The City Council wants the Adams administration to commit more funding to mental health resources for New Yorkers involved with the criminal justice system and victims of trauma. Members of the Council will question top health officials today about Mayor Eric Adams’ executive budget proposal for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Adams’ executive budget allocates just over $2 billion to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for the upcoming fiscal year, or 1.8 percent of the city’s total proposed budget, according to a Council analysis. Just over half of that is city funding, while the rest comes from the federal and state governments. Among the Council’s priorities are millions of dollars in additional spending on mental health courts, forensic assertive community treatment teams and trauma recovery centers. Councilmember Linda Lee, who chairs the committee on mental health, disabilities and addictions, said the executive budget’s $757 million allocation specifically for mental health initiatives will “prove to be inadequate in addressing the gravity of the complex challenges facing New York.” “The City Council aims to be proactive, rather than reactive, in bolstering our mental health infrastructure,” Lee said in a statement. That would mean an added $8.9 million for mental health courts that divert individuals into treatment after an arrest and $7 million to expand specialized assertive community treatment teams that offer community-based behavioral health support to people with serious mental illnesses who have cycled through the justice system. The Council is also calling for the Adams administration to baseline $7.2 million in funding to permanently sustain the city’s three trauma recovery centers for survivors of violent crime and open two new ones. IN OTHER NEWS: — Hundreds of health care workers will rally today in the state Capitol to demand more robust enforcement by the Department of Health of a 2021 law requiring hospitals to develop clinical staffing plans in collaboration with frontline staff. A department spokesperson told POLITICO it has issued 33 violations related to the hospital safe staffing law as of May 10. — The Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps is receiving $6 million for a new health and wellness facility that will also house the Kings Against Violence Initiative and Central Brooklyn Birthing Center, state lawmakers said Friday. “The opening of the new Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps facility is not just an opening of a building, but the opening of new opportunities and resources for the community,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement. “This facility will serve as a hub for emergency services and much more.” ON THE AGENDA: — Monday at 9:30 a.m. The City Council committees on health and mental health host a joint hearing on the executive budget. — Monday at 12 p.m. The City Council’s committee on hospitals hosts a hearing on the executive budget. — Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Drug Utilization Review Board will meet. MAKING ROUNDS: — Anne Marie Albano has been appointed director and Shannon Bennett as associate director of the Center for Youth Mental Health at New York-Presbyterian. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@politico.com. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
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