The state’s initial call for additional supports for New York’s mentally challenged in fiscal 2025, including $6.2 million to provide mental health specialists and peers in mental health courts, has drawn praise from Empire State legal circles.

“Long overdue,” Assembly Judiciary Chairman Charles Lavine, D-Glen Cove said of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s acknowledgement of the need to address mental health during her recent State of the State address.