Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to overhaul Iowa’s “fractured” mental health and disability service systems is advancing at the Iowa Capitol.
The 80-page bill, introduced to the legislature last week, lays out the Republican governor’s plan to reshape mental health and substance use treatment services offered in Iowa, merging 32 local regions into seven new “unified districts.”
House Study Bill 653 would also move disability services currently overseen by those local regions, instead shifting that management to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
Lawmakers and state officials have described the new proposal as the next step in Reynolds’ massive reorganization of state government signed into law last year.
The proposed legislation “has much to do with our reorganization as well as our continued momentum in wanting to make the best mental health and disability services available for all Iowans,” said Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, said during a House subcommittee hearing last week.