BILL NUMBER: AB 861 VETOED DATE: 10/10/2015 To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 861 without my signature. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Services to mandate counties, as a condition of participation in a federal behavioral health demonstration program, to redirect a portion of any local savings to increasing housing opportunities for individuals with severe mental illness. The department has not been awarded the federal grant nor approved as one of eight states to participate in the federal demonstration program. As such, this bill is premature. Sincerely, Edmund G. Brown Jr.