Sacramento --

One of California's top elected officials, who is an advocate for mental health services, has asked the federal government to adopt the state's model for mental health treatment and to match state funding for services nationwide.

The move comes in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., that has spurred national discussion about gun violence and mental health issues.

In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, wrote that the nation needs to address the root causes of mental illness and expand access to services.

"It is necessary, but not sufficient, to simply impose restrictions on (gun) ownership by those with a mental illness diagnosis or adjudication," Steinberg wrote. In the letter, and in a press conference Thursday, he stressed that there is no correlation between mental illness and violent crime.

"There is a danger of linking mental illness to violence. It is a fact that most people suffering quietly from mental illnesses aren't criminals, let alone mass murders," Steinberg wrote.

Steinberg is the author of voter-approved Proposition 63, passed in 2004, which provides about $1 billion annually in funding for mental health services through an additional tax on the state's highest earners.

The measure, known as the Mental Health Services Act, is what Steinberg wants Biden to examine as part of the vice president's effort to identify new policies to combat gun violence. He also wants the federal government to consider a dollar-for-dollar match to states that expand their mental health services.

Steinberg said he estimates the cost to the federal government would be about $20 billion annually if other states adopted California's model. Prop. 63 provides funding for six areas: community services and supports; prevention and early intervention; accessibility; construction and technology for the state's mental health infrastructure; and workforce education and training to help expand the mental health workforce.

One outcome of this was a state strategic plan for suicide prevention. Steinberg also has created a website of mental health resources and contacts, broken down by county, at He said all members of the state Senate will have a link to that site on their official websites.

But even with the Prop. 63 funding, mental health services have been hit hard by budget cuts over the past few years. Programs that aren't part of the Prop. 63 mandate have been cut by about $700 million, Steinberg said.

That is by far the largest funding cut for mental health services of any state in the country, and between 2009 and 2011 California reduced its overall general fund spending on those programs by 16 percent, according to a report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
