MHAC Priority Legislation

MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Rodriguez

Date: 09/27/2022

Mental health: Office of Suicide Prevention: Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to establish the Office of Suicide Prevention within the department. Existing law authorizes the office to perform certain functions including, but not limited to, conducting state-level assessment of regional and statewide suicide prevention policies and practices and reporting on progress to reduce rates of suicide. This bill would authorize the office to additionally conduct local-level assessments of regional suicide prevention policies and practices, and would include emergency medical personnel and firefighters as a high- risk group. Existing law requires the office to consult with the MHSOAC to implement suicide prevention efforts. This bill would require the office to consult with the Office of Emergency Services to implement suicide prevention efforts for emergency medical personnel and firefighters throughout the states’ municipal fire service agencies and fire districts, and to solicit proposals for, and to contract for, an evidence-based curriculum to establish behavioral health peer-support programs for emergency medical personnel, local fire service agencies, and fire districts.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Carrillo

Date: 09/19/2022

Status: Passed

Pupil mental health: mental health assistance posters: This bill would require on or before the start of the 2023-24 school year, each schoolsite serving pupils in grades 6 to 12 must create a poster that identifies approaches and shares resources regarding pupil mental health. Each poster would be at least 8.5 by 11 inches and must include identification of common behaviors of those struggling with mental health, a list of schoolsite-specific resources, a list of positive coping strategies to use, and a list of negative coping strategies to avoid. The bill would require the poster to be prominently and conspicuously displayed at each schoolsite. The poster shall also be digitized and distributed online to pupils through social media, internet websites,portals, and learning platforms.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Bryan

Date: 02/07/2022

Status: Died

Reentry housing and workforce development program: Upon appropriation, this bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create the Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program, and would require the department to take specified actions to provide grants to applicants for innovative or evidence-based housing, housing-based services, and employment interventions to allow people with recent histories of incarceration to exit homelessness and remain stably housed.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Levine

Date: 08/29/2022

Status: Vetoed

Mental health services: This bill would require a health care service plan or a health insurance policy that includes coverage for mental health services to, among other things, approve the provision of mental health services for persons who are detained for 72-hour treatment and evaluation under the LPS Act and to schedule an initial outpatient appointment for that person with a licensed mental health professional on a date within 48 hours of the person’s release from detention.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Ward

Date: 09/25/2022

Status: Passed

Substance abuse treatment: certification: Existing law requires DHCS to require that a person providing counseling services within alcoholism or drug abuse recovery be registered with or certified by a certifying organization approved by the department. This requirement discourages qualified graduate student interns participating in supervised internships affiliated with graduate university programs in psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy, or counseling from working in SUD treatment programs by also requiring them to register with a certifying organization as if they were on the career path to become a certified SUD counselor. This bill would change statute to allow these qualified graduate student interns to complete their supervised internships at SUD treatment programs.

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Related Documents

• Bill Fact Sheet
• Template Support Letter

MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Garcia

Date: 09/18/2022

Status: Vetoed

Pupil Peer Support Training Program. This bill, subject to appropriation by the legislature, would establish the Pupil Peer Support Training Program. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop an application process and administration plan for the selection of grant recipients under the program before January 31, 2024. The bill would require the Superintendent to award Pupil Peer Support Training Program grants on a competitive basis to local educational agencies serving pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to establish a peer support training program at schools maintained by these local educational agencies. The bill would require a grant recipient to ensure that the training and ongoing supervision of pupils serving as peer supports be conducted by school staff holding a pupil personnel services credential.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Wood

Date: 09/30/2022

Status: Passed

Mental Health: Involuntary commitment: This bill would specify that the 72-hour period of evaluation and treatment under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act begins when the person is first detained. Existing law states that a certification hearing must take place within four days of the date on which a person is certified for a period of intensive treatment. This bill would instead require a certification hearing within 7 days of the date on which the person was initially detained pursuant to Section 5150.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Choi

Date: 06/20/2022

Status: Passed

Advanced health care directives: mental health treatment: Would amend current healthcare directives statutes to clarify that health care decisions under those provisions include mental health treatment. Would not create a separate psychiatric advance directive or a new statutory form for that purpose.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Ramos

Date: 09/27/2022

Status: Passed

Children’s psychiatric residential treatment facilities: This bill would require DHCS to license and establish regulations for psychiatric residential treatment facilities that provide psychiatric services to individuals under age 21 in an inpatient, non-hospital setting.

