MHSA Fiscal Transparency Glossary

Adjustments are used to correct or re-characterize MHSA expenditures reported in prior Fiscal Years on the Adjustments worksheet. Counties may report adjustments to the amount of MHSA funds expended for any component, the amount of MHSA funds transferred to or from the Prudent Reserve, or the amount of interest earned.

Counties receive monthly a MHSA allocation from the State Controller’s Office (SCO) based on the prior month’s tax collection.

Each year, counties are required to submit Mental Health Plans (MHPs) which detail actual expenditures for Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) activities by program and funding source, according to rules set by the Department of Health Care Services. These Annual Revenue and Expenditure Reports (RERs) are due within six months of the close of the State fiscal year (June 30). Annual RERs should reflect only actual expenditures for programs authorized for that fiscal year in an approved 3 Year Plan or Annual Update.

Mental Health Services Act, § 3510

This component provides funding to enhance the infrastructure needed to support implementation of the MHSA, which includes improving or replacing existing technology systems and/or developing capital facilities to meet increased needs of the local mental health system.

The Fiscal Dashboard provides end-of-year balances for each county by Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) component and fiscal year. Currently, the Fiscal Dashboard provides fund balance statements only for county distributions specifically from MHSA funds (including any interest earned). The dashboard does not reflect fund balances for other funding sources used on MHSA programs, such as State-Local Realignment Funds received by the counties for mental health (per the 1991 Realignment or the Behavioral Health Subaccount/2011 Realignment) or for “other funds” (other, miscellaneous funding sources). 

The Closing Balance displayed in the Fiscal Dashboard is the cash balance held by each County outside of its MHSA “Prudent Reserve” account.

The Community Services and Supports (CSS) component is the largest component of Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) programming by funding. Counties receive 76 percent of their MHSA funds as CSS funding. These funds are designed to address the unmet needs of adults with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) and children and youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED). CSS consists of four program service types: Full Service Partnerships (FSP), General System Development, Outreach and Engagement, and the MHSA Housing Program. A portion of CSS funds may be transferred each year to fund Workforce Education and Training (WET), Capital Facilities and Technological Needs (CFTN), or the Prudent Reserve.

Counties must spend CSS funds by within three fiscal years or five fiscal years for Counties with populations under 200,000.

Expenditure presented here represents Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funded program costs from various funding sources. Counties are required to report as expenditures the costs of any goods or services received during the reporting period, whether those costs have yet been paid or invoiced. Hence, reported expenditures do not include contractual encumbrances or other obligations for future expenditure.

Current law specifies that, other than Prudent Reserve dollars, Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds allocated to a County Mental Health Plan (MHP) must be spent within specified timeframes or shall revert to the State for reallocation to other Counties in future years. Community Services and Supports (CSS), Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI), and Innovation (INN) components must be spent within three years (or within five years for Counties with populations of 200,000 or less). Other MHSA components must be spent within ten years of allocation.

Mental Health Services Act, § 5892.1

This refers to time-limited projects funded under the Innovation component of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) . The component provides California the opportunity to develop, test, and scale new approaches to service delivery, with the goal of significantly improving mental health services and their outcomes. Five percent of County MHSA revenue each year is reserved for funding Innovative Projects. An Innovative Project has a maximum duration of five years and must be approved both locally and by the MHSOAC before a County may expend Innovation Funds.

The MHSOAC Transparency Suite uses “County” and “Mental Health Plan” interchangeably. In California, Medi-Cal mental health waivers establish MHPs as the agencies responsible for providing psychiatric inpatient hospital and outpatient Specialty Mental Health Services within their regions. The 59 County MHPs include 57 County regions (including Sutter and Yuba Counties combined as one region) along with two city regions, the City of Berkeley and Tri-City (Pomona, Claremont, and La Verne within Los Angeles County), respectively. Under the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), Mental Health Plans also are the local administrative agencies for MHSA-funded programs. 

Welfare and Institutions Code (W&I) Section 5891 (c) requires Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) to provide the State Controller’s Office (SCO) a schedule for the distribution of funds from the Mental Health Services Fund to each local county Mental Health Service Fund on a monthly basis. DHCS developed this allocation schedule using a methodology established in FY 2005-06 by the former Department of Mental Health, in consultation with the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California (CBHDA). In FY 2015-16, DHCS amended the methodology by removing the uninsured population as a factor. To learn more about how allocation is determined please reference DHCS’ information notice 20-38, https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/Pages/2020-BH-Information-Notices.aspx.

MHSA funds come with pre-defined time windows. If counties fail to spend the funds within designated time windows, they are required to send funds back to the State. When counties receive MHSA allocation, those funds are tracked by its components and allocation year in order to calculate funds that are subject to reversion.

This is a funding source on the Annual Revenue and Expenditure Reports (RERs) as displayed on the Fiscal Dashboard. Other Funds is a residual category including any funding sources not otherwise identified. It may include local revenue sources and federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant funding, for example. Prior to Fiscal Year 2016-17, many Counties included Federal Financial Participation (FFP) reimbursements in this category. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2016-17, Counties were required to separately report FFP reimbursements as expenditures for programs and components on their Annual Revenue and Expenditure Reports (RERs).

This is a program component area of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). The goal of the Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) component of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) is to help counties implement services that promote wellness, foster health, and prevent the suffering that can result from untreated mental illness. Counties in most circumstances are required to have at least one stand-alone program for five PEI program types: Early Intervention; Outreach for Increasing Recognition of Early Signs of Mental Illness (Outreach); Prevention; Access and Linkage to Treatment; and Stigma and Discrimination Reduction. Counties optionally may also fund stand-alone Suicide Prevention programs and Programs to Improve Timely Access to Services for Underserved Groups (Improving Timely Access).

The Fiscal Dashboard displays information on Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) related Revenue reported in County Annual Revenue and Expenditure Reports (RERs), including MHSA Allocation, local interest earnings on those distributions, and unspent MHSA funds from prior years. Counties are required to base their 3-Year Plans and Annual Updates on unspent funds held over from prior years (Closing Balance) and estimates of new revenue to be received during the period covered by the plan or update. For the purpose of calculating fiscal reversion, transfers from a County’s Prudent Reserve into local MHSA component accounts also are treated as revenue in the year in which they are transferred.

Counties may move funds allocated to the Community Support and Services (CSS) component to fund Capital Facilities and Technological Needs (CFTN), Workforce Education and Training (WET), and a prudent reserve (PR). Counties must report such fund movement in their annual Revenue and Expenditure Report.

The Fiscal Dashboard displays information on Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) related Revenue reported in County Annual Revenue and Expenditure Reports (RERs), including MHSA Allocation, local interest earnings on those distributions, and unspent MHSA funds from prior years. Counties are required to base their 3-Year Plans and Annual Updates on unspent funds held over from prior years (Closing Balance) and estimates of new revenue to be received during the period covered by the plan or update. For the purpose of calculating fiscal reversion, transfers from a County’s Prudent Reserve into local MHSA component accounts also are treated as revenue in the year in which they are transferred.