MHAC Priority Legislation

MHAC Position: Oppose

Author: Hoover

Date: 04/18/2024

Existing law requires the Governor to create the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, and specifies the duties of the coordinating council to include creating partnerships among state agencies and departments, local government agencies, and specified federal agencies and private entities, for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs to collaborate with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First. This bill would repeal Housing First policies and related requirements, thereby removing the requirement on those state agencies and departments to incorporate core components of Housing First.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Carrillo

Date: 04/18/2024

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law authorizes the Director of Health Care Services to terminate a contract or impose sanctions if the director finds that a Medi-Cal managed care plan fails to comply with contract requirements, state or federal law or regulations, or the state plan or approved waivers, or for other good cause.Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2026, certain time and distance and appointment time standards for specified Medi-Cal managed care covered services, consistent with federal regulations relating to network adequacy standards, to ensure that those services are available and accessible to enrollees of Medi-Cal managed care plans in a timely manner, as specified.Under this bill, a Medi-Cal managed care plan would be deemed to be not in compliance with the appointment time standards if either (1) fewer than 85% of the network providers had an appointment available within the standards or (2) the department receives information establishing that the plan was unable to deliver timely, available, or accessible health care services to enrollees, as specified. Under the bill, failure to comply with the appointment time standard may result in contract termination or the issuance of sanctions as described above.Existing law requires a Medi-Cal managed care plan to submit a request for alternative access standards if the plan cannot meet the time or distance standards. Under existing law, a plan is not required to submit a previously approved request on an annual basis, unless the plan requires modifications to its request. Existing law requires the plan to submit this previously approved request at least every 3 years for review and approval when the plan is required to demonstrate compliance with time or distance standards.This bill would instead require a plan that has a previously approved alternative access standard to submit a renewal request on an annual basis, explaining which efforts the plan has made in the previous 12 months to mitigate or eliminate circumstances that justify the use of an alternative access standard, as specified. The bill would require the department to consider the reasonableness and effectiveness of the mitigating efforts as part of the renewal decision.Existing law requires a Medi-Cal managed care plan to demonstrate, annually and upon request by the department, how the plan arranged for the delivery of Medi-Cal covered services to Medi-Cal enrollees, with a report measuring compliance, as specified. Existing law requires the department to annually evaluate a plan’s compliance with the standards and to annually publish a report.This bill would, effective for contract periods commencing on or after July 1, 2025, require the plan’s and department’s reports to include certain information and require the department’s evaluation to be performed using a direct testing method, as specified. Under the bill, failure to comply with these provisions may result in contract termination or the issuance of sanctions.Existing law, as part of the federally required external quality review organization (EQRO) review of Medi-Cal managed care plans, requires the EQRO designated by the department to compile certain data, by plan and by county, for the purpose of informing the status of implementation of the above-described standards.This bill would require that the data include, effective for contract periods commencing on or after July 1, 2025, the number of requests for alternative access standards, categorized by new and returning patients, and the number of allowable exceptions for the appointment time standards, categorized by urgent and nonurgent appointment types and by new and returning patients.Under existing law, in lieu of contract termination, the director has the power and authority to require or impose a plan of correction and issue one or more of specified sanctions against a contractor for findings of noncompliance or good cause.This bill would require the department to monitor any plan of correction imposed by the director, with progress reported publicly no less than annually for the duration of the plan of correction.Existing law authorizes the director to impose monetary sanctions based on any of specified circumstances, including, among others, a contractor’s failure to comply with network adequacy standards, failure to submit timely and accurate network provider data, or failure to timely and accurately process grievances or appeals.This bill would set forth definitions for the terms of “timely” and “accurate network provider data.”

