ALEXIS SEBRING
Perspectives Assistant
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger found a loophole in Proposition 63, a plan that helps provide assistance to the mentally ill, and now approximately 4,700 homeless mentally ill adults will be released to the streets again.
Schwarzenegger cut $55 million from the homeless mentally ill and allocated it to the program for the mentally ill children.
Proposition 63 or the Mental Health Services Act, was enacted in November 2004 to provide support for the mentally ill children, adults and seniors. It includes language that prohibits “the state from cutting existing funding levels for mental health services below current levels,” according to a Nov. 1 article in the Los Angeles Times, “California mental health fund fight could go to court.”
The loophole Schwarzenegger found is that the legislation doesn’t say money cannot be cut from one mentally ill program and put into another program to benefit mentally ill children.
“The intent . . . was to keep intact the very program which laid the foundation for the Mental Health Services Act in the first place. Under no scenario or circumstance did I, as one of the authors [of the proposition], ever contemplate that the state would be able to cut core mental health funding,” said State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, according to the Nov. 1st edition of the Los Angeles Times.
The proposition is funded by taxpayers who make over a million dollars, and then one percent of every dollar after that million is taxed and put toward programs for the mentally ill.
If the program for housing the homeless mentally ill was not successful, then maybe Schwarzenegger could be justified in cutting the program. However, it has helped 13,000 people since 1999 and kept many out of jail and hospitals, according to the Los Angeles Times article.
Why would he cut this if it helps so many people? Does he think children are more valuable than the homeless? It doesn’t matter if it’s a homeless adult or a child, both are mentally ill, both need money and both need help.
The Mental Health Services Act was based on this exact program that is being eliminated. Where is the sense in that? There are approximately 404,914 homeless people in California, which is 1.1 percent of the total population, according to homebasecc.org.
Imagine being homeless and mentally ill without the care of family, friends, and now the state. Without the help from the state, these people have nothing and nobody. Imagine how lonely that would feel. Every single day is a struggle for survival for these people, which is a tough battle to win.
By cutting this money from the mentally ill homeless program, more harm than good is done.
The law is being interpreted in different ways by the Mental State Advocates and by the state. It should be written in a more clear and specific way, stating the amount of money that should be given to each program. This should be done to prevent another successful program from being cut.
Schwarzenegger should not have cut this successful program that has been benefiting the homeless mentally ill. Whatever his reason, it was not worth releasing helpless people into a harmful world. Although the proposition did not prohibit this from being done, moral factors exist in this situation and should have been applied instead of taking advantage of the ambiguity of the document.
Advocates of re-instating the legislation might take this issue to court in order to restore the program. I hope they fight back with everything they have, because it is worth it. If it does go to court but for some reason they lose, I hope another program develops to help the mentally ill homeless in the exact way the previous one did.
11-08-2007
