Welcome

Welcome to the Stanislaus County Behavioral Health Services Act website, formerly known as Mental Health Services Act.

Proposition 63, also known as the Mental Health Services Act of 2004, provided the first opportunity in many years for the California Department of Mental Health to provide increased funding, personnel and other resources to support county mental health programs and monitor progress toward statewide goals for children, transition age youth, adults, older adults and families. The Act addressed a broad continuum of prevention, early intervention and service needs and the necessary infrastructure, technology and training elements that will effectively support this system. This Act imposed a 1% income tax on personal income in excess of $1 million. Statewide, the Act was projected to generate approximately $254 million in fiscal year 2004-05, $683 million in 2005-06 and increasing amounts thereafter. Much of the funding was provided to county mental health programs to fund programs consistent with their local plans.

In March 2024, California voters passed Proposition 1, resulting in significant changes to the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). The proposition repurposes the MHSA, changing the name to Behavioral Health Services Act, also known as BHSA, re-structuring the use of funding and expanding on existing requirements.

The BHSA replaces the Mental Health Services Act of 2004. It reforms behavioral health care funding to prioritize services for people with the most significant mental health needs while adding the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD), expanding housing interventions, and increasing the behavioral health workforce. It also enhances oversight, transparency, and accountability at the state and local levels. Additionally, the Behavioral Health Services Act creates pathways to ensure equitable access to care by advancing equity and reducing disparities for individuals with behavioral health needs. It is one part of Proposition 1. The second part of Proposition 1, the Behavioral Health Bond, authorizes $6.4 billion in bonds to finance behavioral health treatment beds, supportive housing, community sites, and funding for housing veterans with behavioral health needs.

The current MHSA provides funding to counties to expand and develop innovative, integrated services for children, adults, and older adults with the Mental Health systems of care.

BHSA Five Components

1. Community Services and Supports (CSS) - Provides funds for direct services to individuals with severe mental illness. Full Service Partnerships (FSP) are in this category; FSP's provide wrap-around services or "whatever it takes" services to consumers. Housing is also included in this category.
2. Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) - provides historic investment of 20% of the BHSA funding for outreach programs for families, providers, and others to recognize early signs of mental illness and to improve early access to services and programs to reduce stigma and discrimination.
3. Workforce Education and Training (WET) - Provides funding to improve the capacity of the mental health workforce.
4. Capital Facilities and Technological Needs (CFTN) - Provides funding for building projects and increasing technological capacity to improve mental illness service delivery
5. Innovation (INN) - Funds and evaluates new approaches that increase access to the unserved and underserved communities, promote interagency collaboration and increase the quality of services.

Behavioral Health Transformation

In recent years, California has undertaken historic efforts to re-envision the state’s publicly funded mental health and substance use disorder services, with a special focus on county-administered specialty mental health and substance use disorder services. With the passing of Proposition 1 to reform the MHSA and fund needed behavioral health infrastructure, the efforts to implement Proposition 1 are referred to as Behavioral Health Transformation (BHT).

The primary goals of BHT are to improve access to care, increase accountability and transparency for publicly funded, county-administered behavioral health services, and expand the capacity of behavioral health care facilities across California. Under BHT, counties will report a more comprehensive and transparent picture of their Behavioral Health Services Act funding in relation to all public local, state, and federal behavioral health funding.

BHSA Three Components

1. 30% to Housing Interventions programs
   1. Of the funds distributed for the Housing Interventions program, counties are required to use 50% of funds for housing interventions for persons who are chronically homeless, with a focus on encampments.
   2. Of the funds distributed for the Housing Interventions program, counties are required to expend no more than 25% of funds for capital development.
2. 35% to Full-Service Partnerships (FSP) programs
3. 35% to Behavioral Health Services and Supports (BHSS)
   1. Adult, Older Adult, and Children’s system of care, excluding the services provided by Housing Interventions and FSP programs
   2. Early Intervention (EI)
      1. Of the funding allocated for BHSS, at least 51% must be used for early intervention programs
      2. Of the funding allocated for early intervention programs, at least 51% must be used to serve individuals 25 years of age and younger
   3. >Outreach and Engagement
   4. Workforce education and training (WET)
   5. Capital facilities and technological needs (CFTN)
   6. Innovative behavioral health pilots and projects

BHSA goes into effect January 1, 2025, and must be implemented by Behavioral Health and Recovery Services by July 1, 2026.

The intent of this site is to inform and invite our community to participate in the transformation of the Mental Health Services Act into the Behavioral Health Services Act.