Modernization of state behavioral health system and more mental health housing proposed by Gov. Newsom
San Diego, CA (Mar. 22, 2023) - With Mayor Darrell Steinberg standing alongside him in support, Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday proposed reforming the state’s mental health care system to better treat and house the tens of thousands of people suffering from addiction and mental illness on California’s streets.
Gov. Newsom proposed a 2024 ballot measure to amend the Mental Health Services Act, the “millionaire’s tax” authored by Mayor Steinberg in 2004 when he served in the Assembly, to redirect about $1 billion of the $3.3 billion it currently generates annually to help build mental health campuses and housing with built-in behavioral health treatment. The measure also would raise an additional $3 billion for the same purpose.
Gov. Newsom (front), Behind from from left to right, Anita Fisher, NAMI San Diego; Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, San Diego County; Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City of Sacramento, Sen Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, (D-San Diego).
“This is the next step in our transformation of how California addresses mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness – creating thousands of new beds, building more housing, expanding services, and more,” Gov. Newsom said as he announced the proposal in San Diego. “People who are struggling with these issues, especially those who are on the streets or in other vulnerable conditions, will have more resources to get the help they need.”
Mayor Steinberg joined Gov. Newsom in San Diego on the last stop of the governor’s Tour of California, an alternative to the traditional State of the State speech in which the governor made four significant announcements related to health care, mental health, and homelessness. The MHSA announcement followed a stop in Sacramento earlier in the week in which the governor said the state would supply and install 350 tiny homes to help Sacramento house people experiencing homelessness.
Mayor Steinberg giving remarks at the announcement in San Diego
“Twenty years later, it is time to modernize the Mental Health Services Act, to apply what we have learned, and to meet the great challenges of our current time,” Mayor Steinberg said.
The ballot initiative would also update the MHSA to provide more funding for housing homeless veterans, require new accountability measures for counties on the implementation of MHSA funds, and allow MHSA funds to be spent on serving people with substance abuse disorders.
The Steinberg Institute, a non-profit public policy institute founded by Mayor Steinberg, has been working with the Newsom Administration and state Legislature on ways to improve the mental health system in California, in part by amending the Mental Health Services Act. Passed by voters in 2004, the MHSA expanded the state’s behavioral health system to offer more help to people suffering from or at risk from severe mental illness. In a press release last week, Steinberg Institute CEO Karen Larsen said that the MHSA “has been a lifeline for millions of Californians with mental illness, has inspired innovative treatment approaches, and has provided vital prevention and early intervention services” in the 20 years since it was enacted.
