Drafter
Clerk 09/24/2025
Title
AN ORDINANCE establishing the behavioral health administrative services organization fund; and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 4A.200.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. As one part of a broader transition in state contracting for behavioral health services in response to Chapter 225, Laws of 2014, King County transitioned in 2019 from a Behavioral Health Organization ("BHO") to a Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization ("BHASO"), becoming the single regional entity managing the King County regional service area's continuum of behavioral health crisis services through the County's contract with the Washington state Health Care Authority ("HCA").
2. BHASOs, funded through state funding and federal block grant funding, provide services that help residents navigate through mental health or substance use disorder crisis services when needed, regardless of insurance status.
3. In state fiscal year 2025, the HCA's BHASO contract with King County provided $64 million in state general funds and $15 million in other moneys, including block grant funding.
4. As of January 2025, BHASO funds administered by King County include approximately thirty-four unique state general fund proviso awards, two flexible state general fund awards, twelve unique block grant awards, and eight unique special program awards.
5. King County must report quarterly to the state HCA on its BHASO contract, with accurate and timely revenue and expenditure accounting at the individual award level, including cash balances for each award and for the total grant.
6. Creating a separate fund, independent of the existing behavioral health fund, improves King County's ability to manage state BHASO funds accurately and efficiently, and to comply with the state HCA's reporting requirements.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
NEW SECTION. SECTION 1. There is hereby added to K.C.C. chapter 4A.200 a new section to read as follows:
A. There is...

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