CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
House Bill 0259e1




                                       HB 259, First Engrossed/ntc



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to alcohol, drug abuse, and

  3         mental health services; providing a process for

  4         achieving equity in the funding of such

  5         services among the service districts of the

  6         Department of Children and Family Services;

  7         providing an effective date.

  8

  9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

10

11         Section 1.  Alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health

12  funding equity; distribution of appropriations.--In

13  recognition of the historical inequity among service districts

14  of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in the

15  funding of alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services,

16  and in order to rectify this inequity and provide for

17  equitable funding in the future throughout the state, the

18  following funding process shall be adhered to, beginning with

19  the 1997-1998 fiscal year:

20         (1)  Funding thresholds for alcohol, drug abuse, and

21  mental health services in each of the current districts,

22  statewide, shall be established based on the current number of

23  persons in need per district for alcohol and drug abuse, and

24  for mental health services, respectively.

25         (2)  "Persons in need" means those persons who fit the

26  profile of the respective target populations and require

27  mental health or substance abuse services not covered by

28  Medicaid, Medicare or other insurance coverage. Target

29  populations shall exclude the use of general population

30  estimates and shall be based on epidemiological estimates of

31  disabilities which apply to the respective target population.


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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






                                       HB 259, First Engrossed/ntc



  1         (3)  Beginning July 1, 1997, 75 percent of any

  2  additional funding beyond the 1996-97 fiscal year base

  3  appropriation for alcohol, drug abuse and mental health

  4  services shall be allocated to districts based on a

  5  methodology which shall use:  a) a "distribution formula" that

  6  shall consist of target population counts identified as those

  7  "persons in need", an urban/rural index and a service industry

  8  cost index;  b) a pro-rata share distribution that ensures

  9  districts below the statewide average funding level per person

10  in each target population of "persons in need" receive funding

11  necessary to achieve equity. 

12         (4)  The remaining 25 percent shall be allocated based

13  on the number of persons in need of alcohol, drug abuse and

14  mental health services per district without regard to current

15  funding levels.

16         (5)  Target populations for persons in need shall be

17  displayed for each district and distributed concurrently with

18  the approved operating budget.  The display by target

19  population shall show:  The annual number of persons served

20  based on prior year actual numbers, the annual cost per person

21  served, the number of persons served by service cost center

22  and the estimated number of the total target population for

23  persons in need.

24         (6)  The annual cost per person served shall be defined

25  as the total actual funding for each target population divided

26  by the number of persons served in the target population for

27  that year.

28         (7)  Commencing on July 1, 1998, all additional funding

29  pursuant to this section shall be performance based.

30         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1997.

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