Transcript Highlights:

• Very quick. payer money and the taxpayers need to understand where this is going. So your state...
• While vendors may provide the service, the bill's primary goal is to improve the efficiency. and for
• It focuses on providing payers like employers and insurance with notice and transparency to ensure accurate
• This is a standard billing practice in Medicare that can be incorporated for commercial payers in a less
• TRICARE, she was a military spouse, and was charged a $300 facility fee. because this was considered primary

Bills: SB500, SB719, SB912, SB1232, SB1467, SB1777, SB1864, SB2023, SB2119, SB2458

Keywords: SB 500, Texas adoption law, Family Code, DFPS, Department of Family and Protective Services, child-placing agency, prospective adoptive parents, adoption records, confidential information, nondisclosure agreement, child history report, health history, social history, educational history, genetic history, termination of parental rights, permanency plan, single source continuum contractor, privacy, redaction

Transcript Highlights:

• The fact that we have a holiday for the primaries, for generals, general election, presidential primary
• for generals general election primaries for generals general election presidential<05:08:17.160>
• > the presidential um primary and for the presidential um primary and for the general<05:08:19.440
• <06:48:59.520> it $5.7 million a year for rate payers it $5.7 million a year for rate payers
• primary primary beneficiaries<06:52:59.080> of<06:52:59.280> the<06:52:59.440> renewable

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• If I can get introduced by my primary care provider, if Dr.
• If I can get introduced by my primary care provider, if Dr.
• That these are primary care codes, and that removes a lot of the barriers.
• integrated behavioral health in primary care is part of that conversation.
• The same goes... ...between onset of conditions and treatment is in primary care.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery held a public hearing on 14 bills focused on insurance, parity, opioids, behavioral health access, and mental health system reform. Chair Mindy Domb and Vice Chair Robyn Kennedy outlined hearing procedures and noted the committee would accept written testimony. The hearing featured testimony from legislators, providers, advocates, and behavioral health organizations, with most speakers urging favorable reports on the bills they addressed. A major topic was psychiatric collaborative care, including H. 222/S. 1390, which would raise reimbursement for collaborative care codes to at least Medicare levels and allow billing outside the MassHealth primary care subcapitation model. Supporters said the model improves access, outcomes, and cost savings by embedding behavioral health in primary care, and several witnesses described successful implementation in practices and schools. Committee members asked questions about how the model works, what specialties use it, barriers to adoption, and whether copays, deductibles, and subcapitation rules should be changed. Witnesses also supported related innovation legislation, including H. 2224, which would create a mental health innovation fund and support nontraditional trauma-healing approaches. Other bills discussed included H. 2212, which would require prescribers to discuss opioid and pain-medication risks, alternatives, and addiction/overdose concerns with patients or guardians; H. 2232 and H. 2233, which would address equitable payment and equitable access for behavioral health providers serving MassHealth patients; and S. 1406, which would add opioid maintenance treatment information to MassPAT and allow patient-authorized access to that information. Witnesses also strongly backed S. 1399, which would set targets to increase behavioral health spending within the overall health care cost benchmark, arguing that Massachusetts underinvests in behavioral health and that greater investment could reduce emergency, hospitalization, homelessness, and criminal justice costs. No votes were taken; the hearing concluded after testimony and committee questions.

Transcript Highlights:

• And I appreciate what you said about primary care.
• So I've been in primary care in Massachusetts since 1990.
• We are a direct primary care practice.
• So this bill would actually encourage more primary care physicians to do direct primary care.
• So this bill would actually encourage more primary care physicians to do direct primary care.

