NH CARES Issues for the Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund

NEW FUTURES   -  3/23/09

 

Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Services HB1 Page: Page 1669, Class 102, Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund

 

Page

Class

FY 09 Auth

FY 10 Gov

FY 10 Maint

FY 11 Gov

FY 11 Maint

1669

102

5,667,000

2,833,000

5,667,000

2,800,000

5,667,000

 

Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund

 

Through the Governor’s Commission, the Alcohol Fund provides funding for more than forty (40) cost effective and community-based alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention programs across the state.  In FY 2009, the Alcohol Fund was funded at $5.6 M, which amount was subsequently reduced by 27% to $4.078 M through an executive order.  The Governor’s budget reduces the funding for the Alcohol Fund by another 30% to $2.833 M (FY 2010) and $2.8 M (2011).  As a result, all community-based programs funded by the State have been notified of contract reductions between 9 and 14 percent, which will result in significant service and program reductions and staff layoffs. 

 

Requested Action

 

A.    Add $1.2 M in each year of the 2010/2011 biennium to funding for the Governor’s Commission/Alcohol Fund on Page 1669, Class 102 making the total appropriation:

·        $4.033 M in FY 2010

·        $4.0 M in FY 2011

B.    Restore a revised version of the footnote, included in both the FY 2006/2007 and FY 2008/2009 budgets, that was apparently inadvertently omitted in the current budget process.  The footnote, text for which is provided below, ensures that the Alcohol Fund is nonlapsing and that authority for its funds rests with the Governor’s Commission. 

The appropriation in class 102 to the Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment is to fund the Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Treatment Fund.  This appropriation shall not lapse or be used for any other purpose, be considered for budget reductions required of the Department of Health and Human Services or be subject to RSA 9: 16 – b.

C.    Consider amending HB 2, Section 33 (which in its current form suspends RSA 176: 16, II, which contains the funding formula for the Alcohol Fund that links funding for alcohol and drug treatment and prevention to the gross profits from the sale of liquor) with language that would reinstate the implementation of the formula, reduce the percentage of gross liquor profits dedicated to the Fund from 5% to 3.5%, and restore the direct link between the benefit to the state from the sale of alcohol and its responsibility to fund treatment and prevention services.

 

Contact

 

Tricia Lucas, New Futures Policy Director (tlucas@new-futures.org, 225-9540

 

 

Need for the Request for Restoring Funding to the Fund (p. 1669)

 

1.    Scope of the alcohol and drug problem in New Hampshire.  Data suggests that over 100,000 New Hampshire residents abuse or are dependent on drugs or alcohol.  National surveys suggest that only ten percent of the current treatment need is being met.

 

2.    Current research conclusively establishes that:

A.                  Addiction is a treatable, chronic, relapsing brain disease.

B.                  Treatment for alcohol and other drug disorders is as effective as treatment for other chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. 

C.                  Treatment is cost effective.  Every dollar invested in substance abuse treatment yields seven dollars in economic benefits to society. 

D.                 Prevention programs have been shown to save between two and eight dollars for every dollar invested.

 

3.    Budget Priorities.  The Governor’s budget includes an additional $50 M in revenue from increased state sales of alcohol.  To promote a significant increase in the sale of alcohol while substantially reducing funding for alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention is terrible public policy. 

 

Additional Supporting Information

 

A.                  The House has been the leader on providing adequate funding for alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention, ensuring the full funding of the Alcohol Fund in the FY 2009 budget.

 

B.                  Were the existing formula for the Alcohol Fund to be applied, the annual amount provided would be in excess of $7.6 M.

 

C.                  The request for level funding in FY 2010/2011 is fair and appropriate given the unmet need for treatment and the disproportionately large reductions already made in these critical services.