Newsom announces $3.3 billion in Prop 1 awards to build behavioral health facilities across California

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday said California will distribute $3.3 billion in Proposition 1 behavioral health infrastructure grants to 24 projects that together will support 214 new or expanded facilities across the state.

"We are announcing an astonishing $3,300,000,000 in funds to transform California's behavioral health system," Newsom said, calling the awards a "generational investment" that will add nearly 5,100 residential treatment beds and more than 21,800 outpatient treatment slots as part of the first phase of Prop 1 spending.

The grants are part of the $6.38 billion bond voters approved in Proposition 1. Newsom said the projects selected for this round met state criteria requiring site control and a "launch-ready" status that allows contracts to be executed quickly and to take advantage of narrowly tailored exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The administration said awardees include county-run and nonprofit projects intended to expand inpatient, residential and outpatient services in underserved regions. Dr. Matthew Chang, director of Riverside University Health System Behavioral Health, described two Riverside County projects funded in the round: a RUHS behavioral health wellness center that he said will include about 100 psychiatric beds for adolescents and adults and a Harmony Haven Children and Youth Center with residential and outpatient services for ages 0–18.

"These projects will provide Riverside County residents with access to compassionate, effective…