MHAC Priority Legislation

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Quirk-Silva

Date: 08/26/2022

Status: Vetoed

Integrated school-based behavioral health partnership program: This bill would establish the Integrated School-Based Behavioral Health Partnership Program, to provide access to behavioral health services for pupils. The bill would authorize a county behavioral health agency and the governing body of a local educational agency to agree to collaborate on conducting a needs assessment and implement an integrated school-based behavioral health partnership program. The bill would require a county behavioral health agency to provide, through its own staff or through its network of contracted community-based organizations, one or more behavioral health professionals to serve pupils who have serious emotional disturbances or substance use disorders, or who are at risk of developing a serious behavioral health condition. The bill would require the local educational agency to provide school- based locations. For privately insured students, the partnership program is required to contact the private plan before initiating or during an assessment to determine if the student needs an urgent or nonurgent appointment and to facilitate a referral. If the private plan is able to provide an urgent appointment within 48 hours, or a nonurgent appointment within 15 business days, the program will facilitate the referral to the private plan’s network providers If appointments are not available in these timeframes, the behavioral health professional will complete the brief intervention services. If the pupil requires additional behavioral health services, and the plan cannot meet timely access standards for care delivery, the private plan and the county behavioral health agency would negotiate a single case agreement for reimbursement.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: MHAC Sponsored, Support

Author: Bauer-Kahan

Date: 09/29/2022

Status: Passed

Mental health 988 Crisis Line: The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act designates the 3-digit telephone number “988” as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This bill would require California 988 centers, by July 16, 2022, to provide a person experiencing a behavioral health crisis access to a trained counselor by call, and by January 1, 2027, provide access to a trained counselor by call, text, and chat. The bill would require mobile crisis teams, as defined, to respond to any individual in need of immediate suicidal or behavioral health crisis intervention in a timely manner in all jurisdictions, and would require any call made to 911 pertaining to a clearly articulated suicidal or behavioral health crisis to be transferred to a 988 center. The bill would require 988 centers to provide follow-up services to individuals accessing 988 consistent with guidance and policies established by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and within specified timelines. This bill will also establish a monthly fee on mobile phone and landline bills, similar to a fee charged for 911, to fund the 988 system.

Read the Bill

Related Documents

• Bill Fact Sheet

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Arambula

Date: 08/29/2022

Status: Vetoed

Prior authorization and step therapy: Existing law permits a health care provider or prescribing provider to appeal a denial of a step therapy exception request for coverage of a nonformulary drug, a prior authorization request, or a step therapy exception request, consistent with the current utilization management processes of the health care service plan or health insurer. Existing law also permits an enrollee or insured, or the enrollee’s or insured’s designee or guardian, to appeal a denial of a step therapy exception request for coverage of a nonformulary drug, prior authorization request, or step therapy exception request by filing a grievance under a specified provision, formulary drug, prior authorization request, or step therapy exception request. This bill would require a health care service plan’s or health insurer’s utilization management process to ensure that an appeal of a denial of an exception request is reviewed by a clinical peer of the health care provider or prescribing provider, as specified. The bill would require health care service plans and health insurers that require step therapy or prior authorization to maintain specified information, including, but not limited to, the number of exception requests for coverage of a nonformulary drug, step therapy exception requests, and prior authorization exception requests received by the plan or insurer, and, upon request, to provide the information in a deidentified format to the department or commissioner, as appropriate.

Read the Bill

Related Documents

• Bill Fact Sheet

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Salas

Date: 09/27/2022

Status: Vetoed

School-Based Health Center Support Program: Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, to establish a Public School Health Center Support Program to assist school health centers, which are defined as centers or programs, located at or near local educational agencies, that provide age-appropriate health care services at the program site or through referrals, as specified. This bill would rename the program as the School-Based Health Center Support Program and would redefine a school-based health center to mean a student-focused health center or clinic that is located at or near a school or schools, is organized through school, community, and health provider relationships, and provides age-appropriate, clinical health care services onsite by qualified health professionals. The bill would authorize a school-based health center to provide primary medical care, behavioral health services, or dental care services onsite or through mobile health or telehealth. This bill would increase planning, startup, and sustainability grant amounts.Existing law requires the State Department of Education to establish an Office of School-Based Health Programs for the purpose of assisting local educational agencies regarding the current health-related programs under the purview of the department. This bill would require the office to work with the State Department of Public Health in supporting the School-Based Health Center Support Program.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Arambula

