DES MOINES – The Iowa Senate on Wednesday OK’d nearly $11.6 million in funding for counties to treat mental health patients.
The bill passed 44-5 in the Senate and passed in the House 58-42 on February 13th. Governor Terry Branstad now must sign the bill.
The compromise offers much less money than county officials wanted, but much more than state administrators and the governor had proposed, the Des Moines Register reported. “The money would help counties pay current costs for providing services to people with mental health problems. Iowa is in the midst of shifting such responsibilities and money away from counties and to the state and new regional authorities.”
