Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, led a move to spend $2.2 million of the Millenium Fund payments that will come in to the state over the course of fiscal year 2012 on a backstop for people cut off from mental health services by the state - to restore their services in cases where they'd be a danger to themselves or others, or would cost the state general fund more by being institutionalized or needing crisis or emergency services. Idaho made big cuts in mental health this year, she said. Her motion failed on a party-line vote in JFAC, with only the joint committee's four Democrats supporting it. Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, pointed to a shooting in her area, where a man was shot outside a coffee shop by a patient who'd recently been cut off from state mental health services. Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, said, "I just think that this is a vulnerable population and we incur costs." Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said the state Health & Welfare Department has been able to track only some of the patients it's cut off from mental health services; it's documented at least two suicides and more than a half-dozen incarcerations. "When we make these cuts, we know that the need doesn't go away," she said.

Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, spoke out against LeFavour's move, which he called "just an end-around HB 260," the Medicaid cuts bill that passed the House yesterday. "It is just further reducing the $34 million from HB 260 by putting it into another Health & Welfare budget," he said.

As for tapping the Millenium Fund, Wood said, "This is not typically the way we do it, we let it accumulate and then we spend it, as opposed to spending it before it accumulates." He said, "Yes, I understand that we've had some incidents of people getting hospitalized, people committing violent crimes, people committing suicide etc., and those are all very unfortunate. The real issue however is how is that different than the last two years, in the previous 10-year baseline before that, because unfortunately that happens. And to date, we've never figured out a perfect system to completely prevent all of those horrible mishaps to our citizens." He said the proposed budget for mental health services for next year - without the additional money - fully funds the department's request. "Lastly, we're going to need all the money for 2013 we can get, and we've got an adequate amount for 2012 in my estimation," he said. His motion, without the extra money, passed on a 15-4 party-line vote.