Legislative Analyst reviews Newsom's $317 million IST package as felony waitlist tops 1,700
The Legislative Analyst's Office devoted one of three sections of its March 2022 brief to the Incompetent to Stand Trial Workgroup solutions package. It said the felony IST waitlist, typically around 800 before the pandemic, had grown to more than 1,700 by December 2021, with average waits for treatment above 100 days.
The governor proposed an additional $317 million one-time and $33.6 million ongoing, bringing planned IST spending to $571.6 million in 2022-23 when combined with earlier funding. The LAO called the priorities reasonable but said more is needed on underlying drivers of referrals, flagged state-mandate questions about a proposed cap on county felony IST referrals, and urged the Legislature to use the budget process to shape the package.
The brief covers behavioral health housing and mobile crisis proposals as well, so the IST material is one part of a larger document.
Source: The 2022-23 Budget: Analysis of the Governor's Major Behavioral Health Proposals — California Legislative Analyst's Office
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