The AP (12/21, Thompson) reports, “In response to the killing of schoolchildren in Connecticut, the federal government should consider California’s strategy for dealing with mental illness, experts and lawmakers said Thursday.” In California, “the Mental Health Services Act passed by voters in 2004 levied a special tax on high-income residents to pay for housing, medication, therapy and other services,” a tax that “has helped more than 60,000 Californians.”
The San Francisco Chronicle (12/21, Buchanan) reports, “In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, wrote that the nation needs to address the root causes of mental illness and expand access to services.” Steinberg “has asked the federal government to adopt the state’s model for mental health treatment and to match state funding for services nationwide.” Steinberg also “said he estimates the cost to the federal government would be about $20 billion annually if other states adopted California’s model.”
Related Links:
— “California offered as national mental health model, “Don Thompson, Associated Press, December 21, 2012.