Keywords: 995, all

Summary: The committee held a hearing on several health care access and insurance-related bills, with most testimony focused on H.1136 to improve the prior authorization process. The Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, Health Care for All, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, physicians, and hospital representatives all supported the bill, arguing that prior authorization delays care, increases administrative burden, contributes to clinician burnout, and can worsen patient outcomes. Witnesses described examples involving delayed cancer treatment, diabetes care, COPD medication, shingles pain treatment, and hospital discharge delays. They said the bill would preserve prior authorization but add guardrails such as longer validity periods, continuity-of-care protections, faster responses for urgent care, clearer lists of services requiring authorization, and more transparency and standardization. The committee also heard testimony on H.1142/S.783 regarding equitable reimbursement for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), with Senator Lovely and CRNA advocates supporting parity with physician anesthesiologists. They said CRNAs provide the same services at the same standard of care, but private insurers sometimes reimburse them at lower rates than physicians, which they argued is inconsistent with federal and state policy and harms access. Senator Keenan testified in support of a bill addressing claim denials and appeals, saying insurers should provide clearer explanations, time to resubmit claims, and timely appeal responses. Dr. Lorraine Schratz supported H.1126 to align state patient disclosure requirements with federal No Surprises Act rules, and Dr. Michael Trimbley supported H.1120 to recognize direct primary care as not being insurance and to encourage primary care participation. The committee also heard testimony on H.1140/S.801 to remove barriers to patient care by updating insurance statutes to reflect nurse practitioners’ full practice authority, and on H.1168/S.A.18 to eliminate the PCP referral requirement for specialty gynecological care. Witnesses on those bills described delays and denials affecting autism diagnosis, nutrition coverage, and endometriosis care, and said the proposals would reduce unnecessary barriers and improve timely access. After testimony and a few member questions, the chair closed the hearing; no votes were taken during the session.

Transcript Highlights:

• relating to the exclusion of the value of any incorporated in an improvement made to the property of the primary
• health HB 1637 by whole relating to Prohibition of glyphosate herbicides in certain food additives of primary
• HB 1671 by Leach relating to the establishment and a percentage in the duty of the payer retroactive
• safety standards for private passenger van services that transport students to and from public's primary

Keywords: 1184, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• And one of the partners that we truly need at the table with us are the payers.
• And so, key to securing payer and legislative support, you know, that's part of what we need is a more
• /c><00:34:21.280> to<00:34:21.520> securing<00:34:22.320> uh<00:34:22.480> payer
• <00:34:22.800> and And so key to securing uh payer and And so key to securing uh payer and
• LEAP is a fan favorite that stands for literacy, eating, and activity for preschool and primary.

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The Make America Healthy Kentucky Task Force met with a quorum, approved the minutes, and then heard a presentation on the state’s “food is medicine” efforts. Chair Funky Fromm opened by describing a recent foot injury from a road hazard and used it to emphasize the importance of infrastructure, nutrition, sleep, and activity as part of a broader wellness culture. The main witnesses were Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell, Holly Harris of Appalachian Regional Health Care (ARH), and Jim Muser of the Kentucky Hospital Association. Shell and Harris described a partnership between the Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Hospital Association, and hospitals such as ARH to connect local farmers with hospital cafeterias, farmers markets, CSA-style subscription food boxes, and medically tailored meals. Harris said ARH serves a large region with 14 hospitals, more than 95 clinics, about 6,700 employees, and 1,300 medical staff, and that the system began by improving employee food options because hospital workers often have limited access to healthy meals during shifts. They reported examples such as a local-protein burger, parking-lot farmers markets, subsidized CSA boxes for employees, and plans for container gardens at some hospitals. The witnesses said the program is intended to improve health outcomes, reduce readmissions, support chronic disease management, and also increase rural prosperity by expanding demand for Kentucky farm products. Shell said more than 40 hospitals had already been onboarded into the food-is-medicine program, with measurable outcomes being studied through pilots such as one at Russell County Hospital. He also noted that some systems, including CHI St. Joseph Health, Taylor Regional, and UK King’s Daughters, have formally embedded food-as-medicine goals into strategic plans. Members and witnesses also discussed barriers, especially the lack of reimbursement, fragmented short-term funding, and regulatory or purchasing hurdles that make it difficult for small farmers to participate. Shell said the goal is to make the model scalable and easier for hospitals and farmers to navigate, while Harris emphasized that ARH has been funding its efforts without reimbursement because of its mission. No votes or formal policy actions were taken beyond approving the minutes.

Transcript Highlights:

• we want to have single-payer insurance.
• should go to having single payer should go to having single payer insurance<01:38:04.800> and
• payer insurance. payer insurance.
• <01:44:19.400> I'm not suggesting a single payer plan.
• I'm not suggesting a single payer plan.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• <00:07:28.720> health<00:07:29.000> services<00:07:30.000> and access to primary
• health services and access to primary health services and I'm<00:07:30.479> here<00:07:30.639
• Um, I don't know that the universal health care or the single-payer option is the way I'd like to see
• Um, I don't know that the universal health care or the single-payer option is the way I'd like to see
• involvement and you just end up payer involvement and you just end up taking<01:46:56.480> a<

