Latest news with #BehavioralHealthExecutiveCommittee
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New Mexico courts appoint mental health reform experts
(Photos courtesy of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts) New Mexico's courts have filled the last three open seats on the panel responsible for implementing newly enacted reforms to the state's behavioral health care system. Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Director Karl Reifsteck on Monday appointed three people to work on the Behavioral Health Executive Committee, which is expected to meet for the first time later this month. New Mexico this year enacted Senate Bill 3, which replaced the old Behavioral Health Collaborative with the new Behavioral Health Executive Committee, which will be responsible for reviewing and approving regional plans for delivering behavioral health services and overseeing the implementation and funding of those plans, according to an AOC news release. Reifsteck appointed three people to the panel: Dr. Stacey Cox, of Silver City, chief executive officer of the Center for Health Innovation-New Mexico Public Health Institute; Dr. Violette Cloud, of Albuquerque, senior project associate with Policy Research Associates, Inc.; and former Democratic state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, of Albuquerque. 'Each of these individuals bring years of experience and valuable knowledge to the task ahead of improving how New Mexico responds to people struggling with behavioral health issues,' Reifsteck said in a statement. Ortiz y Pino, in a statement, said he's been working with 'a great many others in the state to slow the steady stream of individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders brought before the courts who need help, not punishment.' Ortiz y Pino described 'the success of treatment courts and diversion projects' currently underway as 'heartening,' and noted that now 'our challenge is to find ways and resources to ramp those efforts up to full scale and to explore moving from pilots to policies.' The executive committee will also include Reifsteck, the Health Care Authority cabinet secretary; the Behavioral Health Services Division director; and the Medicaid program director. 'This initiative is the culmination of sustained efforts by state agencies, governing bodies and community partners, and its passage signals a shared commitment to move beyond fragmented approaches and toward a unified strategy that prioritizes access, accountability, and long-term impact,' Cloud, who is also member of the New Mexico Supreme Court's Commission on Mental Health and Competency, said in a statement. The committee will hold meetings open to the public in Santa Fe and online every quarter, and report back to the LFC. Its first meeting will be held on June 24, AOC spokesperson Barry Massey told Source NM in an email. 'I am excited to bring the weight of my experience and enthusiasm to building behavioral health services and solutions to New Mexicans in a way that is strategic, measurable and meaningful to people's lives,' Cox said in a statement. Last month, AOC named Esperanza Lucero as its first-ever behavioral health integration and reform administrator, the person tasked with implementing major parts of SB3. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic leaders say CYFD reform, crime to be priorities in second half of session
Democratic legislative leaders Saturday celebrated the progress they said they've made tackling New Mexico's struggles with crime and behavioral health but promised not to rest on their laurels during the second half of this year's legislative session. "We put in the hard work, and today we're seeing the fruits of that labor," Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said at a news conference on the House floor. On Saturday, the House and Senate voted to concur with each other's amendments to House Bill 8 and Senate Bill 3 respectively, sending both to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk. The former combines six originally separate anti-crime measures, including a major overhaul of criminal competency laws and measures to crack down on shooting threats, fentanyl trafficking, vehicle theft and drunken driving and ban possession of devices to convert semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic ones. "It reflects the fact that we have listened to the community and made the community's priorities our priorities," said House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe. Senate Bill 3 would restructure the state's behavioral health system, creating a "Behavioral Health Executive Committee to oversee the development of regional behavioral health resources and identify service gaps, tailoring solutions to meet local needs," according to a Saturday news release from Senate Democrats. A related bill to create a trust fund to help pay for behavioral health programs passed the House on Friday after having passed the Senate a week before. House and Senate leaders praised the process that went into crafting the bills passing now, after a one-day special session in July ended with lawmakers not taking up any of Lujan Grisham's crime proposals. Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, noted most Republicans in that chamber voted for House Bill 8. "That reflects what meaningful debate and deliberation yields when we take that time and effort," he said. With a little less than a month left in this year's 60-day session, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said the state Children, Youth and Families Department will be a major focus of the next few weeks. Several CYFD-related bills are working their way through the process, including ones to vest oversight of the department in an independent commission, improve the agency's data collection, increase oversight and strengthen plans of care for newborns exposed to drugs. "You cannot talk about public safety without talking about reforming CYFD," said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque. He connected the issue to juvenile justice, noting many horrific crimes are committed by children who have been failed by their parents and the state. Lujan Grisham and Republicans have criticized the crime package for not going far enough and have said lawmakers should do more before the session is over. Martínez said lawmakers plan to keep working on the issue, but he wouldn't say which bills in particular he wants to see passed, saying they should go through the committee process. "We're not in the business of passing legislation just to score points or just to get on the 5 p.m. newscast," he said. Republicans have been calling on the state to sentence some serious youthful offenders more harshly and introduced amendments to House Bill 8 in both the House and the Senate to accomplish that which were voted down. Martínez indicated the issue would continue to be discussed. "That bill is in committee and I think it'll get its fair hearing," he said.
