Calif. leader to pitch feds on $10B mental health overhaul

California Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (D) will be in Washington next week urging federal officials to follow the state's lead and devote billions in new funding to mental healthcare.

Steinberg was behind California's landmark Proposition 63, a tax that raises $1 billion annually for mental health programs. He said the Obama administration should consider $10 billion in new funding to overhaul how the United States cares for the mentally ill.

"We believe that $10 billion investment nationally would save untold numbers of lives and help untold numbers of people," Steinberg told reporters in Sacramento. 

President Obama unveiled his plan to reduce gun violence on Wednesday. It called for rules implementing mental health parity and federal research on gun violence, as well as a variety of gun-control measures.

In California, Prop. 63 levies a 1 percent income tax on millionaires to generate funds for county-based mental health services.

Supporters of the initiative say it revolutionized mental healthcare in California by allowing for local planning and focusing on prevention and early-intervention strategies. Critics say implementation of the law has punished existing mental health programs, and that the process has been plagued by red tape.

Steinberg will meet with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other lawmakers next week, and hopes to speak with Vice President Biden, according to a report.

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