Remarks by Senator René Garcia
43 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 2
- Play at 52:31
“All right, let's reach out to Baptist as well. Let's try to reach out to some of the providers, the bigger, I guess, the hospital groups. I'm going to close their services already, but... We'll talk. All right. And you guys have any thoughts or ideas, please talk to Amanda.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 53:25
“All right. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Now we are, where are we on the agenda? We're on old business. I know we had approval of minutes. Folks, we sent out the, I hope we did, right? I'm assuming we did. We sent out the minutes for the last meeting. Hope you all had an opportunity to review them. If you have any amendments, any questions? Seeing none, Louie moves the minutes. Second. All in favor of approval of minutes, say aye. Aye. All opposed, like sign. We are now in old business where we have community needs assessment. We went through that already. We have the opioid settlement discussion.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 55:48
“We have it. You guys can look at it while there's a presentation. That would be great. So if you have any questions. So thank you. Thank you, Amanda.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:02:38
“Really appreciate you taking for that presentation. It's very insightful for the board to understand these dollars. The opioid dollars because we keep on hearing that. And I don't hide behind it. I think you guys know where my position has been in the last kind of commission meeting. I did say. I did talk a little bit about the use of those opioid dollars for the funding of the building itself. That wasn't the biggest fan, but this is where we are right now. So, um. But. We need to make sure we keep our eye on that. So I think Kathy's going to come up and give us a brief in a bit on the…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:04:03
“No, listen, and I think that's how the county has been able to use those dollars because it does, you know, when you look at the population and the diversion programs, you look at their mental and physical state that will really apply, meet the requirements of the law, meet the requirements of the law. Harvard think this money would always have been better spent in the community with providers, but that's just me. That's just one guy. Yeah.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:05:24
“And can we add that to the call for next meeting as well, please? That's exactly a great point that we as a board can need to start exploring together with the opening of this building. If we've talked about it before and Kathy knows exactly where I'm coming from, we need to be more than just diversion. We and this is going to be our charge. You know, we start there and then we keep on continue to grow and expand. So it needs to be more than just that. Okay. Is there any other question on, um, on the, where were we on the opioid sediment? Okay. B I'm sorry. Follow the agenda. All right.…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:08:31
“You say collaborate because I discovered that sometime late last year with the social media world. Collaboration means that you put their name. on your post and then it appears on your page as well. So this is important for us to give whoever wants to collaborate, I think we all should be collaborating now through this time, through the different agencies and departments and personal, you know, personal and both providers, collaborating with the campaign itself so we can try to amplify it through all of our channels. If you guys feel comfortable with, please let Amanda know to add you to the…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:12:43
“If I if I mean the coordination of funding is a big deal because if we can't get it from the state we have to look at we have to take care of our own and maybe through and I know everyone is trapped to get that but I think if we pull some of our resources we might be able to continue to meet that need so.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:13:47
“Can you do me a favor and talk about that amongst yourselves and then bring that back to the board next week if you guys are okay with it. It's important to have that conversation and figure out where we go from from there. So okay. Um, all right. So I think data interoperability, I think we had a conversation about, is there an update on that or Amanda?”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:15:32
“And I appreciate some of those conversations back and forth. So I appreciate you being being attentive. And this is why, again, it goes back to the point that we all have different levels of expertise and knowledge and come from different points. And we have to pull together and make this happen. So we will make sure that I will follow up with them today. Now, we will follow up with them today. Make sure that they do give us a full presentation to the board and make sure that they bring you information. Bring you up to speed as to exactly where everything is. This can't happen without the…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:20:13
“Thank you so much. And yes, it's hopefully it'll go before the board. We're waiting for. Analysis from, I believe from Jackson is doing some type of analysis and then it'll go before the board and maybe sometime in August often August. Right? I don't know what I'm not going to handicap this. We'll see what happens. Kathy, thank you for the work that you're doing on this. We've had some disagreements and you know that. I just think I was going to say, I think funding should be used a little bit differently. But I know that there's nothing illegal or unethical with the way that the monies are…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:22:15
“That's awesome. Before I forget, thank you, Kathy. You know, I really do appreciate the work you've done. Amanda, one thing that I did see here that I want to bring for the next meeting, the $70,000 that we appropriated for the campaign, can we break that down in cost so everyone can see exactly, even me, to see how that money is being spent and where it's going? I mean, I think that's just in the eyes of transparency to make sure that these are taxpayer dollars, so I want to make sure that it all gets accounted for. Anything else to come before the board? Any announcements? Oh, okay. The…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:23:53
“We'll do. We'll make sure. I'll make sure that the... They get together with with the state with you together with the state and we'll know we need a representative.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:24:25
“That's it works. It works. We'll make it. We'll, we'll figure something out. There's not worried about it. Um, all right.”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:24:34
“Any announcements to come from the boards?”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:24:48
“All right. So can we come up with another date?”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:25:16
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026
- Play at 1:26:17
“And I was, listen, I was on that stage, and when I looked back, when I looked out into that crowd and seeing all the different teams there, it just really warmed my heart to think that people are starting, the work that you all have been doing for so long, people are starting to pay attention and say we can do better. So I appreciate every single one of you and those of you that participated at the walk. So Susan, God bless you and thank you so much. And with that, Amanda, you'll give us a new date for a meeting. and then you guys continue to work on your subgroups or whatever so we have…”
Behavioral Health Advisory Board · May 27, 2026