Lawmakers hear warnings on mental health

CARSON CITY -- Lawmakers have been warned that families may end up suing Nevada unless the state's services for the mentally retarded are better funded.

The waiting list for such services will drop by only 25 percent over the next two years under the current funding plan, state Division of Mental Hygiene and Mental Retardation officials told a joint budget subcommittee on Thursday.

That would leave several hundred people waiting for services by the end of the next two-year budget cycle, and the cost to get them into the programs they need could be as much as $4.2 million.

But there's little set aside in Gov. Kenny Guinn's $156 million MH-MR budget for the 1999-2001 biennium.

"If you look at the budget, there still will be a number of people who will not be served," said Ed Guthrie, head of Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas organization that serves the mentally retarded. He wants the Legislature to increase funding for services such as vocational training and housing by up to $2 million.

Since medical technology has improved the life expectancy of retarded people and most live with their families, there's a pressing need for adult care services all over the country, Guthrie added.

"The state needs to make further preparations to give access to (these) people," he said, adding that failure to do so could mean more lawsuits because "people get desperate."

The parents of an autistic child sued, resulting in a 1998 ruling that required the state to provide services to a broader range of mentally retarded people.

But even though the division received another $5 million to meet demands in the current two-year cycle, the funding problem and long waiting list remain.

"I really wish these people would spend more time lobbying the other branch of government," said Assemblywoman Jan Evans, the chairwoman of the budget subcommittee, referring to Guinn.

"The budget is already done when they come to us. These things need to go into the governor's executive budget," Evans, D-Sparks, added. "We're not Santa Claus."

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