Board approves new Sacramento County Behavioral Health Commission, dissolves separate mental‑health and alcohol‑drug advisory boards

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to form a Sacramento County Behavioral Health Commission, consolidating the county’s Mental Health Board and the Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board into a single advisory body to meet requirements in California law and Proposition 1.

Ryan Quist, director of Sacramento County Behavioral Health Services, told the board the combined commission is intended to ensure coordinated guidance across mental-health, substance‑use and crisis‑response systems. Quist said the proposal grew from a year of joint work with members of the two existing advisory boards and county counsel to meet welfare and institutions code requirements and the voter‑approved Behavioral Health Services Act.

Under the staff recommendation approved by the board, the commission’s inaugural structure will include up to 21 seats: one ex officio supervisor, five consumer seats (one per supervisorial district), five family-member seats (one per district), and ten public‑interest representatives (two per district). The commission will also be able to recruit subject‑matter participants and invite agency representatives to meetings as the law suggests. Terms will be three years, staggered initially, with a two‑term consecutive limit and a one‑year reappointment cooldown.

The board also directed staff to add a county homeless‑services director as an ex officio participant to ensure close coordination with homelessness strategy, and asked staff to formalize continuing crisis‑continuum oversight so the Community Wellness Response Team (CWRT) and other crisis partners such as the county’s 988/WellSpace contractor remain fully integrated in planning and reporting.

Public comment included longtime advisory‑board members and people with lived experience. John Durbin of WellSpace observed that mental‑health and substance‑use issues are “inextricably intertwined” and said WellSpace supports the consolidation. Keisha Harris, who serves as a family‑member representative on the Mental Health Board, urged the commission to keep member self‑identification and “Stop Stigma” efforts visible so lived‑experience voices remain prominent.

Why it matters: The newly formed commission replaces two separate advisory bodies and is the county’s response to state guidance and local needs for a coordinated approach to behavioral health, crisis response and treatment services. Supervisors said the change is intended to reduce silos, speed coordination between crisis response partners and give a single forum for diverse stakeholders to advise the board and county staff.

What’s next: Staff will open applications, stagger initial terms, and return with bylaws implementing the board’s direction, including a formalized crisis‑continuum committee and agreed reporting from partners such as WellSpace and sheriff’s crisis‑response liaisons.