On June 13,2007, the Criminal Justice/Mental health Consensus Project reported that on June 11, the U.S. House of Representatives Commerce, Justice, Science [CJS] subcommittee marked up its 2008 appropriations bill. In the bill, the House reserves $10 million for mental health courts and adult and juvenile collaboration grants authorized by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act.

Representatives William Delahunt [D-Ma], Jim Ramstad [R-MN ]and Patrick Kennedy [D-RI], worked closely with colleagues to ensure continued funding for the program in FY 08. Other key supporters include Representatives Grace Napolitano [D-CA], Sue Myrick [R-NC] and James Longevin [D-RI].

The grant program, called the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance [BJA], and provides support to states to improve collaboration between criminal justice and mental health agencies. The program received $5 million in FY 06 and FY 07.

Two other criminal justice programs included in the House Appropriations bill are the Justice Assistance Grant [JAG] program , which is slated to receive $600 million [an $80 million increase over last year’s funding level], and the Community Oriented Policing Service [COPS] program, which is funded at $723 million [compared to $542 million in FY 07]. In addition, $40 million is included for the Drug Courts program and $10 million for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program. The full text of the bill and committee report will not be made public until next week after the full committee mark-up.

The Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee will consider its FY 08 appropriations bill later in the summer.