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Section 4 is from House File 953 and requires pediatricians to provide primary caregivers of infants
• And are they running towards single payer? Are they running towards universal care? I don't know.
• Those are all administrative things—ways we could simplify by going to a single-payer system, which I've

Bills: HF2435

Keywords: healthcare, dementia services, public health funding, opioid prevention, women's health, community health boards, mental health

Transcript Highlights:

• Situations in which you're allowed the payer is allowed to accumulate over a 12-month period if the amount
• Subsection B says a payer that suspends payment to a payee for a reason other than the reason described
• filed the memorandum and I, um, so that didn't tell me anything except the lessor, the lessee, the primary

Transcript Highlights:

• also require the PUC to examine the cost and feasibility of data centers using on-site backup and primary
• rate payers of other potential options. rate payers of other potential options. uh<01:20:20.080>
• Oftentimes, for example, on a farm operation, the solar array is tied to one meter while their primary
• trying to look after the the rate payers trying to look after the the rate payers more<01:31:37.199
• So members please vote yes on payers.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• It's the rate payers in Colorado.
• <00:35:00.120> So, we would be saving rate payers. So, we would be saving rate payers.
• , that's real money for rate payers, that's real money for rate payers, that<00:35:19.359> will
• in favor of giving of making rate payers in favor of giving of making rate payers pay<00:36:18.440
• <00:36:46.920> from we heard from many rate payers from we heard from many rate payers from

Keywords: 919, house, all

Summary: The House debated a motion to suspend the rules so House File 76 could be recalled from committee, given second and third readings, and brought to final passage. The bill, carried by Representative Greenman, would limit the amount of investor-owned utility executive compensation that can be charged back to Minnesota ratepayers, with the cap tied to the governor’s salary. Supporters argued that utility customers should pay for service, not lavish CEO pay, and cited Xcel Energy’s recent CEO raise, high utility bills, and growing energy affordability burdens on Minnesota households. They said shareholders, not ratepayers, should bear executive compensation costs and pointed to similar action in Colorado as evidence the policy could work without driving executives away. Several members questioned the bill’s practical impact and cost estimates. Representative Swedzinski asked how much the measure would affect individual ratepayers and suggested the amount was relatively small, while also arguing that the state should focus on larger reforms and other available funds. Representative Greenman responded that the exact per-customer impact was not before the body but emphasized that millions of dollars in executive compensation were being passed through to customers. Representative Acomb and Representative Craft supported the bill, describing investor-owned utilities as monopolies that already earn strong returns and saying the proposal would shift costs from ratepayers to shareholders. Opponents argued the bill was not serious policy and would not meaningfully lower bills, warning it could discourage talent and comparing it to broader state spending and governance issues. Representative Niska said the proposal amounted to “class warfare,” argued utilities need to pay competitively to attract competent leadership, and urged a no vote. The debate also included repeated points of order after members criticized one another personally; the presiding officer reminded members to confine remarks to the motion. A roll call and a call of the house were requested during the debate, but the transcript provided does not include the final vote result.

Transcript Highlights:

• How will we know that we're actually going to get rate payer cuts? So it would be the latter.
• This would prevent them from collecting these funds from rate payers.
• How does that affect fee payers? How does that affect polluters who are paying into those funds?
• So it helps from an affordability standpoint for the fee payers.
• help close the state's budget deficit, and it most certainly reduces services and effort that fee payers

Summary: The hearing opened with budget framing from the chair and the LAO, who said the May Revision addresses roughly a $14 billion budget problem and that the environment and transportation subcommittee’s proposals account for about $1.9 billion of the solution. The LAO urged members to focus on solutions that do not worsen out-year deficits, to preserve reserves, and to defer major policy changes that are not necessary to pass the budget, including the newly introduced water-related trailer bills. Members also raised concern about a late-dropped Olympic-related trailer bill, which the LAO likewise suggested should be deferred for fuller review. The first major item was the Delta Conveyance Project and related water quality control plan trailer bills. The administration argued the proposals would streamline permitting, water rights proceedings, judicial review, and land acquisition, and would clarify DWR’s bond authority for the project. DWR said the project is needed to protect water supply reliability against drought, earthquakes, sea level rise, and other climate-related disruptions, and that the tunnel would help move water when conditions are wet and safer for the environment. Committee members from both parties questioned the timing, the use of budget trailer bills for major policy changes, the scope of the CEQA and water-rights changes, the lack of a bond cap, cost growth, and eminent domain protections. The LAO recommended deferring both water trailer bills without prejudice. Public comment was sharply divided, with labor, water agencies, and some business groups supporting the project as climate adaptation and reliability infrastructure, while environmental, tribal, fishing, county, and community groups opposed it as an attempt to bypass public process and weaken protections. The committee then briefly heard the DMV’s Digital Experience Platform fee trailer bill, which would reinstate a $1 system improvement fee to help fund the vehicle-registration phase of the project. DMV said the fee would raise about $7 million annually and offset roughly $59 million to $60 million of project costs, while the LAO noted it would help but would not solve the Motor Vehicle Account’s broader structural gap. The hearing then moved to California High-Speed Rail, where the new CEO presented an updated plan and said the project remains a major climate and infrastructure investment. He reported a revised Merced-to-Bakersfield cost range of $34.9 billion to $38.5 billion, said the agency is trying to reduce risk through direct procurement of materials, and argued that stable annual funding is needed to avoid higher costs from delays.

