Missouri proposes budget expansion for outpatient competency beds amid growing backlog
With 524 people waiting for court-ordered competency services statewide — 446 of them held in jail — and only 8 outpatient beds available, Missouri's governor proposed $6.1 million in the FY2027 budget ($3 million state, $3.2 million federal) to expand outpatient capacity to 50 beds. The waitlist had more than doubled since 2023.
Legislators who reviewed the proposal called the expansion insufficient given the size of the backlog, a reaction echoed by the advocacy groups whose lawsuit against the state, filed a few months earlier, argued the state's obligations went well beyond what the budget proposal covered.
Source: 'It sure looks like a crisis': Lawmakers confront mental health backlog in Missouri jails — Missouri Independent, by Steph Quinn
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