Major Milestone! Alabama Allocates $30 Million to Mental Health Programs, BUT WHERE WILL IT GO?

Mental health is receiving a significant amount of financial investment.

State Representative Rex Reynolds has been at the forefront of efforts to garner support for the passage of a bill that will allocate 30 million dollars to treatment and rehabilitation programs across the state.

Depending on when the allocations are received, he stated, “We believe that this could last for as long as six or seven years.”

Getting this bill passed before the end of this year’s legislative session was a key priority for Governor Reynolds, as we have reported in the past. For the time being, financing will need to be renewed annually; however, the money is coming from a major opioid lawsuit settlement with the state of Alabama.

As a matter of fact, he is hoping that this money will go a long way toward funding facilities all around the state that have been struggling to maintain their operations.

He stated that during the 23rd session of the previous year, a total of ten million dollars were provided. As a result, many of the organizations that submitted grant applications were awarded up to half a million dollars each, which was the catalyst that brought them to the current circumstances. “We did allocate more than one million dollars to Morgan County for the purpose of providing additional beds for adolescents related to mental health, so we are expecting that this will undoubtedly be of assistance to that region there.”

The fact that this money is already flowing is a positive development. Upon receiving Governor Ivey’s signature, this bill was immediately put into effect.