Darrell Steinberg and the Campaign for Mental Health

Last Day - Let's break $100,000!

As you can see, we're are very close to breaking $100,000. Please help us get over the top by donating today.

New section on website - about 63

If you haven't seen it yet, there is a new section on the website, About Prop 63, that has lots of additional information on the measure. The section includes the ballot arguments that will be in every ballot pamphlet, along with background info, the legislative analysts report...
Click here to check out the new section >>

With one day left we are just short of $100,000 for our July Match Challenge. Please help us break 100k - 37k over our initial goal of 63k!

We also set a goal of adding 63 new Mental Health Hero monthly donors. We are at 59 and only need 4 more heroes to hit that goal.

Click here to donate to help us meet our July goals >>

July Match Goes Out With a Bang

The July Match Challenge for Prop 63 grassroots fundraising has been a big success, with $82,193 in donations with three more days remaining.

Since passing our symbolic goal of $63,000 in grassroots fundraising, we've set the bar higher to maximize the final days of the Match. We're now working toward $90,000 and beyond. With the CCCMHA Match in place - do the math - that's a serious contribution to the overall effort.

We're now inside of 100 days to the election - time to reach higher and branch out to your network of family, friends and colleagues. As you broaden your scope, so too will the reach of Prop 63. Thanks, as always, for your diligence.

Nevada County's Mental Health Constituency

*Special Note* - the July Match Challenge has been so successful (we've already passed our goal of $63,000 in grassroots fundraising this month), we've decided to shoot for a whopping $90,000, which, with the CCCMHA matching fund, would mean $180,000 to Prop 63. Only five days remain - help us make one last push.

Nevada County might not be heavily populated, but they have put together a group of people who are working very, very hard on doing everything they can to ensure that Prop. 63 is adopted by the voters in November. I've said before that this campaign is not only about Prop. 63--it's also about creating a grassroots constituency of people to support mental health issues at the state and national levels. This, from Rod Pence of Nevada County, shows what Nevada County is doing in that regard:

"Let's not forget our next important related event here in Nevada County, our ADVOCACY WORKSHOP, to be held at the SPIRIT Center on Thursday, July 29th from 3pm to 5pm. Randall Hagar and Darby Patterson from CPA will again be here to facilitate this opportunity to hone your advocacy skills, not only for Prop 63, but also for other forthcoming state and national legislative bills as well as local issues that affect mental health."

Click here to see the flyer. If you would like to model an event after their event, please email Rod at [email protected]. And if you haven't signed up for our email list, please do that right away. And please tell your friends. As with our cause, our email list is not only for Prop. 63 purposes - we'll also use it to keep you informed of mental health issues even after the election. Let's mobilize for Prop. 63 and for mental health issues now and in the future!

Nevada County--In Laura's Honor

Yesterday I went to Nevada County to speak to a group of folks about Prop. 63.
Click here to read the article about that event >>

Nevada County is not heavily populated, and the county has a shortage of mental health services and of facilities to serve people with severe mental illness. The people at the event yesterday are working to help us pass Prop. 63 so that they can begin to meet the needs of adults and children with severe mental illness in their community.

I met many dedicated people there yesterday, and want to thank Rod Pence for putting this event together. I also want to thank Nick and Amanda Wilcox who, over the past few years, have become friends and role models of mine. The Wilcox's daughter, Laura, was killed by a man with severe mental illness who was paranoid and delusional. This man had not had adequate treatment or services because they just weren't available to him. Nick and Amanda have taken this tragedy, one of the worst imaginable, and have created something positive from it. They have decided to dedicate their energy to expanding mental health services--all in Laura's name. Nick and Amanda are an inspiration to me, and I'm honored to be fellow travellers with them in this cause.

Will the Legislature Be Able to Use Prop. 63 Money for Any Other Purpose?

I have begun to take questions after I speak about Prop. 63, and I'm learning a lot about what people want to know about Prop. 63. When I spoke in Kern County, one person was had questions about whether the money raised by the Prop. 63 tax surcharge on personal taxable income in excess of $1,000,000 would be used for the purposes it is intended, or whether it would be used by the Legislature for entirely different purposes.

And this question has merit. I have been in the Legislature long enough to have seen the Legislature borrow money from various funds. And I've seen situations where money raised is put into the General Fund where it is subject to use by the Legislature for pretty much any purpose for which the Legislature appropriates that money.

Not so with Prop. 63. Prop. 63 was drafted a team of attorneys with their hearts, minds, and souls dedicated to mental health--attorneys with years of experience in mental health, legal drafting, the laws relating to funds in the State Treasury, mental health programs, and more. We worked on the drafting of this initiative for months and months. We did our homework. We researched the law and we borrowed from the experiences, and learned from the mistakes, of other initiatives in drafting this one.

We created a "special fund" in drafting Prop. 63--the Mental Health Services Fund. The money raised will go into that special fund. It will not go into the State General Fund, where the Legislature might have access to it for other purposes. And we have drafted strict protections for the money in that special fund.

