In his January budget introduction, the governor appeared to adopt unusually conservative revenue estimates. This caused cuts in one time programs funded in the current year that would not have been required with the estimates provided by the Legislative Analyst. It is widely speculated that this is not just due to his fears of a recession, but also due to fears of reductions in federal financial support. This will trickle down to counties, so don't be surprised to see counties wanting to keep larger than usual amounts of unspent funds or reserves.

With this background, we start the California legislative session with democratic 2/3 supermajorities in both houses of the legislature working to resist deportation of immigrants and support sanctuary status for local governments.  SB 54 is a bill introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon which would prohibit state and local law enforcement, including school police and security departments, from using their resources for immigration enforcement.

In behavioral health, our most important work will be the implementation of the new marijuana tax funding from Proposition 64, which our committees are now developing policy on.  The Department of Health Care Services receive 60% of the funds starting in 2018-19 for youth substance use education, prevention early intervention and treatment.  What those funds are allocated for, and how their use is governed, represents an unprecedented one-time opportunity to address policy and funding shortfalls.   [Read More in Full Blog]

Other CCCBHA Priorities Include: Workforce, Housing, Early Psychosis ...