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For more information contact:
Tracy Schroth 510-835-8098 x3013
tschroth@youthlaw.org
Several state and national advocacy groups today demanded that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
restore a highly effective program for homeless, mentally ill adults. The Governor eliminated the
funds through a line-item veto and counties and mental health providers are scrambling to help
individuals with mental illness get critical services and stay off the streets. The groups say that if
the Governor does not respond, they will file a lawsuit against him and the state Department of
Mental Health.
The state legislature authorized the funds for the program – about $55 million annually – in 2000
under Assembly Bill 2034, and the program has been fully funded each year since. The funds pay
for housing and support services for adults with severe mental illness. The program currently serves
nearly 5000 people in the state, and has had proven success in reducing homelessness,
incarceration, and hospitalization.
Not only inhumane, but illegal
“Balancing the budget by depriving these individuals of services that are so critical to their wellbeing
is not only inhumane, it is illegal,” said the advocates in a letter sent today to both the
governor and Stephen Mayberg, Director of the state Department of Mental Health. The advocates
represent: the Mental Health Association in California; the California Network of Mental Health
Clients; and NAMI California. “On behalf of our clients, we demand that you immediately restore
funding to these mandated programs. If you refuse to do so by October 23, 2007, we will have no
choice but to take immediate legal action,” the letter said.*
“This program is a foundation that the Mental Health Services Act was intended to build on,” said
Laurel Mildred, executive director of the California Network of Mental Health Clients. “The
Mental Health Services Act was intended to add funds to this program, not to replace them.
Elimination of this program is a breach of the public’s trust as well as a violation of the law.”
“It’s not like the governor is cutting funding for an ineffective or wasteful program. This program has been a
godsend for this population, providing much needed mental health and other supportive services,” said Patrick
Gardner, Deputy Director of the National Center for Youth Law. “It is vital to the people it serves.”
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Organizing against the Governor’s veto
On August 24, Gov. Schwarzenegger eliminated all AB 2034 funding through a line-item veto.
Many counties and local mental health service providers are now exploring how to replace that
funding. Some are using money provided through Proposition 63 – the Mental Health Services Act
– to continue services. In an attempt to lessen the blow of the governor’s veto, the Department of
Mental Health announced that it would make a one-time $64 million in unspent Prop 63
administrative funds available to counties. The counties may use the money to provide services to
those individuals who had been served by AB 2034 programs.
Advocates for AB 2034 strongly disagree with this solution. They say Prop 63 was intended to
expand mental health services and expressly prohibits the kind of actions taken by the Governor
and Department of Mental Health – namely the blatant elimination of state funding for mental
health programs that already exist. In addition, the $64 million is a stop-gap measure, available
only for one year, according to Ralph Nelson, President of the Board, NAMI California.
Counties have $55 million less for mental health services
“The release of additional Prop 63 funds in no way compensates for the Governor’s elimination of
the 2034 program,” said Rusty Selix, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association in
California. “This money would have to be released to the counties anyway and counties still have
$55 million less to spend on mental health services than they had before,” he said.
It is expected that in a number of counties, people will lose the essential services that they
previously received, said Dan Brzovic, an attorney with Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
The letter was sent by Protection and Advocacy Inc., Oakland, CA; Western Center on Law &
Poverty, Los Angeles, CA; Mental Health Advocacy Services, Los Angeles, CA; National Center
for Youth Law, Oakland, CA; and the law firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin,
San Francisco, CA.
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