Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), new chair of the Senate Health Committee. ![]() The leading legislative advocate for re-reforming California’s mental health care programs is state Sen. The court recently rejected the request, and the program will be launched this fall. That would be voluntary.Ī coalition of disability and civil rights groups asked the California Supreme Court to throw out the CARE Court program, saying it violated constitutional rights of due process and equal protection. But it won’t compel anyone to undergo treatment. It will allow family members and medical professionals to petition a judge to order an evaluation of a mentally ill or addicted person and suggest a treatment plan. Last year, the Legislature did approve Newsom’s proposed CARE Court. But the GOP had no clout, and now there’s a projected deficit. They proposed spending $10 billion of the then-nearly $100-billion state surplus on facilities that would provide mental health and substance abuse treatment for homeless people. Republicans had a better idea last year than Newsom’s bond measure, which would require interest payments. That comes from a 2004 ballot initiative designed to help fund local mental health services. Newsom also proposes to redirect $1 billion annually from the so-called millionaires’ tax to operate the new facilities. The measure, if approved by the Legislature, would go on next year’s state ballot. He’s proposing a bond measure - in the $3 billion to $5 billion range - that would create housing and treatment facilities for 10,000 more people with behavioral health problems. Plenty of succeeding governors also have failed to pour needed money into local mental health treatment.īut Gov. The rookie governor was fighting a budget deficit, and he even raised taxes. But he wasn’t about to send lots more state money to counties for local care. I suspected then and still do that Reagan’s main motive was to cut state spending. Mental health care was dumped in the laps of counties that couldn’t handle it. But as usual in Sacramento, legislation was enacted and there was virtually no followup. Alan Short (D-Stockton) - were well-meaning. ![]() Nicholas Petris (D-Oakland) and centrist Sen. The 1967 act’s bipartisan authors - conservative Assemblyman Frank Lanterman (R-La Canada), liberal Sen.
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