Transcript Highlights:

• The nascent county's economy was dependent on sheep and cattle ranching, which continues to be a primary
• Their rate payers only pay their pro rata share of those projects, and they're not cross-collateralizing
• Their rate payers only pay their pro rata share of those projects, and they're not cross-collateralizing
• The problem is that the paper mill is a primary customer and is concerned that if it shuts down one of
• They used data from the all-payer insurance claims database. We're familiar with that.

Summary: The Senate began with a quorum call, prayer, approval of the previous journal, and messages from the House, then moved through several recognitions and resolutions honoring visiting groups. Members adopted resolutions recognizing the Texas chapters of Blue Star Mothers of America, Fine Arts Education Day, Donate Life Texas Day, Baha’i Capitol Day, County Government Day, Jack County Day, Crockett County Day, and a recognition of Navy Petty Officer Simon Urbanik for service during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The chamber also heard remarks from visiting doctors, students, county officials, and community groups, with multiple senators speaking in support of military families, arts education, organ donation, and local government service. The Senate then took up Committee Substitute Senate Bill 2779, relating to the allocation and use of certain hotel occupancy tax revenues. Senator Birdwell said the bill would stop local governments from conditioning HOT funds on race- or class-based priorities and would require Galveston to transfer the full state rebate for beach cleaning and maintenance to its park board. After questions, the Senate suspended the rules, passed the bill to engrossment, suspended the three-day rule, and finally passed it, though the final vote showed significant opposition. The chamber also passed Committee Substitute Senate Bill 2322, described as a cleanup bill removing the compelling-factor test for dispatchable generation from the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation Act. A major debate centered on Committee Substitute Senate Bill 2253, which would phase out uncertified teachers in core classrooms and strengthen educator certification requirements. Senator Creighton argued the bill responds to a teacher pipeline crisis, adds parent notification, creates multiple preparation pathways, and provides financial incentives for certification; Senator West and Senator Sparks pressed for rural flexibility and implementation details. An amendment from Senator Gutierrez to add a teacher student-loan repayment program failed on a 11-17 vote, while other technical and fiscal amendments were adopted. The bill then passed to engrossment, the three-day rule was suspended, and it was finally passed. The Senate also passed Committee Substitute Senate Bill 2371, updating skimmer-reporting rules to cover electronic terminals beyond fuel pumps, and Committee Substitute Senate Bill 2351, relating to the construction of certain concrete plants under a standard permit. Senate Bill 619, a conscience-protection bill for health care workers, drew extended questioning from Senators Cook, Eckhardt, and Menendez about patient abandonment, scope, and whether it could allow refusals of legal services such as vaccines, antibiotics, contraception, or personal care; despite those concerns, the Senate suspended the rules and passed the bill to engrossment. Finally, the chamber began consideration of Committee Substitute Senate Bill 1169, which would allow public entities to form public utility agencies to cooperate on water and wastewater projects without eminent domain or cross-collateralization, with Senator Hinojosa explaining it as a tool for small and rural communities facing utility infrastructure problems.

Transcript Highlights:

• Um three of the primary packet today.
• Um three of the primary planners<00:26:42.240> who<00:26:42.640> worked<00:26:42.880>
• health workforce is primary among them. health workforce is primary among them.
• <01:41:02.960> Instead, on commercial premium payers.
• Instead, on commercial premium payers.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• So the only cost shift we have is to commercial payers.
• So the only cost shift we have is to commercial payers.
• Medicaid might be our lowest payer, but it's our fastest.
• Commercial payers have private contracts.
• that they had in Missouri versus an Arkansas payer.

