HCA warns proposed budget cuts would trim behavioral-health programs; conference committee expected this weekend

Sean O'Neil, legislative relations manager at the Health Care Authority, gave the committee a status report on the legislative session and budget negotiations.

O'Neil said the Legislature was at roughly day 50 of a 60-day session and that fiscal committees had a cutoff deadline the day of the meeting. He described the House and Senate budgets as unusually similar at the top line but said both proposed cuts affecting behavioral health programs. Notable items he flagged included a roughly 10% across-the-board reduction to Recovery Navigator programs and related community supports, a House proposal with further cuts to DBHR (including an estimated 5% FTE reduction) and about $8 million in contract reductions affecting community behavioral-health providers.

O'Neil said the Senate’s approach included smaller administrative reductions (about 1.5% in administrative dollars) while the House budget contained deeper cuts to some direct contracts and programmatic FTEs. He also said the Senate proposed a 50% reduction to health engagement hubs in one line item. "The House also had some further cuts to DBHR and to behavioral health that the Senate did not take," he said, and noted that if the House version prevailed it would create more immediate programmatic pain for providers.

On process, O'Neil described the next steps: amendments return to the house of origin, and differences will be resolved by a conference committee of three members from each chamber. He expected conferees to negotiate in earnest over the coming days and suggested a likely release of a conference budget late in the weekend or by Monday, with the final legislative adjournment scheduled for the following Thursday.

Committee members asked for clarification about timing and the mechanics of agency engagement. O'Neil said agencies will begin measured engagement with legislators and that most formal budget negotiation soon becomes the domain of the governor’s office and the Office of Financial Management once conference work advances.

Tony Walton acknowledged the hardship these proposals could cause service providers and said the committee would communicate final outcomes once the conference budget is published.