State briefs council on $300M BizFIG plan and federal $233M rural health award to expand behavioral health access

State behavioral-health and rural-health officials briefed the Criminal Justice Oversight Council on two large, parallel initiatives to increase access to mental-health and substance-use services.

Megan Peel outlined BizFIG (created by House Bill 872), a commission-driven body that produced 22 recommendations and 11 near-term initiatives. The bill set aside a $300 million state special revenue account for long-term system improvements; the 2025 Legislature funded 10 key recommendations (eight fully). Peel highlighted near-term work that will affect the justice system, including funding for court-ordered evaluations in communities, residential-treatment bed grants, and mobile crisis and stabilization supports.

Brett Carter reviewed Montana's federal Rural Health Transformation Program award process: after a statewide stakeholder effort the state received approval for about $233,000,000 in year-1 federal funding. Carter described five initiatives to be funded: workforce recruitment and retention (including provider wellness and relocation supports), rural facility sustainability and partnerships, innovative payment/delivery pilots, community-health/prevention investments and modern health technologies. He emphasized that CMS scored applications for multi-year sustainability and that Montana will use a center of excellence and CCBHC expansions to anchor long-term services.

Council members asked how these investments will translate into concrete justice-system outcomes; staff said early effects will be increased local provider capacity, more upstream behavioral-health access and reduced crisis-driven justice contacts as new community capacities and CCBHC coverage expand.