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Board unanimously adopts $1.6 billion framework for behavioral health under state law
Summary
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a three-year Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) integrated plan that outlines roughly $1.6 billion in investments across treatment, full-service partnerships and housing; the plan prioritizes early intervention, crisis response and workforce supports but drew criticism from advocates seeking larger allocations for children.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on June 9 to adopt the county’s three-year integrated plan under the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA), authorizing the behavioral health director to submit the plan to the state and make any required technical revisions.
“Nadia Pav Braums and her team have put together a comprehensive planning document,” Supervisor Jim Desmond said during deliberations. Behavioral Health Services Director Nadia Pav Braums told the board, “Our first integrated plan, which goes into effect on July 1st, has a proposed budget of about $1.6 billion,” and described a fiscal-year 2026–27 BHSA allocation of about $329 million that aims to serve more than 52,000 people annually.
The plan aligns county spending with BHSA categories established by Proposition 1 (2024): behavioral health services and supports, full-service partnerships, and housing interventions. County staff said the priorities reflect stakeholder feedback from more than 1,900 participants and more than 100 engagement activities: expanding mobile crisis teams, strengthening school- and community-based early intervention for youth, investing in housing for people with severe behavioral-health needs, and building the local behavioral-health workforce.
Providers and advocacy groups praised parts of the plan but urged stronger commitments to children. Representatives from the Strategic Behavioral Health Initiative and school-based providers told the board that San Diego currently directs about 19% of behavioral-health spending to children and youth—well below the statewide 30% average for major counties—and warned that recent cuts to prevention and early-intervention contracts could reduce service capacity.
The board’s unanimous vote received support from members who emphasized transparency and quality controls during rollout and expressed concern about network stability as the state shifts some prevention responsibilities and reporting requirements under BHSA. The board also heard requests from caregiver and older-adult advocates for earlier-intervention services and from pediatricians who called for stronger links between primary care and mental-health supports.
What the board approved: a dynamic, three-year integrated plan and an accompanying resolution authorizing the director to submit the plan to the state and to make any revisions required by state reviewers. The plan combines BHSA funds with county and other funding streams to support an estimated $80 million–plus annual housing investment and a larger county-wide behavioral-health budget.
Next steps: the behavioral health director will submit the plan to the California Department of Health Care Services and continue stakeholder engagement during implementation. BHS staff said ongoing reporting and outcome monitoring will follow state and county requirements.
