Idaho Sheriffs to State Leadership: Mental Health Cuts Have ‘Real-World Public-Safety Consequences’
Seth Ratliff
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Idaho Sheriff’s Association today released a blistering letter to state leaders, expressing “deep concern” that state-approved cuts to behavioral health funding will dangerously compromise public safety, strain local law enforcement, and leave vulnerable Idahoans without critical support.
The cuts stem from the state’s attempts to avoid a budget shortfall. In September, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced a 4% pay rate cut for Medicaid medical providers. This was immediately followed by Magellan of Idaho—the private company managing the state’s mental health benefits—announcing further rate reductions for Medicaid mental health services, ranging from 4% up to 15% and ending a range of state programs, effective Dec. 1st.
The ISA letter, addressed to Governor Brad Little and key legislative leaders, including Speaker Mike Moyal and Senate Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, urges “State leadership to recognize the real-world public-safety consequences of these decisions and to work with counties to ensure Idahoans in crisis—and the agencies who respond to them—are not left without support.”
Sheriff Hulse: Law Enforcement ‘Feel the Impact First’
Idaho Sheriff’s Association President and Bonneville County Sheriff Samuel Hulse argues that these financial decisions will directly affect Sheriff’s Offices, which are often the first responders to behavioral-health crises.
“When the State scales back behavioral-health funding, hospital capacity, or correctional treatment programs, Idaho sheriffs feel the impact first,” writes Sheriff Hulse. “Our deputies regularly serve as the initial point of contact for individuals experiencing psychiatric deterioration, substance-induced crises, and untreated severe mental illness.”
The organization argues is that eliminating these “upstream services” will push more Idahoans into crisis, forcing law enforcement and jails to absorb the costs and consequences.
What Programs Do The Cuts Affect?
The ISA letter specifically identifies six essential behavioral health programs the State has eliminated, effective December 1st, 2025. Sheriff Hulse explains the devastating consequences of each loss:
Assertive Community Treatment Teams(A.C.T. Teams): These teams work to treat people with severe and persistent mental illness in the community.
Sheriff Hulse warns that eliminating these teams will cause an increase in crisis events, emergency room utilization, and incarceration in county jails.
Partial Hospitalization Programs (P.H.P.): Partial Hospitalization Programs help individuals safely transition back to the community after leaving inpatient care or jail. Often, individuals in these programs may suffer from mental illness and/or substance abuse issues.
Discontinuation means people may struggle to maintain recovery and end up back in jail, hospitalized, or even dead, warns the ISA.
Homes with adult Residential Treatment (H.A.R.T.): Provide 24-hour supervised housing and a structured environment for adults living with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders, allowing them to work toward recovery and independence.
“Removing funding for homes with built-in residential treatment means these homes become basic residential facilities, now lacking clinical stabilization in the facility,” argues Hulse. “These people will reenter the already overburdened crisis care system.”
Early Serious Mental Illness (E.S.M.I.): E.S.M.I. is an early psychosis intervention program.
ISA argues that by removing this program, eligible people will be pushed into the crisis care systems: ERs, EMS, Police, and Jails.
Intensive Outpatient (I.O.P.): Intensive Outpatient programs allow individuals to remain at home while receiving treatment.
As these programs are discontinued, Hulse says it will likely result in full hospitalization for anyone who is receiving these services when they are removed.
Peer Support Programs: Peer Support helps people stay engaged with treatment and maintain a responsible quality of life while providing opportunities for people who have reclaimed their own lives to give back to the community they live in.
The ISA argues that Peer Support “makes a real difference for people who are navigating care systems in Idaho” and the loss of these programs will result in “unfortunate outcomes for many” who rely on this engagement to maintain stability.
“Shifting the Financial Burden”
While State Officials insist the cuts are necessary to avoid a budget deficit, Sheriff Hulse vehemently argues that the decisions will not reduce the overall cost to the State of Idaho.
“Instead, it will shift those costs directly onto county budgets, jails, E.M.S. agencies, and local taxpayers, who will bear the operational and financial burden of managing the consequences,” writes Sheriff Hulse.
The ISA warns that as services are terminated, county agencies will see a significant rise in:
Call volumes for patrol deputies and emergency medical services.
Increased involuntary holds at emergency rooms.
Incarcerations in county jails.
Civil and criminal court cases.
According to a report by the Idaho Capital Sun, even after the cuts, budget estimates released mid-November indicate the state is still on track to end this fiscal year in June 2026 with a $58.3 million budget deficit. The news comes only months after Gov. Little approved $450 million in tax cuts, cutting the income tax rate for the fifth time in five years. According to a report by the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, from 2021 to 2025, Idaho lost $4 billion in revenue due to income tax cuts.
Sheriff Hulse concluded his letter by placing the blame squarely on state fiscal policy: “We acknowledge the State’s budget challenges, which are self-inflicted by an overly aggressive tax reduction stance of the Legislative Branch and a complicit Executive Branch continuing to reduce tax revenue, creating a budget shortage.
“As sheriffs, our foremost duty is to protect the people of Idaho. We urge State leadership to recognize the real-world public-safety consequences of these decisions and to work with counties to ensure Idahoans in crisis—and the agencies who respond to them—are not left without support.”
The Idaho Sheriff’s Association’s full letter has been included below.
