(October 12, 2023)WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: For the first time in decades, Californians will have the ability to transform the state’s mental health system – modernizing to meet the needs of all Californians. Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 326 (Eggman), modernizing the Mental Health Services Act, and Assembly Bill 531 (Irwin), a $6.38 Billion bond to build new behavioral health housing and treatment settings across the state. Californians will vote on this package, collectively known as Proposition 1, on the March 2024 ballot.
LOS ANGELES – Today, Governor Gavin Newsom, accompanied by Legislative and local leaders, families, advocates, veterans, and health care professionals, signed Senate Bill 326 (Eggman, D – Stockton) and Assembly Bill 531 (Irwin, D – Thousand Oaks) which collectively will transform California’s mental health and substance use disorder treatment systems for the first time in decades.
WHY THIS MATTERS: These reforms re-focus billions of dollars in existing funds to prioritize Californians with the deepest mental health needs, living in encampments, or suffering the worst substance use issues. The $6.38 billion bond will provide funding to build more than 11,150 new behavioral health beds and housing and 26,700 outpatient treatment slots – capacity that will touch many tens of thousands of people’s lives every year – filling critical needs across the state for homeless Californians with severe behavioral health issues, to kids suffering from depression, and everyone in between. Recent polling from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found an overwhelming majority (87%) of Californians say there is a mental health crisis in the United States.
