Before 2001, we had never given much thought to the mental health care system. We had no direct experience with mental illness within our families or our circle of friends. Then, in January 2001, our daughter Laura, bright and beautiful at age 19, was killed in a rampage shooting by Scott Thorpe. Our community was shaken and our lives were turned upside down; we struggled to understand how and why this horrific act could happen.

As it turned out, Thorpe suffered from severe paranoid schizophrenia and was a client in the Nevada County mental health system. As we learned more, it became clear to us that the lack of funds available for mental health services contributed to our daughter's death.

We wanted to find a way to improve mental health care and, in our daughter's memory, to improve the lives of those with mental illness and save the lives of those around them. We sought to make a lasting difference.

Our initial focus was on the passage of Assembly Bill 1421, a measure that came to be known as Laura's Law. AB 1421 allowed counties to utilize court orders to compel those meeting strict criteria to participate in intensive Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT. AB 1421 was signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2002, but because of the gathering state financial crisis, all funding was stripped from the bill. Thus, implementation was nearly impossible.

In 2004, then-Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg spearheaded Proposition 63, also known as the Mental Health Services Act or MHSA, to provide an infusion of new money into the system. The initiative imposed a small tax surcharge on the wealthiest Californians to fund needed mental health services, ranging from prevention and early intervention to ACT for those with severe mental illness. We spent countless hours gathering signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. We contributed $15,000 to the campaign to get it passed. We were doing this to improve the lives of those touched by mental illness. We were doing this for Laura.

The impact of Prop. 63 in our community has been greater than we ever envisioned. With Prop. 63 monies, the mental health care system in Nevada County was transformed. The number of open cases dramatically increased. ACT teams are providing services to those in gravest need and are using the bulk of county Prop. 63 monies. At the other end of the spectrum, a suicide prevention coordinator has been hired to lead the effort to stem the alarmingly high number of suicides in the county. Moreover, training – usually the first thing cut when money is tight – is funded and ensuring an emphasis on evidence-based practices. This is something new for Nevada County.

For decades in California, people with severe mental illness were unable to access service until they had a mental health emergency. As a result, they often wound up in costly criminal justice and psychiatric institutions. Prop. 63 was designed to provide the full spectrum of mental health services. The comprehensive and preventative mental health services funded by Prop. 63 are not only more effective, but cost-effective.

Throughout the state, Prop. 63 is vital. It helps all Californians by avoiding criminal justice costs and reducing homelessness by providing people with the mental health services they need. We have no doubt that without Prop. 63, there would be far more people with severe mental illness on our streets, in our jails and in our emergency rooms.

As a result of Prop. 63, more than a half a million Californians have accessed community mental health services. In 2009, Proposition 1E, which would have diverted $400 million over two years from Prop 63. was soundly defeated by the voters. However, more recently, Gov. Jerry Brown succeeded in diverting $862 million from MHSA on a one-time basis, and the possibility of a permanent diversion remains a constant threat.

Our family learned the hard way the consequences of underfunding the mental health care system. In the end, diverting resources from mental health care does not save money. It simply shifts the burden to the criminal justice system. We can and must do better.

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Nick and Amanda Wilcox campaigned for Assembly Bill 1421, known as Laura's Law, named after their daughter who was killed in 2001. They live in Penn Valley in Nevada County.