CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Mental Health Bill Fails Assembly Test

An emergency measure that would allocate $15 million for community mental health programs failed to pass in the Assembly, but its author promised to try again next week. The vote was 51-19, but the bill by Assemblyman Bruce Bronzan (D-Fresno) needed 54 votes, or two-thirds of the house, to be sent to the desk of Gov. George Deukmejian, who has said he will veto it. The bill would restore some of the mental health money that Deukmejian vetoed from the state budget last year. Bronzan argued that county mental health programs are being forced to cut back in the wake of budget reductions. The funds would provide a 5% increase in current financing to cover inflation and population growth and give counties that have suffered the most severe cuts extra money to bring them up to the level of counties that receive more funds.