Monterey County opens public comment on Behavioral Health Services Act integrated plan; officials warn of eligibility shifts

Monterey County Behavioral Health staff urged residents to review and submit public comment on the county's Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) integrated plan and outlined what the shift from the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) to BHSA means locally.

"This shift from Mental Health Services Act to Behavioral Health Services Act is not simply a name change," Shannon Castro, the county's behavioral health services coordinator, said April 15. She described BHSA as a major system change in how counties plan, fund and deliver behavioral health services and said the draft integrated plan is open for public comment from April 3 through May 18.

Castro highlighted four implementation priorities the county has adopted in the draft: phasing funding alignment over time to avoid abrupt service disruptions; prioritizing specialty behavioral health services for people with the most complex needs; investing in provider education and technical assistance; and applying BHSA eligibility and service rules thoughtfully to create a stable implementation path. She said the county is balancing urgent community needs with compliance risks as state guidance continues to be released.

A county behavioral health staff speaker added that the change reduces some local flexibility previously available under MHSA and channels BHSA funds toward specialty behavioral health care, which may shift prevention or upstream services out of this funding stream. Staff emphasized the importance of public comment to identify local needs and unintended consequences and provided submission instructions: email bhsa@countyofmonterey.gov or mail comments to 1270 Natividad Road, Salinas, CA 93906; staff also offered to add interested parties to a BHSA contact list to receive updates.

County staff said the integrated plan defines direction, priorities and funding frameworks rather than serving as a detailed operational implementation blueprint, and they invited feedback from community members, providers and stakeholders before submitting the final plan to the state.