Hawaii’s prison chief proclaimed a “crisis on our hands” last May after three inmates died in two months.

By December, there were six suicides and 27 attempts — a marked increase over the prior three years.

So Public Safety Director Ted Sakai asked the state for more money in fiscal 2015, which starts July 1, to help respond to the serious mental health concerns that have for years plagued Hawaii correctional facilities.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie took note and added $5 million to his executive budget request for a few dozen new positions that directly target the issue.

But that was in December, three months before the state Council on Revenues downgraded its fiscal forecast for 2014 to no growth. The panel also dropped the projected growth for 2015 and 2016 to 5.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively, leaving the state with almost $1 billion less revenue than expected for the next two years.

House Finance Chair Sylvia Luke was expecting the revenue forecast to be lowered, but not by that much. Reps trimmed the governor’s requested $6.2 billion operating budget for 2015 by $53 million earlier this month and sent it over to the Senate for its consideration.

The state budget bill, House Bill 1700, now rests in Senate Ways and Means Chair David Ige’s hands. His committee deferred decision-making Tuesday until “sometime later,” citing the need for more time to review all departments’ budget requests in light of the downgraded revenue forecast.

“We definitely will be looking at making cuts to the executive request and trying to make priority investments,” he said. “We hope to find the right balance.”

He couldn’t say at this point whether the mental health positions would be high enough priority to make the cut.

The state is working to come into compliance with a 2008 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding mental health standards in Hawaii correctional facilities.

As of Tuesday, it’s unclear exactly how the Department of Public Safety’s 2015 budget fared in the House due to confusion over the positions being permanent versus temporary.

Sakai’s testimony to the Senate money committee highlights his concerns that the House cut 47 positions and $420,677 in funding from the department’s request — the bulk of those positions being targeted at mental health care needs.

Yet the House Finance Committee’s report on the changes it made to the budget highlights $1.6 million for 20 mental health care positions and six adult corrections officers.

Sakai acknowledged that the House budget provides funds for those positions’ salaries, but said it does not create any of the mental health positions requested.

Without positions, Sakai said, the department will be unable to implement the mental health standards of care for correctional facilities in Halawa, Big Island, Maui and Kailua.

House Finance Committee staff said Tuesday that there may be some confusion because the House failed to note in the budget worksheets that the positions it included are to be temporary, which means the funds are added but the number of overall positions doesn’t change. Creating the positions on a temporary basis lets the Legislature see if they are actually addressing the need.

The Finance Committee also underscored concerns over the department’s excessive overtime and reported abuse of leave benefits by employees. Overtime expenditures for fiscal 2013 totaled $7.9 million, exceeding the budgeted amount by almost $6.7 million.

Sakai’s testimony Tuesday suggests 17 of the positions it requested that the House did not include in the budget would have simultaneously helped cut down on overtime while addressing mental health concerns.

“In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of inmates with suicidal ideations, and the number of inmates with physical illnesses that require hospitalization,” he said. “We currently cover suicide watch and hospital duty with overtime, or by closing other posts.”

The Department of Public Safety is hardly the only state agency not getting everything it wants in its supplemental budget request for 2015.

The Senate received more than 350 pieces of testimony on the House draft of the budget bill. Dozens of states agencies thanked the House for the funding it did provide, but hope the Senate finds room for additional money.

Abercrombie supports the House version of the bill, but his office recognized the challenge the latest revenue forecast creates.

State Finance Director Kalbert Young told Ige’s money committee that the Department of Budget and Finance will be reviewing and reconsidering the administration’s budget requests. He asked the departments and the Legislature to recognize that many of the administration’s requests would be evolving over the next several weeks.

With the Legislature set to adjourn May 1 — not to mention many internal budget deadlines before then — the clock is ticking to figure out a new spending plan.

Ige said he expects to set a hearing by the end of the week for his committee to take action on the budget bill.

• Contact Nathan Eagle via email at neagle@civilbeat.com or Twitter at @NathanEagle.