Finance Committee adopts mental‑health bill committee substitute as working draft

The Alaska House Finance Committee on March 11 adopted committee substitute version G as its working draft for House Bill 265, the mental‑health bill. The adoption followed staff explanation that the only differences between the compared versions were recommendations from subcommittee close‑out reports and that there were no alterations made to the subcommittee recommendations.

Alexander Schroeder, staff to Co‑chair Josephson, told the committee an inline comparison is included in member packets, and that the changes between the compared drafts reflect subcommittee close‑out reports. Members asked no substantive questions and objections that had been raised were lifted for purposes of explanation; with no further objections the committee adopted version G as its working draft for the mental‑health bill.

Co‑chair Josephson announced a 1:30 p.m. public‑testimony session later the same day for both the operating bill and the mental‑health bill, listing the communities scheduled to provide testimony and the committee's procedures for written and oral testimony.