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2026 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Committee Approved)

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Consolidate STEP-VA Funding (language only)

Item 301 #1s

Item 301 #1s

Health and Human Resources
Grants to Localities

Language

Page 395, strikes lines 9 through 39, and insert:

"2. The Department of Behavioral Health Services shall require each community services board or behavioral health authority to report annually, by September 1 of each year, on their expenditures on STEP-VA services for the prior fiscal year. The report shall include: (i) the amount expended broken out by service and the amount such funding increased or decreased as compared to the year prior; (ii) the number of individuals served by each service in the fiscal year; and (iii) their expected allocation for the fiscal year in which the report is due.  The department shall submit the report by September 1, of each year to the Governor, and the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees."



Explanation

(This amendment appropriates STEP-VA funding as one total funding amount rather than setting out an amount to be appropriated for each service. This will provide the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) and Community Services Boards (CSBs) flexibility to reallocate funds among STEPs to match community needs. The STEP-specific funding structure was useful to accommodate the program’s phased implementation, but it now limits the ability of the state and CSBs to respond to changing community needs and to address capacity gaps. CSB performance contracts will continue to require CSBs to offer all nine STEP-VA services in order to maintain a full continuum of care, even if funding becomes more flexible.)