Posted on 03/07/2024 11:53:27 AM PST by nickcarraway
Proposition 1 is a two-pronged measure backed heavily by Gov. Gavin Newsom and a host of Southland elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and county Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn.
A statewide ballot measure that would overhaul California’s mental health care system, primarily through the issuance of nearly $6.4 billion in bonds, remained too close to call on Wednesday evening as ballot-counting continued from Tuesday’s election.
According to Newsom’s office, the proposition, if approved by a majority of the state’s voters, would create 11,150 behavioral health treatment beds across the state, along with housing and 26,700 outpatient treatment slots. Roughly $1 billion of the bond measure would be earmarked specifically for veterans.
It would do so through two methods, primarily the issuance of $6.38 billion in bonds but also through a re-apportionment of funds generated by the Mental Health Services Act, which was passed by voters 20 years ago and imposed a 1% income tax on people earning more than $1 million per year. Funds from that measure are largely directed to counties for mental health programs, but Proposition 1 would give the state control over much of the funding.
Newsom contends that Proposition 1 would fulfill a vision that began a half-century ago for a comprehensive statewide mental health treatment system that never came to fruition.
“We can make history,” Newsom said earlier this year during a Los Angeles event to begin the campaign in support of the proposition. “We can’t make up the last 50-60 years, but we can finally fulfill that vision that was set forth a half-century ago. This initiative, Proposition 1, promotes a number of things. It does not, however, promote the following — and that’s the status quo. If you’re for the status quo, vote no on Proposition 1.”
Proposition 1 is a two-pronged measure backed heavily by Gov. Gavin Newsom and a host of Southland elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and county Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn. Backers of the measure say it will dramatically increase access to treatment beds and supportive housing, but opponents claim it would slash funding for already successful programs.
As vote-counting continued Wednesday, the tally was a virtual dead heat, with 50.2% voting in favor and 49.8% opposed. The “yes” camp was leading by roughly 12,000 votes, out of nearly 3.8 million ballots tallied.
Bass also insisted that the measure would correct years of failure to address the mental health crisis in the state, while also helping alleviate the state’s rampant problems with homelessness.
“Think of how much money would be saved when Proposition 1 is passed and there’s actually facilities for folks, we get people off the streets,” Bass said. “We know that addiction and mental illness is a contributing factor to homelessness. … We cannot separate these problems, and it is not enough to get a bed for a person. We can get people off the street, we have demonstrated that people are willing to come off the street. But you have to address why they were unhoused to begin with. And you have to have a comprehensive approach, and Proposition 1 is a step forward in that direction.”
Opponents of the measure, a group known as Californians Against Proposition 1, deride the measure as “huge, expensive and destructive,” saying it would cost taxpayers more than $9 billion over the life of the bonds, while ordering the redirection of $30 billion in existing mental health services funds in the first decade, “cutting existing mental health services that are working.”
“Prop. 1 breaks promises made by the voters when they first passed the Mental Health Services Act in 2004,” according to the opposition group. “The idea then was to create permanent, dedicated funding for long-neglected mental health services, including prevention, early intervention, programs for youth, programs for struggling and under-served populations, including racially and ethnically diverse groups and LGBTQ people. The MHSA is a proven model, offering ‘anything it takes’ to help individuals who need a range of services.
“Now, Prop. 1 would sharply reduce that funding, end its dedication to mental health programs and take a hatchet to dozens of programs across the state that cannot survive without MHSA funding. It orders counties to do more with less.”
not close to enough considering 90% of Californians are fruitcake icing.
They’re committing a crime by just being here. That’s why they’re called illegal.
Rule of thumb...
Whenever Newsom is enthusiastically pushing something, fight like hell to stop it.
When the media trumpets a story of a close election re: anything Democrats support it is guaranteed that they will “find” just enough votes to win.r
LBGT BS laced through this thing..of course.
That was only 43 years after being admitted as a state. In 1889, the California legislature passed a bill to open an insane asylum in Southern California.
This new approach will fail, as have all previous approaches.
If they spent a third of that money shooting the illegal mules carrying dope into CA, they would not need anywhere near as many beds or center.
This bill does not do what it claims to. It’s just another scheme by democrats to waste and steal taxpayer’s money and freedom. This bill is a real stinker and I pray it doesn’t become law.
The Howard Jarvis Foundation was the lead voice against this power and money grab. Enough said.
LA county still hasn’t counted 1/3 of their ballots.
IO voted no on this one. The state spends 33 billion (up 3 bill this year because illegals now get free medical care across the board in Cal) a year on services to illegals they can use that money elsewhere.
Money down the toilet. The mental health industry is creating its own patients. It thrives on addictive pills, blame shifting, and lack of accountability for misbehavior.
The last thing Californians need to do is give more money to the government.
I voted no.
Why vote for a bond, which is borrowed money (or a delayed tax), when existing funds are being used to pay for sex changes for illegals?
6.4 billion dollars with 6.399 or it going to politically connected democrat party front groups to buy votes..
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