50-Word Summary Argument Against Proposition 1
Prop. 1 is huge, expensive and destructive. It costs more than $10 billion, but isn’t a “solution” to homelessness. Now’s a BAD TIME for new bonds and debt. Prop. 1 CUTS funds for mental health programs that are working. Mental health advocates and taxpayer groups oppose it. Vote NO!
Main Argument Against Proposition 1
Governor Newsom’s Proposition 1 is a nightmare for taxpayers, cities and counties, and people with mental illness.
Prop 1 is so huge, expensive, and destructive, it’s already attracted a BIPARTISAN coalition of opponents.
Vote NO because:
PROP 1 WILL COST TAXPAYERS MORE THAN $10 BILLION. Prop 1 puts taxpayers on the hook for DECADES to pay back new bonds. This isn’t “free money!” It’s credit card borrowing from Wall Street. According to Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, bonds are the most expensive and inefficient way to pay for a government program. And with interest rates today, it’s a VERY BAD TIME to be taking on new bond debt, adding at least 60% IN INTEREST COSTS, costing taxpayers an estimated $10.58-$12.45 billion. This will take decades to pay back. The State should have prioritized spending through the budget process when we had a $100 billion state budget surplus. Our children will be paying our debts, and their streets won’t be any cleaner for it.
PROP 1 ISN’T A SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS. The State has failed at reducing California’s homelessness problem. Sacramento has already thrown $20 billion at the crisis in the last five years without making significant progress. The number of unhoused people increased 6% last year. The State Auditor’s Office is still trying to find where the billions went. We will indeed have more tents in our neighborhoods and fewer people in treatment if Prop 1 passes.
If the state wants a grand solution for homelessness, it should attack the heart of the problem through the regular budget process – not expensive bond measures that RAISE TAXPAYER COSTS LONG-TERM. Californians are already some of the most over-taxed people in the country.
PROP 1 CUTS SERVICES FOR THE MENTALLY ILL. In 2004, the voters passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which dedicated funds for community-based mental health services. Prop 1 STEALS AWAY almost 1/3 of that guaranteed annual funding from the “millionaire’s tax” leaving already underfunded programs to fight for the remaining money. That’s why CalVoices, California’s oldest mental health advocacy agency, opposes it.
PROP 1 MANDATES STATE CONTROL OVER LOCAL CONTROL, WITH REDUCED OVERSIGHT. California’s 58 urban and rural counties all have different needs. Prop 1 brings a one-size-fits-all program and puts a huge, unaccountable state agency in charge. The voter-approved MHSA was locally based, allowing counties to set their own priorities, with mandatory, independent oversight and accountability. Under Prop 1, oversight and accountability are watered down, instead giving authority to the governor and his bureaucrats. This threatens effective programs that counties already offer.
Leave it to Sacramento to find a way to INCREASE COSTS, CUT VITAL PROGRAMS, and offer only UNPROVEN IDEAS! Far from being a magic solution, Prop 1 is a multibillion dollar disaster that will hurt the very people it claims to help. And who’s left holding the bag when Prop 1 fails? The taxpayers, once again.
THIS IS THE WRONG APPROACH. VOTE NO ON PROP 1.
Signatories:
SENATE MINORITY LEADER BRIAN W. JONES
ASSEMBLYMEMBER DIANE B. DIXON
HEIDI STRUNK, CEO OF MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF CALIFORNIA
Opponents' Rebuttal to Argument For Proposition 1
We work directly with people struggling with mental health. We urge you to vote “no” because Proposition 1 will cause EXTREME DAMAGE to existing mental healthcare programs.
Supporters don’t tell you WHERE Prop. 1 gets money to operate its programs, so we must: Prop. 1 CUTS existing county-level mental health services!
Prop. 1 DIVERTS one-third of existing funding from the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), allows many kinds of services to compete with mental healthcare for the remaining money, and sticks the state in charge of local programs and decisions.
The results will be DEVASTATING at the local level.
Cutting programs.
Firing healthcare workers.
Ending services for thousands of people.
Current MHSA programs are a LIFELINE for under-served communities and people without insurance. Many of these services WON’T SURVIVE Prop. 1’s cuts.
Prop. 1’s pricey bonds are a FALSE PROMISE on homelessness. Two-thirds of the money is for time-limited and potentially “locked” treatment beds, NOT PERMANENT HOUSING.
When people leave treatment, they’ll be BACK ON THE STREETS, still disabled, unable to work, again without housing.
Prop. 1 also fuels a DANGEROUS trend toward forced treatment. Studies show it’s ineffective and is associated with higher suicide risks. DISTURBINGLY, Gov. Newsom unveiled his Prop. 1 at L.A. County General Hospital, which FORCIBLY RESTRAINS patients at a rate 50 times the national average!
Prop. 1 doesn’t “fix” a broken system, it BREAKS something that’s WORKING: the MHSA.
DON’T RAID current mental health programs to pay for Prop. 1. Please vote NO!
Signatories:
HEIDI STRUNK, CEO, MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF CALIFORNIA
ANDREA WAGNER, EXEC. DIR., CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF MENTAL HEALTH PEER-RUN ORGANIZATIONS
PAUL SIMMONS, EXEC. DIR., DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCE OF CALIFORNIA
