State's Prop. 63 money trickles down

California officials Wednesday announced the release of $64 million in unspent Proposition 63 money to local governments to provide mental health services.

The disbursement comes less than a month after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a budget veto, eliminated $55 million in funding for a mental health program that has been praised for reducing homelessness.

Administration officials argued counties should be able to sustain services using other revenue, including money from Proposition 63, the 2004 voter-approved 1 percent tax on people who make more than $1 million a year.

State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, who maintains the governor's cuts were illegal because they violated provisions in Proposition 63, lauded the new money.

Steinberg, who wrote Proposition 63, said local governments "have been fighting the notion of (using) Proposition 63 funds to replace existing funds" and a court challenge by advocates "is still likely."

"I certainly would support any effort to restore base-level funding because even this solution is just a one-year bridge," said Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

The money, he said, should first be used to care for the 4,700 people "who were thriving for the first time" with the help of the so-called Assembly Bill 2034 program that Schwarzenegger eliminated.

But Kirsten Deichert, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Mental Health, said the newly released money to the state's 58 counties and two cities was not related to "the state budget process."

"This is a completely different issue," Deichert said, adding that under Proposition 63, the state is required to pass along to local governments unspent administrative money.

Local governments can use the money for direct services, based on guidelines the state has yet to release, Deichert said.

But, she said, Proposition 63 prohibits the use of such money "to backfill or supplant cut programs," including the AB 2034 program.

Steinberg, whose 1999 legislation in the Assembly created the program, maintains that counties can call the programs financed with the new money "whatever they want."

"All I care is that people get the services," he said.

The AB 2034 program, which was a blueprint for Proposition 63, provided housing and other support services.

The program has been widely hailed. Among those enrolled as of January, there were 81 percent fewer days of incarceration, 65 percent fewer days of psychiatric hospitalization and 76 percent fewer days of homelessness compared with their pre-enrollment days.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Aurelio Rojas can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or arojas@sacbee.com.