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For years, Texas ranked last in the nation for spending on mental health care. According to a consortium of sheriffs from across the state, the lack of spending led to an unprecedented number of people with mental illness ill in jails, instead of treatment facilities. Now, lawmakers have allocated $259 million to mental health care.
SAN ANTONIO - Ray Gutierrez's green eyes twinkle and his cheeks dimple with a shy smile when he looks across the table at Evita Morin, the former intake worker at Haven for Hope, who he said helped save his life. "I probably would have been dead now," said Gutierrez, 61, a recovering alcoholic.
