Lawmakers are now questioning Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong. Sen. Bert Brackett asked about results of a resolution lawmakers passed last year asking the department to explore drug-testing of people who receive benefits. Armstrong said the report will be published soon, and it found mixed results. "There are some federal programs that we already do some drug testing in, there are others where we are prohibited," he said. "When you go through the report, it narrows it down. ... On some programs, it would cost more to do the testing program than you would have as a reduction in expenses."

Sen. Melinda Smyser asked Armstrong how volunteers could provide services to patients without fear of being sued, and how the department could help on that score. Armstrong responded, "The key here is that these volunteers are not providing therapeutic services. What we are looking for are simply observations. As the department shrinks, we are moving more to be the crisis response entity." The idea, he said, is that a volunteer might stop in to see a disabled patient and who hadn't shown up at church, notice the patient is agitated, and alert providers.

Armstrong said, "The last thing I want to see happen is us to be criminalizing the mentally ill or disabled. I think that would be a tragedy." Idaho must find a way to still provide a "safety net" for those individuals, he said.