The Joint Appropriations Committee heard the Department of Health’s afternoon presentation on behavioral health, developmental preschool services and other budget items. Director Stefan Johansen said staff would move rapidly through units and highlighted an exception request for legal‑assistance support at state hospitals and the Life Resource Center. The department asked the Legislature for $140,000 in general funds to help cover legal filing fees and other guardianship costs that can be a barrier to placing certain high‑needs patients in community settings, and said it leverages relationships with Wyoming Guardianship Corporation when possible.

Johansen also described a $0 general‑fund request tied to the federal State Opioid Response (SOAR) grant: a carryforward request for an AWAC‑funded position (no. 97030) that is paid entirely with federal funds and requires authorization to be carried into the next biennium. Earlier in the presentation staff noted a net‑zero reallocation of $400,000 from public health to behavioral health to continue oversight and operations for the statewide 988 suicide lifeline service.

A central portion of the department’s presentation focused on the External Cost Adjustment (ECA) for early intervention and developmental preschool services. Johansen said state statute now requires the department to present both the current year’s ECA and any cumulative unfunded ECAs to the Legislature each year. He outlined changes from a recent enrolled act that moved the child‑count reference date from Dec. 1 to May 1, placed a baseline per‑child amount in statute, and modified the inflation index methodology to align with K–12 calculations. Because those statutory mechanics now determine the prospective per‑child baseline and how ECAs are calculated, the department requested the full ECA amount for BFY27 — roughly $21.2 million.

Committee members probed the ECA presentation’s implications for federal maintenance‑of‑effort (MOE) requirements. Johansen explained federal MOE rules limit reductions in eligibility and that waivers from MOE are limited (for example, for precipitous declines in state revenue or demonstrable decreases in child counts); he said Wyoming previously negotiated with federal officials to avoid penalties during earlier budget contractions. Asked about enrollment, staff corrected earlier figures and provided a current total near 3,766 children across Part C (birth–2) and Part B (3–5) programs and offered to follow up with comparative data from other states by memo.

Johansen closed by thanking the committee for detailed questions and offering to provide additional follow‑up materials ahead of markup. No formal committee votes were recorded during the department’s presentation.

What happens next: the department expects to provide additional data and memos on child‑count comparisons and cost calculations before the committee’s markup stage.