Joint Budget Committee approves $30 million package to address competency wait list, shifts funds toward community‑based care

The Joint Budget Committee voted to approve a $30 million funding package intended to help the Colorado Department of Human Services show compliance with an ongoing competency consent decree, but the panel reconfigured the request to favor community‑based services over new jail‑based restoration beds.

Emily Pope, JBC staff, told the committee the Department and the Office of State Planning and Budgeting submitted a $30 million request on April 1 to reduce the competency wait list and respond to the consent decree. Pope said the Special Master had provided a letter supporting the request, while Disability Law Colorado filed a letter of opposition, leaving the committee to balance immediate legal risk against longer‑term system changes.

"The Department believes the resources they've asked for will get them into compliance with the consent decree by December 2027," Pope said, while also urging the committee to invest in community options that could produce longer‑term gains. She recommended staying within a $20 million placeholder by shifting some components: $4 million for mental health transitional living homes, $4 million for competency diversion through the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), and two additional case‑working staff for the behavioral health ombudsman to produce a comprehensive report in December.

Pope detailed the Department's components: 16 jail‑based restoration beds (about $2.5 million), 27 contracted competency beds (roughly $10 million in the budget year), 24 additional civil contracted beds (about $10.5 million), and repurposing state‑hospital capacity to free 22 additional competency beds. She argued contracted beds can reduce the wait list quickly but may not be a durable solution without more community investment.

Committee members pressed staff on costs and outcomes. "I would rather spend $2.5 million on transitional living homes than jail‑based restoration services," said Senator Mobley, noting the different care environments and long stays in jail for some defendants. Representative Taggart and others asked whether the committee could appropriate $30 million as a new line and give the executive branch flexibility to allocate it; staff said that is possible but not ideal for legislative control.

Several members said the prospect of court fines and the Special Master's endorsement weighed heavily in their deliberations. Representative Brown and Vice Chair Bridges emphasized separating near‑term actions to avoid fines from longer‑term reforms to prevent churn on the wait list.

After debate, the committee approved the staff‑recommended compromise: the request would be adopted without funding for new jail‑based beds; funds freed from that component would be redirected to keep mental health transitional living homes funded and to provide BHA diversion pilot money. The committee added a footnote allowing transfer authority between the line supporting transitional living homes and civil contracted beds so the executive branch could repurpose unneeded transitional‑homes funding to civil beds if necessary. Staff also asked for centrally appropriated line items to be removed to simplify drafting.

Director Craig Harper, JBC staff, cautioned that much of the additional funding comes from one‑time transfers (including a transfer from the IT revolving fund), so the committee's choices create potential balance questions for future years.

The committee recorded consensus to include the $30 million package, reconfigured per staff recommendations, and directed JBC staff and legislative counsel to draft the conference committee report language and footnotes to reflect the agreement. The committee asked the behavioral health ombudsman to return with a detailed plan and cost estimates and to provide a December report on system improvements.

What happens next: staff will draft the conference committee report language and footnotes and work with the Department and OSPB to finalize the appropriation and transfer authority. The behavioral health ombudsman will report back with options and cost estimates by December, per the committee direction.