This week, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee voted to redirect $85 million in Senate Bill 844 bond authority from local jail facilities to the Health Care Facilities Financing Authority in order to provide funding to counties for mental health infrastructure projects. Specifically, $68 million is dedicated for community mental health infrastructure grants, and $17 million is provided for children’s crisis capacity infrastructure grants. This redirection would have significant impacts on several RCRC-member counties who have undertaken the process of securing jail construction monies under the SB 844 process.
In fact, last week the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) Executive Steering Committee approved conditional jail awards – including six full and one partial small county award - (click here), and the full BSCC Board is expected to consider the funding recommendations at their June 8, 2017 meeting.
The redirection of this funding will undoubtedly reduce resources to small counties for jail construction projects, and it is unclear, assuming adoption into the final state budget package, how this proposed redirection will be implemented. The SB 844 program commits $150 million of the $250 million available for small counties. Of the 20 counties eligible for funding, 14 are RCRC-member counties. The most recent round of jail construction funding targeted counties that have received either no previous funding or partial funding to support their local detention facility needs.
RCRC’s Opposition letter to the Senate Budget Committee’s action can be accessed here. RCRC remains opposed to any effort that would reduce the available resources to counties for local jail construction efforts.