Proposition 1 Reforms Force County To Cancel Behavioral Health Contracts

By Lisa Halverstadt, the Voice of San Diego

December 17, 2025

Counties across California have long used a 1 percent income tax on millionaires to fund programs to help people and families avoid mental health crises.

San Diego County officials say a 2024 ballot measure reforming how counties can use that money has already forced them to cancel 21 contracts with agencies that in many cases provide preventative services.

That’s meant losing crucial funding for programs including a suicide prevention initiative for middle and high schoolers, phone lines for veterans and others seeking mental health support and a program that supports families who lost loved ones to violent crimes.

Now the organizations that run these programs are grappling with the news and in at least some cases, whether they can find other ways to sustain them.

The backstory: Proposition 1, narrowly approved by voters statewide in March 2024, ushered in a nearly $6.4 billion bond to fund behavioral health beds and housing. It also set the stage for big funding changes for some programs backed by the Mental Health Services Act, now renamed the Behavioral Health Services Act to also cover addiction care.

For years, counties have relied on millionaire taxes for about a third of the funding they receive to pay for a wide variety of mental health programs and services, including prevention programs.

Proposition 1 gives counties less discretion over how they use that money starting in July 2026. The ballot measure shrunk the pot of money counties receive to support prevention programs, pilot innovation projects and some clinical care – and handed more money to the state. Now the state is in charge of doling out funds for prevention programs. The state has said it’ll focus on funding programs that serve people under 25 and populations identified as having elevated risks for behavioral health challenges and systemic racism.

Proposition 1 supporters argued it would force counties to focus more on people struggling most intensely with serious mental illnesses and addiction, especially chronically homeless people. Many argued prevention programs didn’t match that mission and that those programs should rely on other funding sources. Some who opposed Proposition 1 raised concerns about programs that could get cut as a result. Now that’s happening.

Nadia Privara Brahms, the county’s acting behavioral health services director, acknowledged that’s been challenging.

“Behavioral Health Services recognizes the significant impact that Proposition 1 implementation will have on the community, particularly with the loss of local prevention funds,” Privara Brahms wrote in an email. “The goal has been to be thoughtful and sensitive in our communication process to ensure impacted providers are able to plan, inform staff, and pursue other funding opportunities.”

The county informed many providers of its plans to cancel contracts in October and expects to issue more notifications in the future. Some contracts will end Dec. 31 while others will sunset June 30, the end of the county’s fiscal year. The county recently posted a list of canceled contracts on its website.

National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego learned in October that county would halt funding for its classes for families of people with serious mental illnesses and its warmline staffed by people with personal experience and knowledge of mental health issues and local programs.

NAMI San Diego is most concerned about the future of its phone line, which is funded by a $125,000 county contract. The nonprofit reported spikes in call volume each quarter last year.

“We are deeply disappointed our contract for the county Warmline is ending,” NAMI San Diego CEO Cathryn Nacario wrote in a statement. “Warmlines are a valuable pre-crisis, early intervention providing callers peer support seven days a week. This is likely to prevent an escalation of behavioral health crisis which results in a better outcome for the individual and community.”

Other cuts are also likely to rattle those who have relied on those services – and in some cases, already have.

Nine San Diegans spoke out at last Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting against the decision to end Union of Pan Asian Communities’ Community Violence Response Team contract, which provides grief support and other services for families impacted by violent tragedies. Many described how the program directly helped them. UPAC declined to comment when reached by Voice of San Diego so it’s unclear how the cancellation could impact the program’s future.

The county also cancelled a contract with TURN Behavioral Health Services for Courage to Call, a 24-hour support line run by and for military veterans. TURN’s CEO didn’t respond to messages from Voice seeking comment.

Two contracts that train faith community leaders on mental illness and how to support struggling people and families are also on the chopping block.

Escondido-based Interfaith Community Services holds one of two more than $240,000 contracts to provide those trainings through June.

Interfaith Community Services CEO Greg Anglea said his nonprofit’s program also provided continuing education to 550 people last year.

Anglea and his team are now looking at whether that work can continue absent county funding.

“We haven’t figured out exactly how to do it, or if we’ll be able to do it,” Anglea said. “But we are committed to continuing to provide faith-based behavioral health training.”

Programs meant to help fathers and caregivers learn to prevent adverse childhood experiences that can increase the likelihood of mental health and addiction challenges also recently learned their contracts will end.

Kathryn Lembo of SBCS, one of the four providers who held those contracts, said her organization was “very disappointed” by the news about a program that she said made a significant difference for San Diegans struggling with despair.

“The proven benefits of a small community-centered program like this include improved academic performance and confidence, increased emotional well-being and reduced teenage pregnancy rates,” Lembo, the nonprofit’s CEO, wrote in a statement.

Lembo said she was hopeful that funding the state is siphoning away from the county for prevention programs could reinstate the program after its contract ends next summer.

Jonathan Castillo, CEO of San Diego Youth Services, said he’s also hoping the HERE Now suicide prevention program his organization runs with SBCS and North County Lifeline can survive with the help of funds now held by the state.

The three organizations collectively rely on a roughly $2.5 million annual contract to fund presentations at school campuses in more than two dozen districts across the county to teach seventh to twelfth graders and their families about suicide risk factors. The program also teaches educators how to recognize and respond to warning signs and does individual student assessments. Last year, the three organizations presented to more than 19,000 students, worked with more than 330 parents and trained nearly 800 school staff members. They also referred nearly 250 students to behavioral health services and four to emergency care.

Castillo said his organization has researched other funding options tied to Medi-Cal insurance for the program but those haven’t felt like the right fit. After all, Castillo said, a crucial feature is that everyone is now eligible for the program’s help – not just students and families with Medi-Cal insurance. The millionaire tax money offers more flexibility.

Castillo is hoping to get clarity before the contract ends in summer 2026 whether tax funds now controlled by the state will keep his program afloat.

“The big thing that we’re waiting on, and we’re trying to figure out how to navigate is, is that funding going to show up in the same programmatic functions?” Castillo said. “Our hope is that it will.”

Privara Brahms said the county has encouraged behavioral health providers to participate in state forums that will inform the types of prevention programs funded by the state tax funds and to advocate for local programs. She said the county also stands ready to write support letters for organizations to go after new funding.

Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit news organization supported by our members. We reveal why things are the way they are and expose facts that people in power might not want out there and explain complex local public policy issues so you can be engaged and make good decisions. Sign up for our newsletters at voiceofsandiego.org/newsletters/.