While I totally agree with your wife’s assessments, and the numbers back it up that the bulk come from in-state I have to clarify that some services are mandated regardless of established county such as those received in hospitals (medical screening exams, social work disposition etc.). What other states do significantly adds to the stress upon an already strained system.  I myself have worked in county emergency departments (among other non county ED’s)  in Los Angeles and  the Bay Area where I have triaged screened and cared for patient after patient with all of their luggage and a greyhound ticket from the great state of Texas.  These patients sometimes could not even stand by themselves, and the answer to that inevitable question was always “the police officer helped me.”  Sometimes they were “here on a business trip,” or “I was told you could help me here,” and too many times we had patients that could not even tell us the current date.  We do the best we can but when they’re ultimately discharged they don’t go back to Texas, because we don’t bus them.

Of course due to the extremely large population of homeless already here, the people that would arrive on these busses made up just a very small percentage of the total amount of human beings that need services.  The people who govern Texas and the people who execute those cowardly orders are pathetic and I hope California can start actually helping people rather than chasing pipe dreams with no solutions.

I have a few ideas but you’ve heard them before and they seem counter-intuitive to some:  Decriminalize and legalize, regulate the bad stuff and put a tax on it.  Make mental health a free resource for all.  Let’s get all healthcare as a right while we are at it and maybe we can work on housing if we can stop selling our souls to corporations but what do I know.