DORA proves too daunting on Hill

Even after reducing the initial costs of the Drug Offenders Reform Act and tying it to funding for a veterans nursing home in Ogden, the potentially high cost of a program they knew little about remained too daunting for representatives.

As late as Wednesday morning and two days after many supporters had pronounced it practically dead, DORA appeared to still have a fighting chance at some funding. The primary reason was an amendment to SB1, which provides $150 million in one-time funding for this fiscal year, by House members who gave $4.5 million Monday to help build the home.

After the amendment, senators insisted that if they agreed to fund the home, then DORA would also get funded. Representatives balked at that demand, however, because the price tag for DORA started at $6 million and escalated by $6 million each year.

Legislative leaders went so far as to work out an agreement Tuesday night after DORA was pared down to a pilot program costing $4.5 million in one-time money and $1.5 million for the next three years. The agreement gave the Republican caucuses two options: fund both the DORA pilot program and the veterans home, or fund neither. House Republicans, in a unanimous decision, chose the latter.

House Speaker Greg Curtis said that even without the daunting cost, the lack of debate about DORA in the House meant that a lot of representatives simply did not understand the program well enough to fund it confidently. Even with the pilot program concept, they were hesitant to proceed.

"If we had reached an agreement on the pilot program two weeks ago, it could have been different," Curtis said. "People just didn't understand it. Those who did were the biggest advocates, but there (were) 50 representatives who barely knew about it."

Supporters of DORA, which has actually been talked about in both houses in the previous two years but never funded, say Utah's justice system is filled with people struggling with substance abuse problems, driving some to commit crimes to feed their habits, such as theft and fraud. With 80 percent of Utah inmates having a foundational drug problem, experts say more drug treatment needs to be provided to break the cycle of what they see as a revolving-door justice system.

Yet those within Utah's drug addiction treatment community say they have tried to convince legislators that the multimillion-dollar investment now will spell savings not only in future prison costs but costs associated with homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence and medical care.

"I'm disappointed that they missed an opportunity to tackle a very serious problem that would be effective in reducing problems and effective in reducing overall costs," said Glenn Lambert, director of Odyssey House in Salt Lake City, who also lamented a missed opportunity with so much spare revenue. "I think this was a great shot, but I think it will be back next year. It's too important a concept and it has too much support."

The decision also hit war veterans hard, as they realized that their last and possibly best chance at funding for the home had dissipated.

"We're leaving here thinking that what the opponents wanted — not getting a facility — is going to happen," said Frank Maughan, the Utah commander for the Disabled American Veterans.

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