Prior Priority Legislation

MHAC Position: Support

Author: Padilla

Date: 04/26/2024

This bill would require the office, on or before January 1, 2027, to update the State Emergency Plan to include proposed policies and best practices for local government and nongovernmental entities to equitably serve LGBTQ+ communities during an emergency or natural disaster. The bill would require the office to coordinate with specified representatives from LGBTQ+ communities in complying with this requirement and would make related findings and declarations.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Cortese

Date: 04/22/2024

This bill would require a health care service plan and a disability insurer, and an entity acting on a plan’s or insurer’s behalf, to ensure compliance with specific requirements for utilization review, including maintaining telephone access during California business hours for a health care provider to request authorization for mental health and substance use disorder care and conducting peer-to-peer discussions regarding specific patient issues related to treatment. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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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.

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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.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Wahab

Date: 04/26/2024

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 and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions.This bill would require a plan or insurer subject to the above-described coverage requirement, and its delegates, to establish a process to reimburse providers for mental health and substance use disorder treatment services that are integrated with primary care services and provided under a contract or policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Wahab

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would add to the Youth Bill of Rights the right to not be deprived of mental health resources, including daily access to counselors, therapists, mentors, or any related services necessary for mental well-being, rehabilitation, and the promotion of positive youth development while detained in a juvenile facility.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Eggman

Date: 04/26/2024

This bill would authorize a county to report to the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance a complaint about a health care service plan’s or a health insurer’s failure to make a good faith effort to contract or enter into an agreement with the county to obtain reimbursement for behavioral health crisis services, or to timely reimburse the county for services the plan or insurer is required to cover by state or federal law, and would require the respective department to timely investigate the complaint.

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MHAC Position: Support

Author: Blakespear

Date: 06/22/2025

The measure proposes designating the week of May 5, 2025, as Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week.

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MHAC Position: Support, MHAC Sponsored

Author: Pellerin

Date: 04/18/2024

This bill would recognize the 3rd week of May 2024 as Peer Appreciation Week in California.

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