Create department of health services
HB 851 would create a new executive-branch Department of Health Services and transfer a broad set of human services functions from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the new department. The bill specifically moves administration of state-owned health care facilities and programs involving developmental disabilities, mental health, chemical dependency, and veterans’ long-term care. It also establishes a new director appointed by the governor, sets internal organizational rules, and requires the new department to maintain a central office, with the option of locating it at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs.
The bill makes extensive conforming changes throughout Montana law to replace or supplement references to the Department of Public Health and Human Services with the new Department of Health Services. Those changes affect statutes governing state hospitals, veterans’ homes, mental health and developmental disability services, chemical dependency treatment, Medicaid-related reporting, criminal justice and court-ordered treatment provisions, procurement, budgeting, legislative oversight, and several special revenue accounts and tax allocations. It also provides for an appropriation, rulemaking authority, and a transition process requiring the transfer of functions, personnel, and funds by July 1, 2026, with the act taking effect July 1, 2025.
HB 851 would substantially reorganize state government by adding a new department and shifting major health and human services responsibilities into it, while leaving many existing statutes intact through conforming amendments. It would change administrative oversight of state-owned facilities and programs serving people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, substance use disorders, and veterans, and would alter numerous reporting, budgeting, contracting, and oversight provisions to reflect the new agency structure. The bill also affects related funding streams, including alcohol and chemical dependency revenues, veterans’ home funding, and other appropriations tied to the affected programs and facilities.
The bill appears to have had meaningful support in the House, passing committee review and floor votes by substantial margins, and it also received unanimous support in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee on the available votes. That suggests broad interest in the concept of reorganizing state health services. However, the bill ultimately died in a Senate standing committee, indicating that support was not sufficient to advance it through the full legislative process. No committee transcript was provided, so the record here shows procedural support but not detailed debate.
The main point of contention appears to have been the structural reorganization itself: whether Montana should create a separate Department of Health Services and split functions away from the existing Department of Public Health and Human Services. Because the bill touches many programs, another likely area of concern is the scope and complexity of the transfer, including staffing, budgeting, facility administration, and the need to rewrite a large number of statutes and reporting lines. The unanimous committee vote in the Senate committee suggests little visible opposition at that stage, but the bill’s later death in standing committee indicates unresolved concerns about the policy or implementation burden.