§ 27-60-112. Behavioral Health-Care Workforce Development Program – Creation – Rules – Report

1. There is created in the office the behavioral health-care workforce development program, referred to in this section as the “program”. The purpose of the program is to increase the behavioral health-care workforce’s ability to treat individuals, including youth, with severe behavioral health disorders.
2. To implement the program, the office shall:
   1. Develop an online training system that allows for accessible statewide training opportunities;
   2. Develop an online training curriculum for providers in rural and metro areas to increase competencies in mental health and substance use disorders that will support a high-quality, trained, culturally responsive, and diverse behavioral health-care workforce;
   3. Provide fiscal incentives for lower income individuals to obtain a degree in behavioral health, with funding specifically targeted for rural areas of the state;
   4. Provide training to the existing behavioral health-care workforce to be certified in federally reimbursed services; and
   5. Provide capacity-building grants to diversify the safety-net provider workforce and meet the requirements of section 27-63-103.
3. The state department may promulgate rules as necessary for the implementation of this section.
4. For the state fiscal year 2021-22 and each state fiscal year thereafter for which the program receives funding, the state department shall report a summary of the expenditures from the program, the impact of the expenditures in increasing the behavioral health-care workforce, and any recommendations to strengthen and improve the behavioral health-care workforce as part of its annual presentation to the general assembly required under the “State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act”, part 2 of article 7 of title 2.

Source: L. 2021: Entire section added, (SB 21-137), ch. 362, p. 2370, § 16, effective June 28.

Editor’s note: Section 38 of chapter 362 (SB 21-137), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that section 16 of the act adding this section takes effect only if SB 21-288 becomes law and takes effect either upon the effective date of SB 21-137 or one day after the passage of SB 21-288, whichever is later. SB 21-288 became law and took effect June 11, 2021, and SB 21-137 took effect June 28, 2021.

Cross references: For the short title (“Behavioral Health Recovery Act of 2021”) and the legislative declaration in SB 21-137, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 362, Session Laws of Colorado 2021.