Thursday, June 19, 2003

Mental health care community dealing with cuts (Texas)
News 8 (Austin) story - "Mental health care workers pleaded with Texas lawmakers during this past legislative session not to make any cuts. However, they didn't get what they asked for because legislators faced a $10 billion budget shortfall and had to make cuts in almost all state agencies. Now those mental health care providers are taking a look at their newly slashed budgets and wondering how they'll serve some of the most vulnerable people in the state."  
  

Mayor's plan to help the homeless hinges on money (Georgia)
Atlanta Business Chronicle story on Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin's "Blueprint to End Homelessness" - "Franklin's seven-point blueprint, announced in March, would convert the former city jail at 236 Peachtree St. into what's tentatively called the Atlanta Lighthouse Homelessness Services Center, a 110,000-square-foot, four-story round-the-clock homeless center for as many as 300 people.... Her blueprint would also build shelters for homeless adults, as well as set up programs to prevent evictions, reunite the homeless with relatives and connect families living in shelters with local churches. Some aspects of the blueprint call for very expensive solutions such as permanent housing, drug treatment and/or mental health services, homeless advocates and city leaders said."  
  

Groups voice Medicaid concerns (Virginia)
Daily Press story - "Virginia's push to cut Medicaid spending for prescription drugs will victimize the frail elderly and mentally ill if not carefully planned, consumer advocates warned Wednesday. The fears have arisen over a proposal to steer some 220,000 Medicaid patients toward a list of drugs that are effective, but relatively inexpensive. Developing the list is the job of a special committee made up of doctors, pharmacists, psychiatrists and other health authorities..."  
  

City Hires Attorney to Defend ADA law suit (California)
Oroville Mercury Register story - "A Sacramento law firm will represent the city of Oroville in a lawsuit that alleges the city and Butte County violated the Americans with Disabilities Act among other state and federal laws by refusing to locate mental health services in a downtown area."  
  

County's human services program faces lean future (Pennsylvania)
Observer-Reporter story - "George Krcelich's worst fears came true Tuesday when he was notified that state funding for many of the Washington County's human services programs has been cut by 92.7 percent. ... Gov. Ed Rendell's bare-bones $21 billion budget for fiscal 2003-04 calls for $1.6 billion worth of cuts in spending for things such as grants for public schools and sewage plants, library improvements, alcohol and drug treatment, state parks and mass transit."