State funding shift forces Lake County to wind down peer‑run wellness centers; mobile crisis funding faces uncertainty

Lake County Behavioral Health told the Board of Supervisors that state policy and funding changes have forced the department to suspend several peer‑run wellness centers and shift toward programs that can draw Medicaid revenue.

Under the new Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) implementation linked to Proposition 1, the state increased the portion it retains and narrowed allowable county spending into new, directed buckets: a dedicated housing allocation, a defined full‑service partnership allocation, and behavior‑health services that emphasize evidence‑based, billable care. County leaders said those changes reduce local flexibility to fund peer‑run drop‑in centers and creative prevention programs that previously fit under MHSA categories.

Behavioral Health Director explained the county had to sunset peer‑run programs — including Big Oak, Circle of Native Minds and youth‑focused peer centers — because the centers did not fit the BHSA’s new eligibility criteria emphasizing Medicaid billability and measurable health outcomes. The director said staff were reassigned into clinical teams and no layoffs occurred; the department also cited opioid settlement funding and naloxone saturation as likely contributors to a recent downward trend in local overdose deaths.

The department highlighted a separate, high‑priority program: the mobile crisis benefit that provides 24/7 local crisis response and dispatchable teams. Local officials credited mobile crisis with lowering law‑enforcement use‑of‑force incidents in some jurisdictions and said the program supported rural responses, including ride‑along arrangements with police departments. However, the governor’s initial budget proposed removing the state funding share for mobile crisis, which would force counties to decide whether to keep it as an optional, locally funded benefit. Behavioral Health staff reported advocacy and legislative engagement were underway; the state budget negotiations had left final funding uncertain.

Behavioral Health committed to presenting board members with data, including performance dashboards (time in treatment, hospitalizations and outcomes) and to keep the public informed about service transitions and grant options. The department also invited supervisors to a public hearing on the county’s BHSA plan on June 23.