Program for mentally ill homeless people revived

Thursday, June 20, 2002 | 9:33 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A new $500,000 pilot program to help severely mentally ill homeless people in Clark County has gained new life after being eliminated by the state in a budget-saving measure.

The issue evolved into a showdown between the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee and officials in the administration of Gov. Kenny Guinn.

The 2001 Legislature, at the urging of Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, approved spending $500,000 for the mentally ill project in Southern Nevada.

The state Department of Human Resources decided to scrap the program to save money as the state faces a deficit of up to $200 million by June 2003.

The Interim Finance Committee on Tuesday told state officials it wanted to see the homeless program go forward and offered an incentive. If the Human Resources Department reinstated the program, it would get $100,000 in federal money to update some computer systems.

Mike Torvinen, chief budget officer for the Human Resources Department, said Wednesday his department has not decided whether to accept the deal. State budget officials will talk to Guinn first, he said.

The funds for the homeless mental health program come from extra federal money gained for the state by a firm call Maximus. The company secures added money from federal agencies.

The human resources department wanted to give back the extra $500,000 from the federal government to the state treasury rather than spending it on the homeless project.

Tiffany noted there was an extra $1.1 million secured by Maximus that the human resources department sought to use comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Instead of giving the human resources department the $1.1 million, the finance committee offered the agency $100,000 on the condition it begin the homeless program.

The federal health insurance law will require the human resources department to make massive changes in its computer system and privacy regulations.

Torvinen said his agency needs $1.1 million just to assess what changes need to be made by the state. The federal government has created volumes of new regulations the state must comply with, he said.

Tiffany said the finance committee gave the human resources department $345,000 in January to start its study. And it could use the added $100,000 approved Tuesday. It could then get matching funds from Medicaid for a total of $1 million.

Tiffany said under her original program the state would hire a contractor to contact seriously mentally ill homeless people, with the state supplying the drugs and the county chipping in on getting housing.

But she complained the state wrote the bid so the private contractor will have to supply the drugs and the beds.

The request for contractors to submit proposals to run the project has been put on hold.