Saratoga, Calif. — California reached a milestone in modernizing behavioral healthcare as Proposition 1 went into effect statewide on July 1, advancing reforms to the state's behavioral health delivery system.
Saratoga, a Santa Clara County city of about 31,000 residents, sits in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains roughly 40 miles southeast of San Francisco.
The California Department of Health Care Services said the Behavioral Health Transformation project implements Proposition 1, which voters passed to modernize the behavioral health delivery system, improve accountability, increase transparency and expand the capacity of behavioral health care facilities. The measure includes up to $6.4 billion in bonds to build new supportive housing and community-based treatment settings.
As part of the transformation, the department launched the Individual Service Level encounter reporting system, which it described as a major step forward in modernizing California's behavioral health data infrastructure. The system provides a standardized statewide view of individual-level, non-Medi-Cal behavioral health services that county behavioral health systems and their provider networks deliver to clients.
Counties will have a six-month trial period beginning July 1, 2026, during which submitted data will not be used for reporting or oversight, the department said. Mandatory reporting begins January 1, 2027.
Proposition 1 was created through two legislative bills, the Behavioral Health Services Act and the Behavioral Health Bond Act. The Department of Health Care Services said the transformation complements other state behavioral health initiatives, including the CalAIM initiative, the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative and the 988 crisis line expansion.