Date: 08/25/2022

Status: Vetoed

Medi-Cal: behavioral health: individuals with vision loss: Would require the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to establish a pilot project to provide behavioral health services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are blind or have low vision, as a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Gabriel

Date: 09/30/2022

Status: Passed

Mental health professionals: natural disasters: This bill would require, by November 1, 2024, county offices of education to develop a system for rapidly deploying qualified mental health professionals and other key school personnel employed by individual school districts and charter schools throughout the county to areas of the county that experienced a natural disaster or other traumatic event. The bill would require single school district county offices of education to enter into agreements with at least one other county office of education that they share a border with.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Choi

Date: 08/26/2022

Status: Passed

Public postsecondary education: mental health hotlines student identification cards: This bill would authorize each campus of the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and the University of California to establish a campus mental health hotline for students to access mental health services remotely. The bill would require each campus of the California State University and California Community colleges, and request each campus of the University of California, with a campus mental health hotline to have printed on either side of student identification cards the telephone number of the campus mental health hotline. Amended 3/9/22 to also require each CSU campus and each California Community College Campus, and request each campus of the University of California, without a campus mental health hotline to have printed on the student identification card the telephone number of their city or county’s mental health hotline.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Salas

Date: 08/25/2022

Status: Vetoed

Behavioral Health Internship Grant Program: This bill would, subject to an appropriation, require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to develop and administer a grant program to allocate funding in the form of stipends, for students in behavioral health fields of study and practice, who are participating in unpaid internships or completing unpaid licensure hours at FQHCs. The bill would require the department, when making grants, to consider mental health professional shortage areas and underrepresented groups in the behavioral health workforce.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Wiener

Date: 09/30/2022

Status: Passed

Health care service plans: discipline: civil penalties: Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care to take disciplinary measures, including the imposition of civil penalties, against a licensee when the director determines that the licensee has committed an act or omission constituting grounds for disciplinary action. Under existing law, these civil penalties generally do not exceed $2500 per violation. Existing law also includes various provisions that assess specific civil and administrative penalties for certain violations. This bill would increase the base amount of the civil penalty to not less than $25,000 per violation, commencing January 1, 2024, which would be adjusted annually. The bill would multiply the amounts of other specified civil and administrative penalties by 4, commencing January 1, 2023 and would annually adjust those penalties. The bill would authorize the director to impose a corrective action plan to require future compliance with the act, under certain circumstances. If a health care service plan fails to comply with the corrective action plan in a timely manner, the bill would require the department to monitor the health care service plan through medical surveys, financial examinations, or other means necessary to ensure timely compliance.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Gonzalez

Date: 09/30/2022

Status: Passed

Medi-Cal managed care plans: Outreach and education: This bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to conduct annual outreach and education to its enrollees regarding the mental health benefits that are covered by the plan, and also to develop annual outreach and education to inform primary care physicians regarding those mental health benefits. The bill would require that the outreach and education efforts be informed by stakeholder engagement and the plan’s population needs assessment, and that the efforts meet cultural and linguistic appropriateness standards and incorporate best practices in stigma reduction. The bill would require DHCS to review and approve annual outreach and education efforts, and to consult with stakeholders to develop the standards for the review and approval. The bill would require DHCS to publish annual reports on its internet website on consumer experience with mental health benefits covered by Medi-Cal managed care plans. The bill would require the department to publish annual reports on its internet website on consumer experience with mental health benefits covered by Medi-Cal managed care plans. The bill would require the reports to include plan-by-plan data, provide granularity for subpopulations, address inequities based on key demographic factors, and provide recommendations.

Read the Bill

MHAC Position: Support

Author: McGuire

Date: 11/30/2022

Status: Died

Mental health workforce grants: This bill would require the department of Health Care Access and Information, in collaboration with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to establish a grant program to increase the number of mental health professionals serving children and youth. The bill would require the department to award up to 10,000 grants to postgraduate students over a 3-year period in amounts of up to $25,000 each. The bill would prescribe eligibility requirements for the grants, including that the student be enrolled on or after Jan. 1, 2022 in a California postgraduate program at an accredited school or department of social work or enrolled in a specified master’s or doctoral degree postgraduate program. The bill would require the student to make specified commitments, including a commitment to work with an eligible California-based nonprofit entity or a local educational agency for specified required supervised experience hours and a commitment that, upon completion of the postgraduate program, the student satisfies the requirements to become a registered associate clinical social worker, associate professional clinical counselor, or an associate MFT.

Read the Bill