Fallout from our state’s long history of breaking promises to people with serious mental illness is everywhere.

It can be found under our overpasses and in our tent encampments, but also inside our jails and prisons, our emergency rooms, our schools, our homes.

It flashes across our public opinion polls, which repeatedly list mental health as a top concern.

Increasingly, it makes its way into our political discourse. Referencing “our broken system,” Gov. Gavin Newsom in recent years has rolled out mental health policies with dizzying speed.

Now he’s promoting Proposition 1, a two-pronged March ballot measure that would fund a $6.4 billion bond for treatment beds and permanent supportive housing, while also requiring counties to spend more of their existing mental health funds on people who are chronically homeless.

The measure makes promises of its own.

“These reforms, and this new investment in behavioral health housing, will help California make good on promises made decades ago,” Newsom has said.

What are the promises that California has made to people with mental illness over the years? And why are so many people still suffering?

Here’s a brief timeline of mental health policies in our state — of promises made and promises broken — during the past 75 years.

1950s & 1960s: An era of institutionalization

In the 1950s, it is relatively easy to force people into state mental hospitals, many of which have horrific conditions. The number of patients peaks in the late-1950s, at approximately 37,000. During that time, the state starts shifting control over mental health services to counties, embarking on the process of deinstitutionalization. This process accelerates in the late 1960s with the passage of the landmark Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a law designed to protect the civil rights of people with mental illnesses.

1954: The federal Food & Drug Administration approves Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), the first antipsychotic drug, to treat people with serious mental illnesses.

1957: The California Legislature increases funding for community mental health under the Short-Doyle Act, aiming to treat more people in their communities instead of in state hospitals.

1963: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act, promising federal leadership to build and staff a network of community mental health centers. Less than a month later, he is assassinated. Many of the clinics are never built.

1965: Congress creates Medicare and Medicaid, allowing people with mental illnesses to receive treatment in their communities.

1967: Then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short law limiting involuntary detention of all but the most gravely disabled people with mental illness and providing them with legal protections.

1970s & 1980s: California tax revolt leads to austerity

As state mental hospitals close in the 1970s, many people with serious mental illnesses are moved into for-profit nursing homes and board and care homes. Their numbers on the streets and inside jails and prisons begin to rise. The 1980s sees significant funding cuts for mental health services at both the state and federal levels.

1978: The Community Residential Treatment Systems Act seeks to create unlocked, noninstitutional alternatives for people with mental illness throughout California.

The same year, voters pass Proposition 13, capping property taxes and reducing the amount of money available to counties for a variety of services, including mental health.

1980: President Jimmy Carter, who a few years earlier created a Presidential Commission on Mental Health at the urging of his wife Rosalynn, signs the Mental Health Systems Act to fund the community mental health centers envisioned by President Kennedy.

1981: President Ronald Reagan signs the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, repealing most of Carter’s Mental Health Systems Act and kicking responsibility for people with serious mental illness back to the states.

1990s: Local control of mental health services

The decade sees funding and responsibility for mental health services shift from the state to counties. California passes a law to hold health plans accountable for providing adequate mental health treatment.

1991: The state Legislature passes “realignment” — moving funding and responsibility for many mental health services from the state to counties.

1995: The state implements Medi-Cal Mental Health Managed Care, making counties responsible for providing many Medicaid mental health services.

1999: California passes a state parity law, requiring private health plans to provide equal coverage for serious mental illness and physical health.

The same year, the Homeless Mentally Ill Act — a pilot program to help homeless people with serious mental illness and an important precursor to the Mental Health Services Act — rolls out in three counties.

2000s: New resources for mental health care

Optimism about the state’s ability to finally address the needs of people with mental illness surges with the passage of the landmark Mental Health Services Act. But the Great Recession in the later part of the decade threatens some of that progress.

2002: The Legislature passes Laura’s Law. Named for a young woman killed by a man who refused psychiatric care, the law allows — but does not require — counties to build court-ordered treatment programs.

2004: California voters approve the Mental Health Services Act. The 1% tax on people with incomes above $1 million provides a new source of revenue to bolster county mental health systems.

2008: A federal parity law, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, requires health plans that offer coverage for mental health issues and substance use disorders to provide comparable benefits to those offered for medical and surgical treatments.

