(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), each county shall allocate for services to persons under age 18, 50 percent of the amount of any funding augmentation received for new or expanded mental health programs until the amount expended for mental health services to persons under age 18 equals not less than 25 percent of the county’s gross budget for mental health or not less than the percentage of persons under age 18 in the total population of the county, whichever percentage is less. Once achieved, this minimum ratio shall be maintained continuously thereafter.

(b) As used in this section, the term “new or expanded mental health programs” does not include any programs which are required by statute, or programs which provide alternatives to hospitalization for patients of state hospitals.

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(c) From each funding augmentation for new or expanded mental health programs, a county may allocate to persons under age 18 an amount less than the percentage required in subdivision (a) when a determination has been made by the governing body in a noticed public hearing that the need for new or expanded services to persons under age 18 does not exist or is less than the need for services to one or more specified groups of adults.

(Repealed and added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 89, Sec. 174. Effective June 30, 1991.)