The Colorado government is facing a lawsuit from a behavioral health association over cuts to autism funding.

After the passage of the Congressional budget in July, Gov. Jared Polis and lawmakers had cut more than $250 million from the state budget to help fill a $783 million deficit.

About a third of those cuts came from Medicaid, including a nearly $10 million cut to Pediatric Behavioral Therapy, which includes services for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to the state health department.

The lawsuit filed by the Colorado Association for Behavior Analysis seeks to block the cuts by arguing they violate both a 2019 state law that requires parity in coverage for behavioral and mental health care and physical health care for private insurance and Medicaid coverage, as well as the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act.

“While the Governor has the authority to implement spending reductions during a fiscal emergency, he must do so lawfully and it cannot be by singling out critical services for kids with autism that have proven benefits,” said COABA President Rebecca Urbano Powell. “Not only may we be seeing cuts to providers of up to 10% based on these funding restrictions, we also expect to see burdensome administrative restrictions that will limit parents’ and children’s ability to access care.”

Powell argued that while her organization’s members understand that the state is facing serious budget restrictions, Colorado law mandates that “we must treat mental health services in a similar manner to medical services, and we cannot balance the budget on the backs of some of our most vulnerable children.”

The suit was filed on Sept. 30.