According to Section 5891 of Prop. 63, which will become Section 5891 of the Welfare and Institutions Code when adopted by the voters, the money raised may not be used to pay for any other program, it may not be loaned to the General Fund or to any other fund of the state, or to a county general fund or to any other county fund, for any purpose other than the purposes of the initiative. Also, the money may not be used for any purpose other than expanding mental health services. Click here to see text of initiative >>

Pursuant to Section 18, one of the last sections of the Prop. 63, the law enacted by Prop. 63 may not be amended unless the amendments are consistent with, and further the intent of, the initiative.

We think we have covered everything. This is the most tightly drafted initiative I have seen.

The Day Job

Just wanted to share with you all an experience I had yesterday. I am carrying a bill this session, AB 2404, relating to gender equity in community youth athletics. Team-up for Youth contacted my office a couple months ago because of their interest in promoting equal opportunities for girls in athletics. They organized and event around the bill, and yesterday I spoke at that event in San Francisco. The Haas Foundation, who is very committed to this cause, announced at the event its program of granting $50,000 to each city in California that will use the money to promote gender equity in community youth athletics.

And how does this relate to Prop. 63? Today I got word from my staff person on this bill that many Olympic athletes and coaches attended the event, and that athletes, former athletes, and people with an interest in this issue came from all over the country to attend. There were many female athletes, pre-Title IX, at the event.

According to Jeanette, the organizer of the event, being there resulted in an unexpected emotional reaction for many of these women--women who found themselves, in that environment, grieving the fact that they didn't have access to sports when they were children, and women who, among comrades, felt the pain of having perservered with their interest in sports despite the lack of athletic opportunities for girls.

One of those women is Tara VanDerveer, who is now the head coach for the Stanford women's basketball team. Tara told a very moving story of not having opportunities to play on a team during her adolescence. She stayed with basketball, and ended up coaching the US women's team. She took them to the Olympics and they won the gold.

I believe that people should have opportunities, and that's why I am the lead proponent on this initiative and the author of AB 2404. People should be given the opportunity to achieve their potential.

I really want to encourage people to share their stories on this web site. The stories, like Tara's and those we have posted here on our site, give other people hope and let them know that they have fellow travelers.

Click here to share your story >>

Linda, Grandmother of Johnny

Linda, your post hit home with me because of my interest in juvenile mental health issues. Grandparents who do what you are doing are very special people. As I like to say, help is on way if Prop. 63 passes. Thanks for your encouragement and support. Click here to read Linda's story >>

I am very concerned about the number of children and adolescents with mental disabilities in this state who suffer for years without diagnosis and without treatment. And I am also very concerned about the number of those children and adolescents with mental disabilities who end up in juvenile detention facilities without ever having been diagnosed or treated. Prevention and early intervention can make such a difference in a child's or adolescent's prospects for a happy life in the future, and that's why it was important to me that 20 percent of the money from Prop. 63 be used for these purposes.

This legislative session, I am authoring AB 2019, which is a bill relating to multi-disciplinary team evaluations of minors with mental disabilities in the juvenile justice system. I am carrying this bill with the hope that this bill, in combination with Prop. 63, will address the needs of minors with mental disabilities who have landed in the juvenile justice system.

Thanks again, Linda. I hope you'll email your friends about the campaign. Personal stories make all the difference.

Click here to share your story >>

Kern and Tulare Counties

I just got to my hotel room in San Francisco after a day in Kern County speaking to the Kern and Tulare County chapters of NAMI. It was a pleasure to connect with the members of these chapters, and it was particularly educational to me to hear their questions, of which they had many as to how Prop. 63 will work. I'll answer those questions for everyone over the next week or two, but there's one that I want to take up today.

People were curious as to how the revenue collected pursuant to Prop. 63 will be distributed. As you may know, the mental health money allocated to counties pursuant to "realignment" is allocated based on a percentage formula, with each county getting a specific percentage of the sales tax and vehicle license fees that are collected by the state and allocated to mental health. Not so with the Prop. 63 money.

Under Prop. 63, counties may present plans to the State Department of Mental Health, who is responsible for administering the program. Money from Prop. 63 will be allocated to counties based on plans they present--plans that show that the counties are prepared to offer the type of integrated services to be funded under Prop. 63. There's no percentage formula for allocation of funds.

To quote the Consumers' representative I discussed on the blog a few weeks ago, services under Prop. 63 won't be "same old, same old." We're focusing on prevention services, early intervention services, innovative programs, and integrated services.

I encourage county folks to contact Rusty Selix with any questions about this so they can be ready to go in November.

More tomorrow!

Early Intervention

At Judy's house party on Saturday, I met a couple whose daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was in her early twenties. I've written here before about the importance of early intervention. I believe that for children and adolescents, early intervention is so important in their lives. If a child or adolescent has an anxiety disorder, a depressive disorder, or bipolar disorder, for example, early intervention allows the child or adolescent to become self-actualized about the illness, and to learn to manage it.

However, schizophrenia usually doesn't onset until age 19 or so, I'm told. And most people with an onset of this illness don't get treatment for an average of five years. That's why the public education part of this campaign is so important. It is so very important that people who suffer with that mental illness have an idea as to what is happening, and that they be able to find treatment if that is their choice. And it is important to their families, too, who often feel helpless.

Please continue to help us by spreading the word about our campaign. I appreciate every bit of help that we get because I know that we may never get another opportunity like this one. This campaign is ours to win or to lose.

I'll be in Bakersfield at the Beale Library today to speak about the campaign. Hope to see you there.