2010s: Homelessness focuses attention

The numbers of people with serious mental illness experiencing homelessness continue to increase. Jails and prisons are now the country’s largest mental health providers, and a backlog of incarcerated people deemed incompetent to stand trial draws increasing scrutiny. The numbers of children and adolescents landing in hospitals in mental health crises begins to rise.

2010: The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) requires insurers to provide mental health as an essential benefit.

2011: The Great Recession triggers significant budget cuts, pushing some people out of the public mental health system. A second movement or ‘realignment’ of mental health and substance use disorder services passes even more funding and responsibility from the state to the counties.

2012: California eliminates its Department of Mental Health and distributes its responsibilities among other state departments.

2013: The Mental Health Wellness Act injects about $143 million into increasing the capacity of the state’s mental health crisis response system.

2018: California voters pass a ballot measure called No Place Like Home to build and rehabilitate supportive housing for people with mental illness. The measure authorizes the use of Mental Health Services Act funds to pay for $2 billion in bonds.

That same year, Newsom is elected governor and vows to make mental health a major focus of his administration.

2020s: Newsom’s mental health agenda

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sheer number of people with mental illness on the streets, along with the fentanyl epidemic and a growing mental health crisis among children and teenagers, leads to increased public interest in mental health. The Newsom administration makes unprecedented investments and rolls out a steady stream of major policy changes. Critics decry some of these changes as moving the state toward more involuntary treatment.

2020: California passes a “groundbreaking” new state parity law, greatly expanding upon its earlier law and making it a national leader in requiring commercial health plans to provide mental health services.

2021: The Newsom administration allocates $4.6 billion in one-time funds for a Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative.

2022: The administration creates Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Courts, new court systems to address the needs of people with serious mental illness that have some echoes of Laura’s Law. This time, county participation is not optional.

That same year, a massive statewide effort called California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) begins rolling out, promising to expand and streamline access to mental health care for people insured by Medi-Cal, the public insurance program for low-income Californians.

2023: Newsom signs a law that amends the definition of “grave disability” that was originally laid out in the landmark 1967 law limiting involuntary confinement in the state. The amendment makes it easier to conserve people with serious mental illness — stripping them of their rights and entrusting their care to public guardians.

2024: Proposition 1 comes before the voters. If it passes, it will bring in billions of new funding for permanent supportive housing and treatment beds, and will place new parameters on how Mental Health Services Act funds are used.

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This timeline was reported with the help of dozens of news articles and government and academic reports, as well as interviews and historical information provided by a variety of individuals, including Steve Fields, Adrienne Shilton, Michelle Cabrera, Corey Hashida, Stacie Hiramoto, Randall Hagar, Diane Van Maren, Chad Costello and Alex Barnard’s 2023 book “Conservatorship: Inside California’s System of Coercion and Care for Mental Illness”

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Ina Mae Wilson was 67 years old. She departed this life on February 15, 2024. She was born October 22, 1956 to Carl Wilson Sr. and Mary Wilson.

Ina grew up and was raised in Humboldt County, graduating from Eureka High School. Ina began her life teaching at Hoopa Head Start and worked in daycares and youth groups. Several years she taught children from Weitchpec, Hoopa, Eureka, Fortuna and Loleta. Everywhere she went kids would be so happy to see her, they would say there’s Teacher Ina. Ina loved teaching and sharing the Yurok language to all the kids and loved singing church songs, nursery rhymes, Indian songs and at ceremonies too. She will be missed and she liked life every day

She was a Yurok tribal member and proud of it. She was known for her beadwork, baskets and had several other talents. Ina loved taking road trips with her longtime friend Sherri Aragon, Mama Theresa and Mr. Ed to church, or running away with her niece Mary Spott just to cruise to town to go eat, go shopping or have some fun. She loved an adventure and was always down to run away especially her rides with her niece Tina who was always making her smile, laugh, or doing crazy videos.

Ina moved away and returned home eventually and found her happiness when she moved to Loleta with her brother Robert and sister Susie, enjoying Sunday family dinners, beading time with all the nieces or going to yard sales with Susie. Soon she found her home back in Hoopa and got to spend time with her grandson Eric and her great-grand babies. Phone calls would be about how much fun she had playing with the boys and how big they got. When Eric came to visit, she loved cooking for him and spending time with him. Soon her granddaughter came along and stole her heart. Ina had lots of friends and family which will miss her daily.

