State
- Mayor Bloomberg released his budget plan for FY 2012 today, and early attention focused on the proposal to cut 4,100 teaching jobs in an effort to balance the budget. Earlier in the week, City Council members gathered with union representatives and advocates in support of a proposal to eliminate tax breaks for banks as an alternative to proposed cuts to human services, including HIV/AIDS programs.
National
- The House voted this week to repeal mandatory funding for state-based health benefit exchanges, which are mandated under the new healthcare reform law, though the measure does not seem likely to pass the Senate.
- A team of advocacy organizations is pushing California Governor Jerry Brown to include sentencing reforms in the budget he is to release this month. Among the proposals is a plan to reduce charges for some low-level drug offenses, which the group says would save millions of dollars.
- More than 100 county leaders from around the country met with Vice President Joseph Biden this week for panel discussions, including one on breaking the cycle of jail and poverty.
- Budget cuts could force the closing of some of Nevada's mental health courts, which aim to keep mentally ill individuals out of jails and emergency rooms after committing low-level crimes.
- After proposals to cut as much as $230 million from mental health and substance-abuse programs, Florida legislators came to a deal that made no cuts to those valuable services, though hospitals and nursing homes did suffer reductions.
- A new law in Georgia will create a panel to study the state's criminal justice system with an eye toward overhauling its harsh sentencing laws.
- The Illinois House of Representatives has approved a bill to require private health insurance plans providing mental health coverage include substance abuse in any new or renewed policies.
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