The proposal, agreed to by the Republican majority Monday as part of a plan to allocate the remaining free money, still falls $1 million short of the funds necessary to continue the current level of treatment. But mental health advocates are excited to receive any financial support. "It will be such a huge impact on these people's lives," said advocate Pamela Atkinson. "It is the only way some people can work."
Instead of 4,300 people losing access to their medication and treatment, Monday's agreement drops that number down to about 1,400.
A federal rule change stopped the local mental health providers from using leftover funds to help poor people who make too much to be covered by Medicaid. Legislators are still wary of the precedent set by paying for what was once a federal program. "We recognize the need but are concerned about the process," said House budget chairman Ron Bigelow.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill plans to seek new federal assistance after this session, said Vicki Cottrell, who heads NAMI of Utah.
Monday's agreement also allocates more than $800,000 to provide pay raises to judges, the governor and other executive branch officials, though Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has promised to give any raise to charity. The deal is expected to get the approval of the Legislature's main budget committee today.
Included in the debate will be $245,000 to hire a new juvenile judge in Ogden's 2nd District Court; $1 million to entice motion picture makers to work in Utah; $250,000 to allow the Attorney General's Office to monitor pornographic sites and create a database; and $458,000 to cover the ongoing costs of a Department of Public Safety helicopter.
To pay for these late editions to the state's $9.1 billion budget, legislative leaders took money earmarked for tourism, building repairs, Medicaid's vision benefit, a teacher incentive program and some excess funds from the Department of Corrections.
While Huntsman has been a big advocate for the teacher incentive program and the Medicaid vision benefit, his chief of staff, Jason Chaffetz, said Monday that the mental health funding is "a very positive thing."
Another major budget battle surfaced late Monday, when the House demanded $4.5 million to build a new veteran's nursing home in Ogden. The money would be matched with federal dollars to create a center to help relieve the burden on the Salt Lake Valley's 80-bed facility.
Representatives decided to take the money from the state's savings account, called the Rainy Day Fund.
The fund has been a popular target for raiders. Starting out, it was slated to get $45 million in new money. If the House gets the veteran's nursing home cash, the new cash would drop to a little more than $5 million.
But the Senate is not ready to sign off on the House plan. It wants their own pet project - the Drug Offenders Reform Act, which would increase drug treatment costing $6.2 million in its first year.
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Tribune Reporter Rebecca Walsh contributed to this article.
