Proposition 63 (2004), Mental Health Services Act
Behavioral health tax · California, mostly administered by counties
expended FY2023–24 · ~$2.7B deposited that year
Promise and scope
Proposition 63, passed on 2 November 2004, imposed a 1 percent tax on taxable personal income over $1 million. Receipts go to the Mental Health Services Fund, later discussed as the Behavioral Health Services Fund. The tax was effective 1 January 2005. Counties administer most of the spending.
Later reform, kept separateResearch pending
March 2024 Proposition 1 renames and changes the program toward the Behavioral Health Services Act. DHCS materials describe BHSA requirements taking effect 1 July 2026. That 2024 measure is not given outcome numbers here.
Money deposited and money expended
The DHCS 2025 expenditure report records about $2.7 billion deposited in fiscal 2023–24 and about $4.6 billion expended from the fund in that same year. Expenditures can exceed that year’s deposit because the fund carries a balance. Revenue moves with high-income personal income tax, including capital gains.
OutcomesResearch pending
County evaluations, including RAND studies of Los Angeles County full-service partnership and prevention programs, report client changes and estimated cost offsets inside the programs they studied. That is local program evidence. It is not a statewide result for homelessness or for the tax as a whole. A reconciled statewide outcome series is not in this snapshot.
Sources for this case
- DHCS behavioral health reform and MHSA materials
Vintage: DHCS 2025 Mental Health Services Act Expenditure Report, associated with 2025 Budget Act figures.