Mental Health Services Act
The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which imposes a tax on personal incomes exceeding $1 million to fund community mental health services across the state, gave us the first real opportunity to undue decades of severe underfunding that has pushed countless people with mental illness into homelessness.
To ensure the expansion of services, the Act, passed by voters as Proposition 63 in 2004, prohibits the state from using MHSA money to replace existing mental health funding.
But in a May 19, 2009 statewide election, voters will be asked to approve Proposition 1E, a ballot measure that would take $460.7 million in MHSA money to fund a federally mandated program previousely paid for through the general fund.
Mental health organizations across the state oppose the measure. They worry the damage to mental health services will exceed the current proposed cuts, as the proposition could set a dangerous precedent for the state to use MHSA money instead of general funds to fulfill other obligations in the future.
Some mental health policy groups sued the state to change the language of Proposition 1E so that voters understand the money would be diverted to a federally mandated program—one that the state would fund regardless of what voters decide in the special election.
But the governor’s campaign continues to claim the diverted funds would be used to “fund children’s health programs that are at risk of elimination due to the budget crisis, including healthcare screening, diagnosis and treatment.”
The truth is, diverting these funds could eliminate services that, in the years since the Act was passed, have moved people from streets to homes and helped them regain their independence and become part of their community.
This is not the first time the governor has weakened the MHSA’s potential. Almost immediately after the Act was passed, the governor eliminated AB2034, the program on which the MHSA was modeled. Advocates filed a lawsuit against the governor, alleging he subverted the will of the voters when he cut the $55-million program for the homeless mentally ill because the Act prohibits the state from droppinng below its 2004 mental health funding levels. That lawsuit is still pending.
Los Angeles County, facing its own budget gaps and anticipating more cuts from the state, has begun transforming programs funded by the general fund into programs that could be funded by the Mental Health Services Act.
