Bill Text: CA AB2951 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Mobile mental health crisis response teams.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-19 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2951 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2951-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 24, 2022 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2951
| Introduced by Assembly Member Salas |
February 18, 2022 |
An act to amend Section 131006 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health. add and repeal Section 5406 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to mental health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2951, as amended, Salas.
Public health. Mobile mental health crisis response teams.
Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others or to themselves, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Existing law authorizes specified individuals to take, or cause to be taken, a person into custody pursuant to these provisions, including, among others, designated members of mobile crisis teams.
Existing law also establishes, until January 1, 2026, the Medication-Assisted Treatment Grant Program, to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections. Existing law requires the board to award grants, on a competitive basis, to counties and authorizes counties that receive grants to use grant funds for various purposes relating to the treatment of substance use disorders and the provision of medication-assisted treatment, including for the purpose of funding mobile crisis teams of behavioral health professionals that can respond with law enforcement to mental health or other health crisis calls.
This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to establish a 5-year statewide pilot program to provide grants to cities to create mobile mental health crisis response teams. The bill would
require a city that receives a grant to ensure that, among other things, a mobile mental health crisis response team is a dispatch option when city employees respond to mental health emergency calls within the city. The bill would require a mobile mental health crisis response team funded with a grant to be staffed by licensed clinicians who have the legal authority to take, or cause to be taken, a person into custody pursuant to the above-described provisions. The bill would require a city that receives a grant to annually submit a report with specified information to the department. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029. The bill would further state the intent of the Legislature that the bill will ultimately include an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the purposes of the pilot program.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health in the California Health and Human Services Agency. Existing law authorizes the Governor, upon recommendation of the State Public Health Officer, to appoint no more than 2 chief deputies of the State Department of Public Health, as specified.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 5406 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:5406.
(a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall establish a five-year, statewide pilot program to provide grants to cities to create mobile mental health crisis response teams.(b) A city that receives grant funds pursuant to subdivision (a) shall ensure all of the following:
(1) That the mobile mental health crisis response team is a dispatch option when city employees respond to mental health emergency calls within the city.
(2) That the mobile mental health crisis response team is partnered with one or more local fire departments to provide services.
(3) That the mobile mental health crisis response team is permitted to respond to calls independently and in response to a request from a local fire department that is present at a location where the team’s services may be needed.
(c) A mobile mental health crisis response team funded with a grant awarded pursuant to this section shall be staffed by licensed clinicians who have the legal authority to take, or cause to be taken, a person into custody pursuant to Sections 5150 and 5585.
(d) A mobile mental health crisis response team funded with a grant awarded pursuant to this section may transport patients to a facility capable of providing mental health services and provide patients with immediate therapeutic support.
(e) A city that receives a grant pursuant to this section shall annually submit a
report to the department. The report shall include, at a minimum, all of the following information:
(1) The number of mobile mental health crisis response teams in use in the city.
(2) The number and type of staff on the teams.
(3) The number of crises the teams were dispatched to.
(4) Efficacy of the program on reducing workload for hospital emergency rooms and fire departments.
(5) The outcomes of patients who were provided care by the teams.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 2.
It is the intent of the Legislature that this act will ultimately include an appropriation of fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) for the purposes of the pilot program established pursuant to Section 5406 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.Upon recommendation of the State Public Health Officer, the Governor may appoint no more than two chief deputies of the State Department of Public Health, subject to confirmation by the Senate, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the Governor. The salaries of the chief deputies shall be fixed in accordance with law.
