Big City Mayors, a bipartisan coalition of mayors of Texas’ largest cities, released a list of state mental health funding priorities.
Despite there being progress over several legislative sessions, Texas still lacks mental health services. Texas ranked last in access to mental health care in 2022.
With the record surplus in funding for state government, Big City Mayors call on Legislators to make mental health a top priority by funding these key areas: community base care, expanding coordinated specialty care, crisis call and response, loan forgiveness for mental health professionals, and extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers.
After the recommendations from Big City Mayors, the total base budget for these areas would total $242.7 million.
Big City Majors thanks Finance Chair Sen. Joan Huffman and Houston Appropriations Chair Greg Bonnen for their work on the budgeting process.
