BONNEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho – The president of the Idaho Sheriff’s Association expressed concerns about Idaho legislatures’ decision to discontinue multiple behavioral-health programs in a recent letter.
“When the State scales back behavioral-health funding, hospital capacity, or correctional treatment programs, Idaho sheriffs feel the impact first,” Samuel Hulse, Sheriff of Bonneville County and the president of the Idaho Sheriff’s Association, wrote.
He mentioned specific programs that would face reductions or eliminations, including the Assertive Community Treatment Teams, Partial Hospitalization Programs, Homes with Adult Residential Treatment, Early Serious Mental Illness, Intensive Outpatient and Peer Support.
Each program provides services relating to mental illness, substance abuse, psychosis and care systems.
“As upstream services reduce, more Idahoans fall into crisis—and when that happens, local law enforcement becomes the default responder,” Hulse wrote.
Hulse said removal of these programs would increase call volumes for patrol deputies and emergency services, increase involuntary holds at emergency rooms and incarcerations at jails, civil and criminal court cases, and would promote negative outcomes for people seeking stability.
Ultimately, the loss of the programs would raise costs to the State of Idaho and burden county budgets and local taxpayers, Hulse wrote.
Hulse warned that the cuts were expected to begin on December 1, 2025 and that costs to replace the programs would rise after cutting them.
The cuts take place after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare projected a for Medicaid services in its 2026 supplemental budget request.
, which played a role in the cuts to mental health programs.
The State itself made personnel cuts as well after the Idaho Department of Government Efficiency Task Force worked to assist the state’s .
