Opinion: Tell Gov., Legislature ‘No More Mental Health Cuts’

In a Ventura County Star opinion piece, Ratan Bhavnani -- executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness' Ventura County affiliate -- argues that "there is a high cost" to cutting funding for mental health services, noting that the "burdens only get shifted elsewhere." The Republican state budget plan includes "a $1.3 billion diversion of voter-approved Mental Health Services Act funds to help balance the state budget," Bhavnani writes. He concludes, "tell the governor and the Legislature: please, no more mental health cuts. It's time to protect and strengthen mental health care."

• "Bhavnani: High Cost of Cutting Mental Health" (Bhavnani, Ventura County Star, 4/28).