Signed

AB 2083 (Cooley) Foster Youth: trauma-informed system care: Support – Signed. This bill will require counties to work with local agencies and entities to develop Memorandums of Understanding to ensure coordination of services for foster youth who have experienced trauma. It would also require the state to establish an interagency placement resolution team to provide guidance and technical assistance on identifying and securing the appropriate trauma-informed services.  CSAC supported this measure as a positive step towards improving access to services, support, and outcomes for foster youth who have experienced severe trauma.

AB 2099 (Gloria) Mental health: detention and evaluation: Support – Signed. This bill will allow a copy of the paperwork for an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold to be treated the same as the original. CSAC supported this bill to address recent problems involving denials of care due to providers refusing to accept digital or photocopies of the required legal paperwork.

AB 2821 (Mayes) Integrated and comprehensive health and human services system: Support – Signed. This bill will allow all counties with an integrated health and human services agency more flexibility with 2011 Realignment funding upon providing a county resolution to the California Health and Human Services agency for approval. CSAC supported this measure to allow counties more flexibility in spending 2011 Realignment revenue.

AB 2861 (Salas) Medi-Cal: telehealth: substance use disorders: Support – Signed. This bill requires the Department of Health Care Services to allow Medi-Cal billing for Drug Medi-Cal certified providers delivering services through telehealth.  CSAC supported this bill as an important expansion of access to substance use disorder treatment.

AB 2983 (Arambula) Health care facilities: voluntary: Support – Signed. This bill prohibits acute care and psychiatric hospitals from placing a patient who is voluntarily seeking health care on a 5150 psychiatric hold as a condition of accepting a transfer. CSAC supported this measure to address the practice of using the 5150 hold to admit individuals who are voluntarily seeking services.

SB 192 (Beall) Mental Health Services Fund: Support – Signed. This bill establishes a Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Reversion Account for unspent MHSA funds, a prudent reserve calculation, and a timeline for counties to submit the unspent funds to the account. CSAC supported this measure which provides counties with clear direction for MHSA reserve standards.

SB 688 (Moorlach) Mental Health Services Act: revenue and expenditure reports: Support – Signed. This bill requires the Mental Health Services Act Annual Revenue and Expenditures Report to comply with generally accepted accounting principles and to be submitted electronically in a machine-readable format to the Department of Health Care Services. CSAC supported this measure because it will make the process of submitting financial reports consistent across the state and increase transparency.

SB 918 (Wiener) Homeless Youth Act: Support – Signed. This bill requires the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to establish specific goals to prevent youth homelessness, improve the health and safety of youth experiencing homelessness, and increase system integration to help prevent homelessness for youth involved in the child welfare system or the juvenile justice system.  CSAC supported this measure that would provide a dedicated focus on the vulnerable homeless youth population.

SB 992 (Hernandez) Alcoholism and drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities: Support – Signed. This bill requires residential alcoholism or drug abuse recovery facilities to develop discharge and continuing care plans for clients who relapse while receiving treatment and requires facilities to disclose any ownership or financial interest in unlicensed recovery facilities to Department of Health Care Services. CSAC supports this measure to ensure all clients are provided with a continued treatment plan.

SB 1083 (Mitchell) Resource Family Approval: Support– Signed. This bill would extend the Resource Family Approval (RFA) deadline for current foster caregivers, including relatives and non-relatives, to December 31, 2020. The RFA system is the new process by which foster parents are approved as caregivers.  CSAC supported this measure as it will help ensure continuity of care as caregivers continue to move through the new process.

Vetoed

AB 1909 (Nazarian) In-Home Supportive Services Program – Translation of Materials for Providers: Support– Vetoed. This bill would have required the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to translate information notices and resources for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers into the CDSS threshold languages. CSAC supported this measure on the grounds that it would apply the same translation rules for IHSS recipients and providers, eliminate duplicate workload, reduce errors due to lack of understanding and provide consistency across the state.

AB 1921 (Maienschein) CalWORKs Homeless Assistance Program: Support – Vetoed. This bill would have allowed CalWORKs recipients to use permanent housing assistance payment towards shared housing, with a valid lease or formal shared housing agreement. CSAC supported this measure as it would have increased housing options for homeless families utilizing CalWORKs homeless assistance payments.

AB 2043 (Arambula) Foster Youth – Response Team: Support – Vetoed. This bill would have created a Family Urgent Response System to provide immediate response to current or former foster youth and their caregivers in a crisis. CSAC supported this measure as it would help prevent the unnecessary separation of the youth from their caregiver, ensure access to needed services in a time of crisis, and help achieve the improved outcomes sought through the Continuum of Care Reform.

AB 3115 (Gipson) Community Paramedic or Triage to Alternate Destination Act: Opposed – Vetoed. This bill would have extended the community paramedicine pilots but required public agencies to have the right of first refusal to participate in a pilot program and made changes to local and state Emergency Medical Services Commissions. CSAC opposed this measure for a number of reasons, including the transfer of medical oversight from county medical directors to a committee, the elimination of the authority of local EMS authorities, and unacceptable permanent changes to the state EMS authority.

SB 275 (Portantino) Substance use disorder treatment: youth: Support– Vetoed. This bill would have required the Department of Health Care Services to establish a comprehensive continuum of substance use disorder care for California youth and young adults under age 26, which would have included a requirement for identifying outcomes and oversight. CSAC supported this bill as a first step toward ensuring quality substance use disorder treatment  for children and youth.

SB 906 (Beall) Medi-Cal: Peer support specialist certification mental health and substance use order conditions: Support – Vetoed. This bill would have created a statewide peer support specialist certification program for parents, transition age youth, and families as a part of California’s Medi-Cal program. CSAC supported this bill as a good option to aid in the behavioral health workforce shortage and improve the evidence-based care of individuals in need of mental health and substance use disorder services.

Signing and veto request letters to the Governor can be found on the CSAC legislative tracking website.