Oregon lawmakers are finalizing a $153 million behavioral health spending package that includes funding for a new crisis line, training workers and expanding services.
Majority Democrats on Wednesday announced the spending package after political leaders pledged to fill gaps in the state’s behavioral health infrastructure. The Legislature previously approved more than $1 billion in spending on behavioral health in the 2021 session.
The new money is spread across a range of bills, some of which are still working through the legislative process that concludes on Sunday. Approving the money is part of a legislative whirlwind in Salem as lawmakers rush to finish their work after a six-week Republican Senate walkout stalled the session.
“Oregonians were clear that we need to get people the appropriate, high quality, and affordable care they need,” state Rep. Rob Nosse, a Portland Democrat who chairs a key health care committee, said in a statement. “Behavioral health is not one-size-fits-all, and there is no one way to approach it.”
One piece of the package lawmakers are rushing to the finish line is ongoing funding for the new 988 crisis line that Congress directed states to set up in 2020. The Oregon House Revenue Committee on Thursday voted to recommend passage of an amended version of House Bill 2757, which funds the line with a 40-cent monthly tax on cell phones.
The tax is expected to generate nearly $33 million in the upcoming two-year budget. Of that money, $10 million will go to help counties set up mobile crisis intervention units, similar to CAHOOTS in Eugene, that send trained workers to respond to people having mental health episodes.
The bill also creates an advisory committee. Chris Bouneff, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Oregon, told The Lund Report earlier this month he hopes that will lead to better coordination of services.
“We use the word ‘system,’ behavioral health system, but we don’t really have a system, we have these discrete pots of money that work in an uncoordinated fashion.”
“We use the word ‘system,’ behavioral health system, but we don’t really have a system, we have these discrete pots of money that work in an uncoordinated fashion,” he said.
The Legislature has also approved the Oregon Health Authority’s $2.4 billion two-year budget. Included in the budget is $15 million to expand substance use disorder treatment facilities, $7 million for services for civilly committed individuals, $6 million to transition people experiencing homelessness from the Oregon State Hospital, and over $9 million for workforce training and retention programs.
The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on House Bill 2767, which directs an additional $2.6 million for “recovery high schools” across the state that provide alternative education for students recovering from substance use disorders.
“The students who attend recovery high schools are some of the bravest and most amazing youth in our state,” state Rep. Jules Walters, D-West Linn, said in a floor speech last week. “They need a safe supportive environment to be themselves, to struggle, to ask questions, to seek help and to talk about their addiction and recovery without stigma or shame.”
Other spending includes roughly $15 million for court diversion programs and other services intended to keep people with substance use or behavioral health disorders from ending up in prison. Another $50 million will be dedicated for more behavioral health providers and facility beds.
