Bill Text: CA AB2666 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled

California Assembly Bill 2666 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Behavioral health internship grant program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2022-09-25 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2666 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB2666-Enrolled.html

Enrolled August 25, 2022

Passed IN Senate August 23, 2022

Passed IN Assembly May 23, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2666

Introduced by Assembly Member Salas

February 18, 2022

An act to add Chapter 1.6 (commencing with Section 127840) to Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to behavioral health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2666, Salas. Behavioral health internship grant program.

Existing law establishes various health professions education programs within the Department of Health Care Access and Information, through which scholarships, loan repayment grants, recruitment or training services, or other benefits are provided to certain health professionals, including mental health service providers, physicians, registered nurses, and vocational nurses, if they meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes the department to award competitive grants to expand the supply of certain behavioral health professionals serving children and youth, as specified.

This bill would, subject to an appropriation, require the department to establish and administer a grant program to allocate funding in the form of stipends, to be distributed to students in behavioral health fields of study and practice, who are participating in internships or completing licensure hours, through unpaid positions, at federally qualified health centers. The bill would require the department, in making grant determinations, to consider mental health professional shortage areas, as defined, and underrepresented groups in the behavioral health workforce.

The bill would require the department to collect data in order to evaluate the impact of the grant program on serving the behavioral health needs of the patient community and the diversity of the behavioral health workforce, as specified. The bill would require the department to prepare annual reports based on the evaluation and to publish the annual reports on its internet website.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Chapter 1.6 (commencing with Section 127840) is added to Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

CHAPTER 1.6. Behavioral Health Internship Grant Program

127840.

(a) Upon an appropriation by the Legislature for the purposes described in this section, the Department of Health Care Access and Information shall establish and administer a grant program to allocate funding, in the form of stipends, to be distributed to students in behavioral health fields of study and practice, who are participating in internships or completing licensure hours, through unpaid positions, at federally qualified health centers.

(b) In determining the allocation of stipends based on applications submitted by the students, the department shall consider mental health professional shortage areas and underrepresented groups in the behavioral health workforce.

(c) (1) The department shall collect data, from the grant recipients and the federally qualified health centers affiliated with those recipients, in order to evaluate the impact of the grant program on serving the behavioral health needs of the patient community and the diversity of the behavioral health workforce by various demographic characteristics, including, but not limited to, languages spoken, race, and ethnicity.

(2) The department shall prepare annual reports based on the evaluation described in paragraph (1), excluding any personally identifiable information, and shall publish the annual reports on its internet website.

(d) For purposes of this chapter, “mental health professional shortage area” means an area designated as such by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.