KPCC’s ‘Talk of the City’ Discusses Mental Health Spending Plans
KPCC's "Talk of the City" on Wednesday included a discussion of spending plans in Los Angeles County and several other counties for funds from Proposition 63, a November 2004 ballot measure that increased the state income tax by 1% for state residents whose annual incomes exceed $1 million to fund mental health services (Felde, "Talk of the City," KPCC, 1/4).
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in November voted to approve a three-year spending plan for $280 million in funds from Proposition 63, allocating about half of the $90 million in annual funds to provide housing for 4,500 county residents with severe mental illnesses, many of whom currently are in jail or homeless.
The other half will be used to provide mental health services to more than 52,000 residents, including foster children, youth in the county's probation system and juvenile halls and those who routinely seek care at county psychiatric emergency departments. Funds also will be used to provide mental health care for 100,000 family members and other county residents with less severe mental conditions (California Healthline, 11/16/05).
Guests on the program included
- Bill Compton, director of Project Return: The Next Step;
- H. Richard Lamb, professor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California;
- Martha Long, director of the Village Integrated Service Agency in Long Beach;
- Stephen Mayberg, director of the Department of Mental Health;
- Mark Refowitz, deputy director for Behavioral Health Services at Orange County's Health Care Agency;
- Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department;
- Darrell Steinberg, one of 16 members of the new California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, former Assembly member from Sacramento and co-author of Proposition 63; and
- Zev Yaroslavsky, a Los Angeles County supervisor ("Talk of the City," KPCC, 1/4).
The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.