In 2004 California Voters approved a one percent tax on millionaires in the state to fund programs for the mentally ill and in Nevada County, the funding has made a dramatic impact. Besides funding Laua’s Law that

gives the county a tool to get treatment for individuals who are a danger to themselves or others because of their mental illness. It also provides funds for training in suicide prevention and depression screening.
click to listen to Becky Slade

Last year Nevada County received about $3.4 million and this fiscal year will receive $4.2 million. The exact amount depends on how well millionaires are doing in any given year.

click to listen to Becky Slade

Slade says suicide prevention and depression screening is a big part of what they do.

click to listen to Becky Slade
This year they are screening about 550 kids for depression, but Slade says they only do it with parents consent. Later this year the County is opening a new 4 bed Crisis Services Unit at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital that will allow the mentally ill to stay in the community to receive care. In the past mentally ill patients have been sent  as far away as Riverside County to find an open bed in a psychiatric hospital to receive the treatment they need.