SB 1206: No Place Like Home Act of 2018.

The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, imposes a 1% tax on that portion of a taxpayers taxable income that exceeds $1,000,000 and requires that the revenue from that tax be deposited in the Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs.

Existing law, known as the No Place Like Home Program, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to award $2,000,000,000 among counties to finance capital costs, including, but not limited to, acquisition, design, construction, rehabilitation, or preservation, and to capitalize operating reserves, of permanent supportive housing for the target population, as specified. Existing law establishes the No Place Like Home Fund, requires specified moneys to be deposited in the fund, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund for these purposes. Existing law authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority and the department to enter into service contracts pursuant to the program related to permanent supportive housing, and further authorizes the authority to issue taxable or tax-exempt revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000,000 and to make secured or unsecured loans to the department in connection with financing permanent supportive housing pursuant to the department. Existing law establishes and continuously appropriates the Supportive Housing Program Subaccount in the Mental Health Services Fund and requires the Controller to transfer from that fund to the subaccount an amount necessary to cover the costs the authority is required to pay to the department pursuant to a service contract with the department, as provided.

This bill would enact the No Place Like Home Act of 2018 and provide for submission of that act to the voters at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election. The bill would include any appropriation or transfer to the No Place Like Home Fund from the General Fund or other funds as moneys required to be paid into the No Place Like Home Fund. The bill would specify that the service contracts between the authority and the department may be single-year or multiyear contracts and provide for payments to the department from amounts on deposit in the Supportive Housing Program Subaccount. The bill would declare that the voters ratify as being consistent with and in furtherance of the MHSA, and approve for purposes of specified provisions of the California Constitution relating to debt, specified statutes related to the No Place Like Home Program and related financial provisions. The bill would also authorize the Legislature to appropriate for transfer moneys in the Mental Health Services Fund to the Supportive Housing Program Subaccount, and continuously appropriate those moneys for further transfer to the No Place Like Home Fund to be used for purposes of the No Place Like Home Program. The bill would provide that any amount appropriated and deposited in the No Place Like Home Fund pursuant to these provisions would reduce the amount of authorized but unissued bonds that the California Health Facilities Financing Authority may issue, as described above, by a corresponding amount.

Existing law contains provisions related to elections and voting, including a requirement that a measure submitted to the people by the Legislature appear on the ballot of the first statewide election occurring at least 131 days after the adoption of the proposal by the Legislature and that the Secretary of State mail state voter information guides to voters.

This bill would require the Secretary of State, notwithstanding specified provisions of existing law relating to elections and voting, to submit the No Place Like Home Act of 2018 to the voters for their approval at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.