The state Assembly passed 13 bills Tuesday that would invest roughly $4 million in mental health care statewide.
The package received bipartisan support, and the state Assembly approved all the bills unanimously.
The package would give counties $750,000 to establish mental health rehabilitation and support programs as an alternative to prison for patients who unknowingly commit crime due to their conditions. The bills would also supply grants totaling $1.5 million to help increase the number of physicians and medical practitioners in underserved areas.
State Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, praised the bill in a statement saying it was necessary to expand mental health care for patients as well as for taxpayers.
“Many of these patients often end up in our already-overburdened corrections system, where no specialized care or opportunity for healing exists,” Knudson said in the statement.
The bills will be sent to the state Senate, which is scheduled to reopen Jan. 1.
