North Carolina spent up to $226 million in unnecessary costs after launching ill-fated mental health reforms in 2006.

The legislature's Program Evaluation Division released a report today saying that the Enhanced Services Package portion of mental health reform that the legislature put in place cost $2.4 billion between April 2006 and Febuary 2009. Most of that was federal money, but the state paid $827 million.

The Program Evaluation Division reported that advanced planning and oversight could have saved at least $177 million and as much as $226 million. Division staff are scheduled to present their findings to the division's oversight committee at 2 p.m. in room 544 of the Legislative Office Building.

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Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger fires off the traditional Republican criticisms of the Democrats running the state as taxing too much, spending too much and holding office too long.

But he adds to that: messing up too much. Berger, who sat down with N&O editors Tuesday, rolled out his list of Democratic bumbling, such as a string of state officials, including a speaker of the House, sent to prison for corruption.

He highlights the state health plan's financial crisis that required a bailout, deaths and neglect in the mental health system, a probation system that lost track of parolees who went on to kill and what he sees as a history of budget mismanagement that has contributed to the state's current debacle.

"The Democrats have been given a pass on competence," Berger said. "They've not done a very good job over the past 10 or 12 years."

Berger acknowledged that, given that backdrop, Republicans fail to capitalize on those failings and win elections. He attributes that to a fundraising disparity, Democrats nominating solid candidates and national momentum behind Democrats in recent elections.

The House voted on a dozen bills in its first hour of crossover week.

Speaker Joe Hackney called for a recess at 6 p.m. so a heavy volume of committee reports could be read into the record. Bills voted on before the recess covered a range of subjects. Here are some highlights of bills that cleared the House.

HB 266: Requires the state to collect and publish statistics on how many people are killed after run-ins with law-enforcement.

The bill adds to the duties of the state Division of Criminal Statistics, part of the Justice Department. The division would have to collect statistics about the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers.

HB 439: Requires the State Health Plan to pay for ambulance services run by cities or counties.

HB 672: Requires more transparency for mental health providers. The bill requires certain local management entities to report twice a year on how they are spending money. The entity must also hold a public hearing once a year.

A proposal requiring the state provide more information to the public about deaths in state psychiatric hospitals breezed through the Senate this afternoon in a unanimous vote.

Senate Bill 799 would require the state to disclose the names and ages of people who die in state institutions, the day and time they died, and a description of the circumstances, Lynn Bonner reports.

The bill would also require the state to release such information about former patients who die within seven days of release from a state hospital, developmental disabilities center, or drug and alcohol treatment center.

If enacted, the measure would require a policy reversal in state Department of Health and Human Services, which has declined to release such information.

Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Attorney General Roy Cooper support the bill.

"Making reports of incidents at state mental hospitals public can help patients get better care and treatment by shining a light on problems," Cooper said in a statement.

A Medicaid investigations unit in Cooper's office is currently investigating several incidents at state mental health and developmental disability facilities.

The State Health Plan bill squeaked through the House appropriation's committee on Wednesday.

The narrow margin 44 to 40 suggested to House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman that he may have some more work to do before he puts the bill up to a vote on the House floor next week.

"I think there's a lot of concern about state employees," said Holliman, a Lexington Democrat. "We're working to make this bill as good as we can."

The plan is facing a shortfall this year of $250 million and in addition to setting premiums and establishing coverage for state employees and their dependents, the bill would keep the plan solvent this year.

For next year, the bill would increase premiums for spouses and children of state employees by 10 percent each year. That increase grew after lawmakers added some $54 million in costs over two years to move the plan to a calendar year and voted to cover chiropractic services and physical, occupation and speech therapy at the same level as primary care.

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The N.C. Veterans Council has set its sights higher.

Despite the proliferation of bills giving new perks to active-duty and retired members of the military, the coalition of state veterans groups is pushing for three more substantial bills:

* Studying traumatic brain injury. The state Institute of Medicine would study mental health services for injured veterans.

* Extending tax exemptions on military pensions. Veterans with pensions that began before 1989 do not pay state income tax. This bill would extend that benefit to all vets.

* Creating a Cabinet veterans position. The state Division of Veterans Affairs would be elevated to a Cabinet-level position appointed by the governor.

Bruce Edwards, a retired Army colonel who heads the state Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the tax exemption may be the toughest sell, but he argued it would attract a lot of retirees to the state.

He said the other perks — which include free tours of state museums and free parking — are nice, but they're not the main mission right now.

"It's all good," he said. "But those are the three big ones."

A bill would help soldiers with brain injuries.

Rep. Grier Martin, a Raleigh Democrat who served in Afghanistan, said he filed the bill to help veterans who fall through the cracks of the military health care system.

Currently, the state's Medicaid system pays for traumatic brain injuries suffered up to the age of 21, which are considered developmental disabilities.

But Martin said that leaves out a lot of veterans.

"For the most part, if you're a soldier and you get (traumatic brain injury) in combat, you're aged out of that," he said.

Though many get care while on active duty through the Department of Defense and later through the Veterans administration, some can't make it to those hospitals.

The bill would direct state government to apply for a waiver from Medicaid to help people 22 and older with brain injuries.

Gov. Beverly Perdue would shrink the state run mental health system.

Her proposed budget would shut down 25 beds each at Cherry and Broughton hospitals to save more than $6 million.

At the same time, it adds $12 million to contract 111 additional local hospital beds for mentally ill patients.

"The system really will depend on getting those beds," said state Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat and co-chairwoman of a legislative commission on mental health.

The state has tried for years to get private companies to offer high-level local services as part of a mental health reform effort started in 2001. But legislators and state administrators say having government buy space in local hospitals can fill a gap in care. (N&O)

Gov. Beverly Perdue said today she will seek legislation to publicly disclose information about patients who die in state mental hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled, including their names and explanations of how they died.

If approved by legislators, the change would be a major reversal in policy affecting the state Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Biesecker reports.

The department has argued that a little-known patient privacy statute exempts state hospitals from releasing such information.

Perdue spoke by video today to a conference of the N.C. Open Government Coalition in Charlotte. The governor's message was taped Tuesday in a Raleigh television studio.

"I've decided I would rather tell the truth, even when it's bad news, than hide behind the protection of law," Perdue said.

On the same day the governor taped her statement, DHHS officials used the law Perdue said she would change to block the release of information about a female patient who died last week at a state developmental center in Goldsboro.

DHHS spokespeople this week said they could not say how the woman died, though a criminal investigation is under way and regulators determined the state-run home violated federal standards for patient care in the case.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue has proposed cutting 20 programs.

As part of her $21 billion budget, Perdue proposed eliminating funding for everything from an online cultural heritage program to the UNC Center for Alcohol Studies.

The biggest cut is closing two adult bed units at Broughton and Cherry state mental hospitals, which would save $6 million in recurring funds. The smallest is $17,194 for the History Bowl program.

Other major suggested cuts:

* The Support Our Students program in the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice: $5.9 million.

* Basic support case services in vocational rehabilitation at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services: $3.6 million.

* A Community Service Block Grant through the N.C. Community College System: $1.9 million.

* An apprenticeship program at the N.C. Department of Labor: $1.8 million.

* Eliminating a reserve for focus growth at the University of North Carolina system: $1.3 million.