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Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) Action Plan
The Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) Action Plan details how
King County will improve access to mental health, chemical dependency
and therapeutic court services for people who are homeless or involved
in the criminal justice system, through the levy of a one-tenth of one
cent sales tax increase beginning in 2008.
The Action Plan offers a variety of strategies designed to divert individuals
from jails and emergency services into appropriate community treatment.
A component of the plan focuses on crisis outreach and prevention efforts
focused on children and youth. The plan represents extraordinary collaboration
between government, treatment providers, and adult and juvenile justice
systems. Funding to implement the plan was included in the 2008 King County
Budget adopted by the King County Council on November 19, 2007.
Vision statement
King County will seek to improve and stabilize the lives of people with
mental illness and chemical dependency.
Goals
- A full continuum of prevention, intervention, treatment and other
supports will be more readily available.
- People with mental illness and chemical dependency will not end up
in jail, hospitals or on the streets because of a lack of community
treatment options.
- Early identification and treatment for youth will significantly prevent
or reduce more serious mental illness, chemical dependency and justice
system involvement.
- Changes will be made in the criminal justice system to create more
treatment options for the courts to support rehabilitation and recovery.
- The personal and public costs of mental illness and chemical dependency
will be reduced.
- A comprehensive evaluation component will be developed to identify,
measure and report the impacts of these services on people's lives and
the evaluation outcomes will be used to guide decision-making.
- King County and its partners will track and respond to state and
federal legislation that impacts, either positively or negatively, the
funding and service systems that assist people with mental illness and
chemical dependency to achieve recovery.
Background
King County experienced several consecutive years of state
budget cuts to its mental health programs, resulting in loss of services
or extremely tight eligibility criteria for many low-income people in
need. Inadequate state funding for substance abuse services over many
years limited access to treatment for many needy county residents. It
is no surprise, therefore, that a high number of individuals arrested,
jailed or hospitalized are people with untreated mental health and substance
abuse issues.
In 2005, the Washington State Legislature created an option for counties
to raise the local sales tax by 0.1 percent to augment funding for mental
health and chemical dependency services and therapeutic courts. Seven
counties - Spokane, Jefferson, Skagit, Clallam, Clark, Okanogan and
Island - have implemented the sales tax increase, with several others
considering action.
An extensive exploration of the possibility of utilizing the tax option
in King County began with passage of Council
Motion 12320 (pdf) , which yielded the three-part Mental Illness
and Drug Dependency Action Plan, with the final phase completed in June
2007. The council accepted the action plan via Motion
12598 (pdf) in October 2008 and authorized the sales tax levy collection
via Council Ordinance 15949
(pdf) approved on Nov. 13, 2007. The council ordinance requires development
of a three-part oversight, implementation and evaluation plan during
the first half of 2008, prior to the expenditure of the levy proceeds.
For King County, the sales tax increase will yield approximately $30
million in its first year and over $50 million annually through 2016,
when the sales tax levy is scheduled to end.
For more information, contact:
Amnon
Shoenfeld Director,
King County Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division
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