How, in a year of unprecedented budget surpluses, can lawmakers not provide $3 million to make up for lost Medicaid funding to treat mental illness? The federal cutback is estimated to affect about 4,300 Utahns with chronic mental illnesses, including 800 children.

At this writing, the Legislature has not included this money in its budget. It has, however, swept $120 million into the highway fund. Roads are important, and the Legislature should plow surplus funds their way. But they should reserve a few more million dollars for emergencies in the social services.

The mental health funding is just one example. The change in federal funding rules is not the Legislature's fault, and it can be argued that Utah government cannot pick up the slack every time the deficit-ridden federal government tightens its belt.

If this were a year when the state also was short of money, that line of reasoning would carry more weight. It also is understandable that fiscally responsible legislators are concerned about committing the state to ongoing programs that it may have difficulty funding in the future.

But even if the state can only afford to cover the shortfall in mental health funding for a year, that still represents 365 days in 4,300 people's lives when they will continue to receive treatment. A year in a person's life means something.

Besides, spending money on treatment prevents budget pressures elsewhere. The state's juvenile justice system already is guilty of allowing mentally ill teenagers to languish in criminal detention because they cannot get the treatment they need. One reason is money. This latest crimp in the funding pipeline will only make that problem worse.

Nor is this an issue from which Utah is somehow immune. Statistics from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show that this state has the highest proportion in the nation, 10.97 percent, of adults with a diagnosable mental, behavioral or emotional disorder.

One way or the other, the state will have to deal with people who are a danger to themselves or others because of their illnesses. Given a choice, it should treat them.

For similar reasons, the Legislature should devote $6.2 million to a bill that would provide drug treatment to criminal offenders. And it should appropriate $500,000 to provide medications for people with HIV who otherwise would develop AIDS. Like the cut in mental-health funding, this shortfall is the result of a federal policy change.

But for a year, at least, Utah has the money to make a difference.

And it should.