next: The items approved by JFAC will be included in the committee’s recommendations to the full Legislature and, for any items requiring further legislative action, will be carried forward through the regular bill process. The committee recorded the votes and adopted associated reporting and transfer language for follow up.
Ending: The committee’s behavioral-health package included a mix of one-time and ongoing appropriations, federal-grant spending authority and technical language changes that staff said reflect grant timing, managed-care accounting changes and anticipated workload shifts in mental-health programs.
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