Legislative plan to overhaul NM behavioral health system faces skepticism from governor

SANTA FE — A top judicial branch official said New Mexico’s courts are willing to shoulder a larger role under a legislative plan to overhaul the state’s mental health and substance abuse treatment system.

But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently indicated she has misgivings about the proposal, which could reach the Senate floor this week.

Specifically, the governor said she’s not fully on board with the idea of putting the judiciary in charge of overseeing regional plans for triage centers, mobile response teams and other behavioral health programs.

“To take an administrative arm of the courts and tell them to stand up behavioral health programs doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Lujan Grisham said during an interview with the Journal and other media outlets.

However, she expressed support for a different part of the behavioral health package advancing at the Roundhouse — the creation of a new trust fund to help pay for statewide programs — and said she expects details of the bill will be negotiated.

Behavioral health has emerged as a key issue during this year’s 60-day legislative session as lawmakers look for ways to reduce homelessness, drug use and violent crime.

A recent report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group found that 65% of individuals who enter the state’s criminal justice system have a behavioral health need that they are not receiving treatment for.

During a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts acknowledged the judicial branch is not currently a key player in the state’s behavioral health system.

But AOC director Karl Reifsteck said the court system is willing to take on a larger role and has already begun preliminary work on how it would implement the changes proposed by a legislative package of bills.

“This is not a role the courts requested, but it’s one we’re happy to accept if that’s the Legislature’s decision,” Reifsteck said.

He also said the judicial branch would act “very, very quickly” to implement the bill if it is ultimately passed by lawmakers and signed into law by Lujan Grisham.

During a special session last year, legislators appropriated $3 million to ramp up court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment programs for individuals with mental illness in three judicial districts.

The early positive returns on those investments played a role in the decision to task the courts with a broader — and permanent — role in overseeing behavioral health programs, Senate Finance Committee chief of staff Adrian Avila said Tuesday.

The behavioral health package moving forward at the Roundhouse would put the judiciary in charge of planning while leaving the state Health Care Authority largely in charge of overseeing funding.

That would be a significant change from the current system, which largely falls under the executive branch’s jurisdiction.

Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo described the proposal Tuesday as having a “bifurcated” accountability structure but did not express opposition to the plan.

While some changes to the three bills — Senate Bills 1, 2 and 3 — were rolled out Tuesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Muñoz, D-Gallup, said the package could be voted on by the committee on Wednesday.

That could put the bills on track to reach the Senate floor as soon as Friday.

“We all see this as a crisis,” Muñoz said during Tuesday’s hearing, while adding the state’s current system is not working.

Meanwhile, other bills dealing with behavioral health could also be considered by lawmakers during the session that ends March 22.

Longtime behavioral health advocate Connie Elizabeth Vigil said she’s pushing legislators to approve stipends for students pursuing a behavioral health degree in an attempt to expand the state’s provider pool, among other proposals.

In addition, a Senate committee on Tuesday voted 10-0 to advance a proposal to allow supervised use of psilocybin for medical purposes.

Some researchers have touted the promise of psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, in treating mental health issues.

“This is natural. This is what God created. Why aren’t we using it?” asked Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, during Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee.