SALEM — Groups that have lobbied for Oregon to expand programs to prevent people with mental illness from cycling through the criminal justice system were encouraged this week to see funding included in the governor’s budget proposal.

The Association of Oregon Counties and Association of Oregon Community Health Programs asked Gov. John Kitzhaber for $50 million in grants to counties to create local programs during the next two-year budget cycle. Although the groups were still learning details of the governor’s budget on Wednesday, they said the governor’s proposal included at least a portion of what they had requested. The two associations have also drafted legislation that they might pursue in the 2015 legislative session in an effort to obtain the full $50 million in state grants.

County officials want to build upon nearly $11 million the Legislature approved in 2013, to support local programs aimed at responding to mental health crises and diverting people from unnecessarily winding up in jails. In 2013, an AOC survey of 24 Oregon jails found that two-thirds of pre-trial inmates had mental illness or substance use disorders.

“The people we’re talking about here are committing nuisance crimes that are annoying, and odd types of behavior in public,” said Cherryl Ramirez, executive director of Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs. “You keep putting people in jail, and pretty soon the jail becomes the de facto mental institution … Although some people with mental illness and substance use disorders need to go to jail, most, we believe, are better served in the community, in treatment.”

Under the AOC proposal, counties would develop their own plans for mental health services to divert people from jails, then apply for grants through Oregon Addictions and Mental Health Services. Proposals could include everything from specialty mental health courts and respite centers, to crisis intervention training for law enforcement officers and transitional housing.

The Association of Oregon counties held a series of public safety summits earlier this year in Curry, Jackson, Columbia and Umatilla counties. “And the message that came out of it loud and clear from the public safety community, county commissioners and mental health community was there has to be a way to reduce the cost of incarcerating mentally ill people,” said Eric Schmidt, communications manager for Association of Oregon Counties.

Ramirez said many counties have already started programs on their own to try to keep people with mental illness from landing in jail for minor offenses. “But on a statewide level to get everybody on a level of consensus, that takes some work,” Ramirez said. “I think everyone agreed that having individuals with mental illness in jail is not a good plan.”

In Clatsop County, Sheriff Tom Bergin said he would like to see the state expand grants to counties for local mental health services.

“The majority of the problem is at the county level because the mental illness occurs on the streets,” Bergin said Wednesday.

However, Clatsop County law enforcement and mental health professionals haven’t waited for the state to expand funding to keep mentally ill people out of the justice system. Although Bergin declined to provide details ahead of an official announcement, he said several groups will soon open a respite center where police and sheriff’s deputies can take people with mental illness, instead of booking them into jail on suspicion of nuisance crimes.

Bergin said law enforcement in Clatsop County encounter many people who developed mental illness as a result of using methamphetamine and other drugs.

“It’s just stupid stuff,” Bergin said. One recent example involved a man who repeatedly walked into a barbershop and sat down, perhaps to warm up after being outside. Bergin said the two women who operate the business did not mind the first time.

“Then half an hour later, he’d come back and sit down again,” and started to do other things such as pour sugar onto the floor, Bergin said. “Finally (law enforcement) had to arrest him for criminal trespass.”

Once someone is in jail, the person often does not receive treatment and his or her mental health might further deteriorate. “They don’t get better,” Bergin said. Many of these people also take up jail beds that law enforcement might need for suspects in more serious crimes and although Bergin said some mentally ill people suspected of crimes do belong in jail, “the majority can get help another way and become productive citizens again.”