The Washington State Senate has proposed allocating $860 million of the state's budget toward behavioral health initiatives, Peninsula Daily News reported March 23.
The Department of Social and Health Services would receive $650 million of this funding for construction of a new 350-bed forensic hospital at Lakewood, Wash.-based Western State Hospital. The hospital would use another $20.1 million to increase bed capacity at the hospital.
Another $141 million will be used for competitive grants and individual projects that create new community behavioral health capacity.
The total proposed budget for the state senate is $7.9 billion.