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Related Documents

• Bill Fact Sheet

MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Irwin

Date: 09/27/2022

Status: Passed

Existing law establishes the requirements for executing a written advance health care directive that is legally sufficient to direct health care decisions. Existing law provides a form that an individual may use or modify to create an advance health care directive. The statutory form includes a space to designate an agent to make health care decisions, as well as optional spaces to designate a first alternate agent and 2nd alternate agent. Existing law defines “health care decision,” as specified. Existing law authorizes an individual to provide an “individual health care instruction” as the individual’s authorized written or oral direction regarding a health care decision for the individual. Existing law confirms that the provisions relating to execution of advance health directives do not prohibit the execution of a voluntary standalone psychiatric advance directive. Existing law defines “advance psychiatric directive” as a legal document, executed on a voluntary basis by a person who has the capacity to make medical decisions and in accordance with the requirements for an advance health care directive in this division, that allows a person with mental illness to protect their autonomy and ability to direct their own care by documenting their preferences for treatment in advance of a mental health crisis.

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Related Documents

MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Cunningham

Date: 11/30/2022

Status: Died

Child users: addiction: This bill, the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, would impose on an operator of a social media platform a duty not to addict, as defined, child users and would, among other things, prohibit a social media platform from addicting a child user by any of certain means, including the use or sale of a child user’s personal data. The act would authorize a person authorized to assert the legal rights of a child user who suffers injury as a result of a violation of the act to bring an action against a violator to recover or obtain certain relief, including a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per violation per calendar year.

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Related Documents

• Bill Fact Sheet

MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Salas

Date: 09/25/2022

Status: Passed

Health care service plans: mental health and substance use disorders: provider credentials: Within health care service plans that provide coverage for mental health and substance use disorders, for provider contracts issued, amended or renewed after 1/1/2023, the health care service plan would be required to assess and verify the qualifications of a health care provider within 45 days after receiving a completed provider credentialing application.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Reyes

Date: 08/26/2022

Status: Vetoed

House California Challenge Program: This bill would establish the House California Challenge Program, to be administered by the California Health and Human Services Agency, for the purpose of providing direct rental assistance to help persons experiencing homelessness obtain housing. Upon appropriation, the bill would require HHS to allocate $1B for purposes of the program each fiscal year for 5 years.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Wiener

Date: 11/30/2022

Status: Vetoed

Controlled substances: overdose prevention program: This bill would create a pilot program for the City and County of San Francisco, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, and the City of Oakland to approve entities to operate overdose prevention programs that satisfy specified requirements including providing a hygienic space supervised by trained staff where people who use drugs can consume pre- obtained drugs, providing sterile consumption supplies, providing access or referrals to substance use disorder treatment, and that staff is authorized and trained to provide an opioid antagonist.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Wiener

Date: 09/27/2022

Status: Passed

Health Care Coverage: Timely access to care: This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to incorporate timely access to care standards into its quality assurance systems and incorporate specified processes. The bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care to develop methodologies to demonstrate appointment wait time compliance and averages. The bill would authorize DMHC and the Department of Insurance to take compliance or disciplinary action, review and adopt standards concerning the availability of health care to ensure enrollees and insureds have timely access to care and make recommendations to the Legislature if DMHC or DOI finds that health care service plans or health insurers and providers have difficulty meeting the standards the departments develop.

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