Ina was an awesome mom, grandma, aunt and friend who had a contagious laugh and smile. She gave us all the best memories. Her love for her children was endless and she enjoyed spending time with them. A forever special moment she spoke about were her times on the road to Sun Dance or powwows with her son Harold. Ceremonies held a special place in her heart and she loved learning the traditional ways. Ina started many beading groups teaching many how to bead. If there was a gathering there she was selling her jewelry, Ina was a good person inside and out and lived life in happiness and making the best moments for herself, her family and friends.

Ina was preceded in death by her parents Carl Wilson Sr. and Mary Wilson, Her daughter Marie Marshall and several brothers and sisters Samuel Peters, Tony Peters, Bill William Wilson, Kathleen Sherman, Laura Bell Doolittle, Carol Wilson, Alberta Wilson. Several nieces, nephews and cousins. Survived by her son Harold Marshall and his Children Ki-kya Marshall her three kids Cody, Hazel, and Robert. Cha-gun Marshall, Ronald Marshall, Inaya and Redriver Marshall, grandson Eric Amos and wife Kyra and their three kids Edgie, Eric and Alisa, siblings - Robert and Susie Wilson, Carl Wilson Sr and Karen Spencer, adopted son Art and many nieces and nephews. She loved all of them. She had greater love for her niece Mary who she always would call and spent many of her last days with. Thank you, Mary, for always going to Hoopa to take care of her, take her food or bring her out town to have some fun. Thank you, Kim, for always being there and getting her and to anyone that called, stopped by to visit or took her out of the house. She loved and talked about everyone in her life. As we are all already lost without her, she is now dancing in heaven with all of her loved ones.

The memorial service and potluck will be held on February 24, 2024 at 1 p.m. at the Wiyot Tribe — 1000 Wiyot Drive, Loleta.

Ken Kelly passed away peacefully on February 1, 2024. He was born in Sacramento on October 26, 1973 to his mother, Dianne Kelly. He was the youngest of his two siblings, Mark and Kim. He grew up in Sacramento.

Ken spent four years in the United States Navy. He was a proud Seabee.

His only child, Caitlin, was born in 1998. He was a single father devoted to fatherhood. He won father of the year in 2006.

Ken struggled with drug addiction through most of his adult life. Despite this, he always did the best he could for people around him. He cared for his mother until she passed in 2018.

His granddaughter Estelle was born in 2017. From the day she was born, she was always his highest priority. He was the most dedicated grandfather. You could always tell that with everything he did, Estelle was always on his mind.

Ken turned his life around completely. He got clean. In 2020, he moved to Fortuna with his daughter. Shortly after, he got a job at Aegis, the methadone clinic in Eureka. That job was his life. He touched the lives of countless people working in the clinic. Before the cancer diagnosis, Ken was in school to become a drug counselor. His dream was helping others through their struggles just like he had faced.

Ken is predeceased by his mother, Dianne Kelly.

Ken is survived by his brother, Mark Kapogiannis, his sister, Kim Kapogiannis, his daughter, Caitlin Kelly, his son-in-law, Omar Arias, and his granddaughter, Estelle Quinteros.

Ken also leaves behind many friends and coworkers too numerous to name. His coworkers at Aegis, Ramona Arne, Tammy Myers, Kinza Umar, and many others, become a very special part of his life.

Ken touched many lives and will be greatly missed. Cancer took his life way too soon. From his family, to his friends, his coworkers, his patients at work, many people felt Ken’s affect on their lives.

A celebration of life with Navy honors will be held at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at 2 p.m. Anybody who knew Ken is welcome to attend.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Ken Kelley’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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Facing a formal investigation from the California Commission on Judicial Performance, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Gregory Kreis now has until the end of the month to submit a response to the inquiry’s 19 allegations of misconduct.

The original deadline to reply to the commission’s Notice of Formal Proceedings was this upcoming Thursday, Feb. 22. But in an email to the Outpost, Kreis’s San Francisco-based attorney, James A. Murphy, said he requested and was granted an extension to Feb. 29, which is just five days before Primary Election Day. 

Kreis, who was appointed to the bench by former California Gov. Jerry Brown in May 2017, is seeking re-election against challenger April Van Dyke and recently announced write-in candidate Jessica Watson.

