​Proposition 1 Fact Sheet

The Solution: Proposition 1

Part 1: Behavioral Health Services Act

The Behavioral Health Services Act updates the Mental Health Services Act of 2004 by  increasing and expanding access to the supports available to all Californians, ensuring people can get the help they need, when they need it, and in their community.

Key elements of the Behavioral Health Services Act:

• Reforms behavioral health care funding to include treatment, housing interventions, and behavioral health workforce support for individuals with SUDs, while continuing to prioritize services for people with the most significant behavioral health needs.
• Expands services to promote prevention, early intervention, and treatment for California's diverse population, with investments in innovative pilot programs.
• Focuses on outcomes, accountability, and equity.

Priority Populations:

Behavioral Health Services Act funding and programs will target people with a range of behavioral health needs, including SUDs. Behavioral Health Transformation recognizes that SUDs, mental health conditions, and homelessness are intertwined and must be addressed together to achieve the best outcomes.

The Behavioral Health Services Act also reaches priority populations who are disproportionately affected by mental health and SUD challenges and may have greater unmet needs. The Behavioral Health Services Act's priority populations are:

Eligible adults who are:

Eligible children and youth who are:

• Chronically homeless, experiencing homelessness, or at risk of homelessness
• In, or at risk of being in, the juvenile justice system
• Reentering the community from a youth correctional facility
• In the child welfare system pursuant to Proposition 1
• At risk of institutionalization

Behavioral Health Services Act Funding Allocations:

The Behavioral Health Services Act modernizes funding to provide services to Californians with the most significant behavioral health needs.^[5]​

• 35% Behavioral Health Services and Supports: Includes early intervention; outreach and engagement; workforce; education and training; capital facilities and technological needs; and innovative pilots and projects. 
• A majority (51%) of this amount must be used for intervention in the early signs of mental illness or SUDs.
• A majority (51%) of early intervention services and supports must be for people 25 years of age and younger.
• 35% Full-Service Partnerships: Comprehensive and intensive care for people at any age with the most complex needs (also known as the “whatever it takes" model). 
• 30% Housing: Interventions to include rental subsidies, operating subsidies, shared housing, family housing for eligible children and youth, and the non-federal share of certain transitional rent.
• Half of this amount (50%) is prioritized for housing interventions for the chronically homeless. 
• Up to 25% may be used for capital development.
• Some exemptions may be available for small counties.

Counties will have the flexibility within the above funding areas to move up to 7% from one category into another, for a maximum of 14%. This allows counties to address their different local needs and priorities based on data and community input. 

SUD Treatment:

The need for SUD services has increased and is often closely related to mental health conditions. Expanding eligibility to include SUD helps to address unmet needs. The Behavioral Health Services Act enables counties to fund these services alone or in combination with other state and federal funds to support the expansion of SUD services. Counties must use data to appropriately allocate funding between mental health and SUD treatment services as well as identify strategies to address disparities between them. 

Early Intervention:

The Behavioral Health Services Act continues to interrupt the course of potential illness. DHCS, in consultation with the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, counties, and stakeholders, is establishing a biennial list of evidence-based practices and community-defined evidence practices for early intervention programs. Counties must use a majority (51%) of behavioral health services and supports funds for early intervention services to assist in the early signs of mental illness or substance misuse. Most of these services and supports must serve individuals 25 years of age and younger.

Health Equity:

• Reduces silos for planning and service delivery and sets clear principles.
• Requires stratified data and strategies for reducing health disparities in planning, services, and outcomes.
• Clearly advances community-defined practices as a key strategy for reducing health disparities and increasing community representation.

Accountability:

Counties are required to submit integrated plans for Behavioral Health Services and Outcomes and Behavioral Health Outcomes, Accountability, and Transparency Reports. The plans and reports will include data through the lens of health equity to identify racial, ethnic, age, gender, and other demographic disparities and inform disparity reduction efforts.