Washington legislators have offered a mixed reaction to Governor Jay Inslee's proposal to spend an extra $300 million to add staff and new beds to the state’s mental health system.
One of the main thrusts of the governor’s plan is to move people who aren’t the most difficult cases, those who are committed on civil grounds, out of the state’s two main mental hospitals and into facilities within communities.
At a legislative forum sponsored by Greater Spokane Incorporated, Spokane Democratic Representative Timm Ormsby called the governor's proposal provocative. He said the state needs to create more places in more communities where people can be evaluated and housed.
“What the governor has done in his proposal that I think merits a lot of look at is to make sure that our mental health services are nimble by having teams that travel to where people are as opposed to making them travel to where facilities are,” he said.
Republicans at the forum agreed that mental health is an issue that’s going to require more state investment. But Senate Majority Coalition Leader Mark Schoesler says the governor has turned down at least one common sense solution to getting more qualified mental health providers into the community.
"Two of our leaders across the aisle, Senator Hargrove and Senator Parlette, and others championed a mid-level provider that could be employed in mental health, much like we have nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dental hygienists," Schoesler said. "It was vetoed by the governor.”
Spokane Republican Representative Jeff Holy says the state may have to raise the pay of its mental health professionals to keep them from moving into private sector jobs.