The 19 allegations of judicial misconduct against Kreis include drug and alcohol use, antisemitism, inappropriate sexual behavior, prejudicial administration of justice and making false or misleading declarations in court proceedings.

Since news of the investigation first broke, the story has gone national, with coverage from CBS News, Rolling Stone magazine, the Guardian, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and other outlets. 

Kreis has called the allegations against him “salacious and false.”

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With two weeks to go before California’s official Primary Election Day, the Humboldt County Office of Elections has already received roughly 5,500 ballots.

“It is a surprisingly high turnout for this time of year,” said Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes.

During the last Presidential Primary Election, in 2020, a total of 47,969 ballots were cast, representing about 60.5 percent of registered voters at the time. If voters turn out in similar numbers this year, then that means more than 10 percent of the vote has already been cast. 

The county currently has 82,850 actively registered voters, though that number changes daily if not hourly, according to Cervantes. And if you’re hoping to vote in the upcoming election, today (Tuesday) is the last day to register. You can check your registration status and register to vote via the county’s elections website, here.

Cervantes, who was elected to office in 2022, said it’s difficult to compare this year’s early turnout numbers to last year’s because his office didn’t track data equivalently in 2023. But generally speaking, the percentage of Californians who vote absentee has climbed dramatically in recent years, due in large part to the state’s post-pandemic implementation of universal voting by mail. 

In the 2016 Presidential Primary, less than 59 percent of the ballots cast statewide were submitted by mail. Six years later, in 2022, that figure jumped to more than 91 percent. 

For more info on the local candidates running this go-round, head on over to our LoCO Elections page, where you can read responses to reader questions and submit your own.

And again, if you haven’t yet registered to vote on March 5, you have until the close of business today to do so. If you miss the deadline, California offers same-day voter registration, which allows people to register at vote centers and then cast a provisional ballot. That registration becomes valid and permanent once county elections officials process and validates the information.

Press release from Caltrans:

Caltrans invites the community to an Open House regarding the proposed Orleans Pedestrian and Bicyclist Connectivity Project on Tuesday, February 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. The event will be held at the Orleans Council Chambers located at 37960 Highway 96.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about a proposed shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists along State Route 96 from Camp Creek Road to East Perch Creek Road. The project aims to enhance safety and connectivity for all users, with other proposed features including elevated crosswalks, improved lighting, and dedicated infrastructure at key intersections.

Also as part of the engagement process, Caltrans encourages residents to participate in a survey to share their thoughts on bicyclist and pedestrian connectivity in Orleans. To take the survey, please visit tinyurl.com/surveyorleans.

The Orleans Pedestrian and Bicyclist Connectivity Project is a collaborative effort between Caltrans and the Karuk Tribe, with funding sought through the Active Transportation Program. Pending funding approval, project development is slated to commence in summer 2025, with construction anticipated to begin in 2029.

For more information and project updates, visit tinyurl.com/OrleansConnect.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On February 16, 2024, at about 11:17 a.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence on Wagner St., in the Trinidad area, for the report of a burglary in progress.

According to the reporting party, a work crew in the area had observed subjects suspected to be burglarizing a family home and had confronted the suspects. The suspects fled prior to arrival by HCSO deputies. Upon further investigation, it was determined that numerous firearms had been stolen from the residence.

Through further investigation and information gathered by deputies, two of the burglary suspects were identified as 40-year-old Dustin Craig and 51-year-old Theodore Nelson. The third suspect was later identified as 34-year-old Jordan Harris. On the morning of February 18, 2024, HCSO deputies served a search warrant related to this case at a residence in McKinleyville. During the service of that warrant, Craig and Harris were located and taken into custody by deputies.

Harris was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of burglary (PC459/461(a)), vandalism (PC594(b)(1)), conspiracy to commit a crime (PC182(a)(1)), grand theft of a firearm (PC487(d)(2)) and revocation of probation (PC1203.2(a)).

Craig was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of burglary (PC459/461(a)), vandalism (PC594(b)(1)), conspiracy to commit a crime (PC182(a)(1)), grand theft of a firearm (PC487(d)(2)) and prohibited person in possession of ammunition (PC30305(a)).

Nelson remains outstanding at this time and is wanted on charges of burglary (PC459/461(a)), vandalism (PC594(b)(1)), conspiracy to commit a crime (PC182(a)(1)), and grand theft of a firearm (PC487(d)(2)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.