Summary: The subcommittee met to review Department of Human Services hospital payments in Arkansas Medicaid, with DHS Secretary Janet Mann and Deputy Secretary Misty Eubanks presenting first, followed by Arkansas Hospital Association Executive Vice President Jody Ann Tritt and a brief comment from Arkansas Children’s. DHS outlined the main hospital payment streams: fee-for-service per diem payments, upper payment limit (UPL) supplemental payments, cost settlements, and smaller payments such as graduate medical education and disproportionate share hospital funds. Members asked for plain-language explanations of cost settlements, why per diem rates vary by hospital type, and why UPL applies to private hospitals. DHS said cost settlements and UPL are mechanisms to help offset Medicaid underpayment, with SFY 2025 hospital payments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars and no general revenue used for supplemental payments beyond the state share funded through hospital assessments and related financing structures. Committee members focused heavily on whether Arkansas hospitals are adequately reimbursed and why rural hospitals struggle. Tritt explained that critical access hospitals, rural emergency hospitals, PPS hospitals, and specialty hospitals operate under different federal and state rules, and said lower per diem rates for some facilities help with cash flow and later cost settlement adjustments. She said Arkansas hospitals are under financial strain, citing a negative patient services margin statewide and noting that Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial payers all contribute to the problem. She also said the association had just authorized a statewide survey of hospital finances and costs, which she expected would take about a year to complete. A major theme was commercial insurance reimbursement. Tritt argued Arkansas hospitals are paid far less than hospitals in neighboring states even though premiums are similar, and said administrative burdens, prior authorizations, and denials add to the problem. She said hospitals receive about 52 to 53 cents on the dollar for Medicaid costs without UPL and about 78 cents with UPL, still below cost. Members also discussed Medicare wage index issues, Medicare Advantage, and whether hospitals could use technology or alternative arrangements to improve finances. No votes were taken on the hospital presentation. At the end of the meeting, DHS provided a brief update on Living Choices and assisted living reimbursement. Officials said one assisted living facility, Pillars of the Community in Crossett, had announced closure, with nine waiver clients being transitioned to other settings. DHS said the current cost reporting period was underway and that a new rate study could be ready for review before the end of the fiscal year if reports were submitted on time. Members also asked about the broader waiver plan, and DHS said the next waiver iteration would likely be brought back to the committee in the summer.

Transcript Highlights:

• an exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion of the market value of a property that is the primary
• Without this bill, damages are passed on to rate payers in higher electric bills.
• I realize that now you're going to have to support a Democrat in the next primary election.
• Sir, I followed your primary race very closely. Great. Did many. You like to wear these crazy hats.

Bills: HJR98, HJR8, HJR133, HB23, HB33, HB144, HB 109, HB 103, HB148, HB3809, HB1686, HB2217, HB2156, HB220, HB2421, HB2363, HB3773, HB421, HB2584, HB2615, HB2455, HB3711, HB2559, HB3747, HB2775, HB2886, HB3126, HB3666, HB3595, HB3260, HB3506, HB1638, HB3376, HB3826, HB3628, HB1349, HB3770, HB1831, HB1762, HB2614, HB3113, HB267, HB322, HB431, HB869, HB 1203, HB 1201, HB 1244, HB1875, HB1950, HB2152, HB2290, HB2341, HB2436, HB2809, HB2856, HB3012, HB2954, HCR56, HCR102, HB 107, HB1587, HB3684, HB658, HJR99, HB1399, HJR5, HJR2, HJR6, HJR31, HB1971, SJR3, HB1775, HJR72, HB502, HB3109, HJR98, HJR8, HJR133, HB 118, HB388, HB 114, HB205, HB2789, HB2791, HB499, HB2960, HB3163, HB3135, HB2427, HB1618, HB1672, HB1722, HB1338, HB787, HB2618, HB879, HB 1126, HB4134, HB3513, HB718, HB1536, HB1445, HB1640, HB1893, HB1734, HB3229, HB3306, HB 1276, HB3272, HB3276, HB3516, HB4145, HB1585, HB4810, HB2989, HB2558, HB3014, HB2742, HB1695, HB23, HB33, HB144, HB 109, HB 103, HB148, HB3809, HB1686, HB2217, HB2156, HB220, HB2421, HB2363, HB3773, HB421, HB2584, HB2615, HB2455, HB3711, HB2559, HB3747, HB2775, HB2886, HB3126, HB3666, HB3595, HB3260, HB3506, HB1638, HB3376, HB3826, HB3628, HB1349, HB3770, HB1831, HB1762, HB2614, HB3113, HB267, HB322, HB431, HB869, HB 1203, HB 1201, HB 1244, HB1875, HB1950, HB2152, HB2290, HB2341, HB2436, HB2809, HB2856, HB3012, HB2954, HCR56, HCR102

