Bill Text: CA AB2700 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Emergency medical services: alternate destinations.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2700 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2700-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 11, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2700

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Introduced by Assembly Member Gabriel

February 14, 2024

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An act to amend Section 50675.1 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing. add Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 1870) to Division 2.5 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to emergency medical services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2700, as amended, Gabriel. Multifamily Housing Program. Emergency medical services: alternate destinations.

Existing law authorizes a county to develop an emergency medical services (EMS) program, and requires a county developing that program to designate a local EMS agency. Existing law authorizes a local EMS agency to develop a community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program that, among other things, selects providers to triage individuals to mental health facilities and sobering centers as alternates to emergency departments. Existing law requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to develop and, after approval by the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, adopt regulations and establish minimum standards for the development of those programs.

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.

Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing, including the Multifamily Housing Program, pursuant to which the department provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development for specified activities.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the provision that names the Multifamily Housing Program.

Digest Key

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

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 1870) is added to Division 2.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

CHAPTER  15. Alternate Destination Facility Plans

1870.

 For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Alternate destination facility” means a treatment location that serves as an alternative to an emergency department, including a mental health facility or sobering center.

(b) “EMS” means emergency medical services.

(c) “Mental health facility” means a facility that is licensed or certified as a mental health treatment facility or a hospital, as defined in subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 1250, by the State Department of Public Health, and may include a licensed psychiatric hospital, a licensed psychiatric health facility, or a certified crisis stabilization unit. An authorized mental health facility may also be a psychiatric health facility licensed by the State Department of Health Care Services. The facility shall be staffed at all times with at least one registered nurse.

(d) “Sobering center” means a noncorrectional facility that is staffed at all times with at least one registered nurse, that provides a safe, supportive environment for intoxicated individuals to become sober, and that meets any of the following requirements:

(1) The facility is a federally qualified health center, including a clinic described in subdivision (b) of Section 1206.

(2) The facility is certified by the State Department of Health Care Services Substance Use Disorder Compliance Division to provide outpatient, nonresidential detoxification services.

(3) The facility has been accredited as a sobering center under the standards developed by the National Sobering Collaborative.

1871.

 The state shall survey and analyze the facilities in each county that can serve as an alternate destination facility. The Emergency Medical Services Authority shall publish a report on its internet website that provides each local emergency services agency with the current number, capacity, and type of alternate destination facilities, as well as the needed number, capacity, and type of alternate destination facilities necessary to meet current demand for services.

1872.

 (a) A local EMS agency, in consultation with the county department or departments relevant to behavioral health within its jurisdiction, shall develop an alternate destination facility plan with protocols for transporting an individual to an alternate destination facility instead of an emergency department.

(b) The plan developed pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:

(1) Ensure that transportation to an emergency department is no longer the default protocol for an individual in need of mental or behavioral health care services.

(2) Utilize existing facilities identified in the report published pursuant to Section 1871.

SECTION 1.Section 50675.1 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

50675.1.

(a)This chapter shall be known as the Multifamily Housing Program.

(b)Assistance provided to a project pursuant to this chapter, excluding assistance provided pursuant to Section 50675.1.1 or 50675.1.3, shall be provided in the form of a deferred payment loan to pay for the eligible costs of development as hereafter described, or as otherwise specified in subdivision (b) of Section 50675.15.

(c)Except as provided in paragraph (3), on and after January 1, 2008, of the total assistance provided under this chapter, the percentage that is awarded for units restricted to senior citizens, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 51.3 of the Civil Code, shall be proportional to the percentage of lower income renter households in the state that are lower income elderly renter households, as reported by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development on the basis of the most recent American Community Survey or successor survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau.

(1)The department shall be deemed to have met its obligation under this subdivision if the assistance awarded is not less than 1 percent below the proportional share.

(2)This subdivision does not require the department to provide loans to projects that fail to meet minimum threshold requirements under subdivision (b) of Section 50675.7.

(3)Assistance for projects funded pursuant to Section 50675.1.1 or 50675.1.3, and assistance for projects meeting the definition in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 50675.14 shall be excluded from the total assistance calculation under this subdivision.

(4)The department shall determine the time period over which it will measure compliance with this section, but that period shall not be less than one year or two funding cycles, whichever period is longer.

(5)If, at the end of the time period determined by the department, the total amount of funding for which sponsors have submitted qualified applications is lower than the proportional share, the department may award the remaining funds to units that are not restricted to senior citizens.

(6)The department’s annual report to the Legislature submitted under Section 50408 shall include a breakdown of funding awards between units restricted to senior citizens and units that are not age-restricted.

(d)This chapter shall be administered by the department and the department shall establish the terms upon which loans or grants may be made consistent with the provisions of this chapter.

(e)In any notice of funding availability offered pursuant to this chapter, or for any funding that is to be offered by using rating and ranking criteria that is consistent with the Multifamily Housing Program or the CalHome program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650), the department may require applicants to specify the source and amount of funding being applied for. The requirement may be set forth in either the application materials or notice of funding availability. Any requirement imposed by the department pursuant to this subdivision shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(f)Any reference outside this chapter to rating and ranking applications in a manner consistent with the Multifamily Housing Program or CalHome Program authorized by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50650), or administering funds consistent with the Multifamily Housing Program or CalHome Program, shall not be interpreted to authorize funding criteria or requirements that conflict with those that are or were approved by the voters through a statewide initiative or referendum.

(g)This section shall become operative on January 1, 2022.