California’s unspent mental health funds are an outrage. The unspent money is needed now for the nearly 20 percent of Californians with mental issues.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Californians should be outraged by a recent state auditor’s report showing that counties have failed to spend $2.5 billion in taxpayer money that is intended to help the mentally ill.

So much for the 2004 promise to voters that the Proposition 63 tax on millionaires would keep the mentally ill “off the streets, out of the hospital and out of jail.”

But don’t pin the blame entirely on county officials. The problem begins with the volatile nature of the tax, which raises $1 billion-$2 billion a year. The massive fluctuations create budgeting headaches for counties that can’t rely on a reliable source of income to fund programs.

Litigation over use of the money has contributed to the confusion. And a lack of leadership and oversight at the state level contributes to what can best be described as an ongoing mess. Fourteen years after Prop. 63 was passed, state officials do not have the necessary data to determine which Prop. 63 programs are producing promised results, nor even timely reports on what money is being spent where by counties.

It must be noted that a large percentage of the money raised by Prop. 63 funding has gone to programs helping tens of thousands of mentally ill patients in California. The outrage is that the unspent money is needed now for the nearly 20 percent of Californians with mental issues.

California ballot initiatives: the God that failed...