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Ramos

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would require, when jurisdiction of an inmate is transferred from or between a county correctional facility, a county medical facility, the State Department of State Hospitals, and a county agency caring for inmates, those agencies to disclose, by electronic transmission if possible, mental health records, as defined, regarding each transferred inmate who received mental health services while in custody of the transferring facility, as specified. The bill would require mental health records to be disclosed to ensure sufficient mental health history is available to ensure the continuity of mental health treatment of an inmate being transferred between those facilities.This bill would require all county behavioral health departments and contractors to establish and maintain a secure and standardized system for sharing inmate mental health records, as specified. The bill would require each county to prepare a report containing information about the effectiveness of the data sharing, the continuity of care measures, and an evaluation on the impact of inmate well-being, safety, and recidivism rates. The bill would require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2028. By imposing additional duties on local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require all transmissions made pursuant to these provisions to comply with specified provisions of state and federal law, including the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Low

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would authorize a licensee of a community care facility to approve an individual to care for children before the completion of another state’s child abuse and neglect registry check if certain specified conditions are met, including that the community care facility has submitted a request for the out-of-state abuse and neglect registry check to the department. The bill would require a licensee to remove an applicant from the community care facility  immediately upon receipt of information that would disqualify the applicant from approval and notify the department of the removal within 3 business days. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Wilson

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would enact the Interstate Counseling Compact (the Compact), the purpose of which is to facilitate interstate practice of licensed professional counselors, as specified. The Compact would come into effect on the date on which the Compact statute is enacted into law in the 10th “Member State,” defined as a state, commonwealth, district, or territory of the United States of America that has enacted the Compact. Under the Compact, a professional counselor licensed in a Member State would be authorized to practice professional counseling in any other Member State, as specified. The Compact would establish a joint public agency known as the Counseling Compact Commission, as a instrumentality of the Member States to administer the provisions of the Compact, as specified. The Compact would require the commission to provide for the development, maintenance, operation, and utilization of a coordinated database and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on all licensed individuals in Member States. The Compact would impose certain requirements on Member States, including requiring licensees to pass a nationally recognized exam approved by the Commission, and submitting certain information regarding licensees to the data system.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Valencia

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would exempt an unlicensed home for persons recovering from alcoholism or drug abuse in a neighborhood zoned for residential use from being considered a residential use of property when specified evidence demonstrates that the facility is an integral part of a licensed drug treatment facility located elsewhere.

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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: McCarty

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that authorizes the County of Sacramento and the Cities of Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, Folsom, Galt, and Isleton to create and operate a joint powers agency for the purpose of assisting the homeless population, coordinating homelessness response, and developing and managing a comprehensive strategic plan to address homelessness within the County of Sacramento.

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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.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Holden

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would require the department to prepare a document, and to post it on the department’s internet website, for the purpose of making available resource information for individuals who are released or discharged by a facility after being detained for evaluation and treatment. Under the bill, the information would relate to potential methods for covering any applicable costs resulting from evaluation and treatment services in a manner that eliminates or reduces any share of cost for the individual. The bill would require the document to contain certain information, including information on how the individual, if uninsured or underinsured, might be able to have the services be covered by any applicable public or private programs. The bill would require the document to include a blank section that each county would be required to use for adding county-specific resource information, as specified. The bill would require a county to post the completed document on the county’s internet website. The bill would require the above-described facilities to provide a copy of that document to a detained individual upon their release or discharge by the facility. By creating new duties for counties relating to the document, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Gabriel

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would require the state to survey and analyze the facilities in each county that can serve as an alternate destination facility. The bill would require a local emergency medical services agency to develop an alternate destination facility plan with protocols for transporting an individual to an alternate destination facility instead of an emergency department.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Curry

Date: 04/18/2024

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to seek any necessary federal approvals and issue appropriate guidance to allow an FQHC or RHC to bill, under a supervising licensed behavioral health practitioner, for an encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and an associate clinical social worker or associate marriage and family therapist when certain conditions are met, including, among others, that the FQHC or RHC is otherwise authorized to bill for services provided by the supervising practitioner as a separate visit. This bill would add a psychological associate to those provisions, requiring the department to seek any necessary federal approvals and issue appropriate guidance to allow an FQHC or RHC to bill for an encounter between a patient and a psychological associate under those conditions. The bill would make conforming changes with regard to supervision by a licensed psychologist as required by the Board of Psychology.

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MHAC Position: Watch

Author: Santiago

Date: 04/18/2024

Existing law, the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, governs the organization and financing of community mental health services for persons with mental health disorders in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

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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: Lackey

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would prohibit a ward from being held in secure confinement beyond 25 years of age under those provisions.

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