As excerpted from the Sacramento Bee.
“We have a collective failure,” Veronica Kelley, San Bernardino County’s Department Behavioral of Health director, told the committee. The problems are many. The state spends billions on mental health care but offers little direct oversight to counties, which are responsible for providing that care. Whether people facing a crisis receive care often depends on where they live. Some counties don’t provide the most basic data about their most severely mentally ill residents.
“We wouldn’t be here if this thing were running like a clock. Clearly, there are serious, serious challenges,” Assembly Health Committee Chairman Jim Wood, a Santa Rosa Democrat said as the hearing progressed.
“The status quo is not working,” Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, Sacramento Democrat, said, and referred to the dystopian scene on K Street.
“We have a huge breakdown,” Sen. Susan Eggman, a Stockton Democrat who has carried legislation to plug some of the gaps, and intends to push for more.