FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | May 14, 2021

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Governor’s Revised Budget also proposes supporting crime victim services and increased investments in mental health resources for Californians impacted by the justice system; state has record Prop 47 savings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Gavin Newsom today proposed a $200 million investment in the California Violence Intervention and Prevention program that supports proven community-based violence reduction initiatives, such as hospital-based intervention and street outreach programs. 

Newsom’s revised budget also proposes to allocate $100 million for victim services to offset a loss in federal Victim of Crime Act grants. The governor’s spending plan also outlines increased investments of $250 million in mental health resources for Californians as a preventive alternative to people entering the justice system and incarceration. The May revision also contains more than $116 million in savings from reduced incarceration attributable to Proposition 47, money that will be reallocated back to local communities for crime prevention programs like drug treatment, medical and mental health programs. 

“The governor’s revised budget proposal reflects many of the urgent public safety priorities of our state,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice. “As we emerge from a pandemic that has been devastating to the health and safety of Californians, this budget rightly invests in violence prevention at the community level, crime victim services, and mental health programs that divert people from incarceration that worsens their conditions. Too many communities have been harmed by the decades of underinvestment in their safety and wasteful spending on over-incarceration, leading this global health crisis to compound those problems and increase community violence. The governor’s budget is an important step in the right direction towards aligning state investments with critical safety priorities that actually make us safer.”