Committee holds BA2 placeholder for permanently incompetent services and approves partial annualization for Fort Logan youth unit

The Joint Budget Committee took up BA2 — a Department of Human Services request for services for people permanently incompetent to proceed (PITP). Emily Pope summarized the department request: approximately $12.4 million GF and 33 FTE for DHS operating needs, plus capital requests and impacts for HCPF and a legislative placeholder of $10 million. Pope estimated total ongoing costs could reach roughly $21 million GF after adjustments, but cautioned staff totals double‑counted some HCPF funds in total‑funds figures and urged reliance on the general‑fund line for planning.

Members expressed concern about the size of the request, the number of affected individuals (estimates ranged in committee discussion from 25 to 46 people per year for certain high‑needs placements), the potential $2,700/day per person operating cost for some placement alternatives, and cross‑agency impacts on courts, probation and county attorneys. Lawmakers asked staff for a conservative placeholder amount to help with near‑term balancing and emphasized the need for legislative guardrails around use of any funded placements. The committee did not finalize an exact placeholder and instructed staff to return with clarified numbers and legal considerations.

On a separate item the committee considered Fort Logan’s youth psychiatric unit (16 beds). The department previously requested $5.7M GF annualization; staff recommended reducing that to $3.29M GF for the budget year because construction delays pushed the projected opening later in the year and hiring would be phased. Staff estimated ongoing costs after opening could exceed $10M GF when Medicaid offsets and full staffing are counted. Members questioned the $1,000/day incentive being offered to the contracted provider and requested parity information about incentive payments in other PRTF placements. Vice Chair Bridges moved staff annualization for Fort Logan and the motion passed 5–1; the committee also approved associated line‑item detail, RFIs and footnotes.