Keywords: Article V, federal government, fiscal restraints, constitutional amendment, term limits, nuclear energy, electric generation, funding, Texas nuclear development fund, advanced reactors, HJR 133, Texas constitutional amendment, ad valorem tax, property tax exemption, homestead exemption, surviving spouse, veteran, veterans benefits, service-connected death, presumed service-connected condition

Transcript Highlights:

• So, if you look at our payer mix, we are between Medicare and Medicaid, where it's about 68% of ours.
• So, you guys, the healthcare authority is the Medicaid payer, and obviously, HR one was passed July 1st
• They're going to their primary care doctor or whatever it is.
• Rural healthcare because now that we have a push into the access with primary care and others, that will

Keywords: 914, all

Transcript Highlights:

• These supports provide first-line and primary prevention activities that are consistent with the goals
• Just these four groups, though: primary care, maternity, and non-specialty mental health.
• As family physicians, how do we then recenter primary care in this?
• Denis Coelves from Merrill with the California Primary Care Association.
• I want to align our comments with those of the California Primary Care Association and just emphasize

Keywords: 988, house, all

Summary: The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health heard presentations on several May Revision proposals, beginning with an overview from the Legislative Analyst’s Office and the Department of Finance on the state’s budget condition and the administration’s efforts to reduce out-year deficits through a mix of revenue measures, fund shifts, and program reductions. The chair expressed support for some administration proposals, such as added health IT funding, county administration support, a delay in Medi-Cal cuts for some immigrants, and additional Covered California subsidy backfill, but also criticized proposed Medi-Cal premiums, changes to senior eligibility, the lack of a Medi-Cal dental solution, and other cuts affecting counties, workforce, and rural access. The LAO said the budget still relies heavily on reserves and borrowing and urged more reserves and caution on new commitments. The Department of State Hospitals presented several proposals, including reduced county bed billing authority, limited contract exemption authority for online clinical subscriptions, reversion of unspent prior-year funds, additional lease revenue authority for the Metro Central Utility Plant replacement, funding for electronic health record implementation, and a shift of workforce development costs to Behavioral Health Services Act funds. The department also described savings and realignments in its IST and CONREP programs, including making the Independent Placement Panel permanent and adjusting funding for jail-based competency treatment and conditional release services. Members questioned the BHSA workforce funding swap, and the administration said it was part of a broader General Fund offset strategy. The Emergency Medical Services Authority requested funding for statewide behavioral health crisis response guidance and for continued operation of its enterprise systems, and the Department of Managed Health Care sought funds to modernize its complaint system and claims settlement data systems. The largest debate centered on the administration’s proposed use of Behavioral Health Services Act revenues to offset General Fund spending and fund state-directed behavioral health programs. The Department of Finance said the proposal would support population-based prevention, workforce programs, mobile crisis services, and other state-directed uses, while the LAO said it was still reviewing whether the uses comply with Proposition 1 and whether the non-supplement and eligible-use requirements are met. The Commission for Behavioral Health strongly opposed proposed cuts to its Innovation Partnership Fund and community advocacy grants, arguing that both programs are central to community voice, culturally responsive services, and statewide innovation. Commissioners and many public commenters said the cuts would reduce grants to community-based organizations, tribal groups, veterans, LGBTQ communities, youth, and other underserved populations, and that the advocacy program helps communities participate in local planning and access services. The Department of Finance defended the reductions as a way to prioritize direct services and said the programs fit within Proposition 1, but members criticized the proposal as a midstream shift that would weaken community engagement and redirect funds away from prevention and advocacy.

Transcript Highlights:

• So the only cost shift we have is to commercial payers.
• Medicaid might be our lowest payer, but it's our fastest.
• We talked a lot about the commercial payers, right?
• We talked a lot about the commercial payers, right?
• that they had in Missouri versus an Arkansas payer.

Keywords: 1204, all