BILL NUMBER: AB 2645	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 18, 2010
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 19, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 21, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chesbro

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Section 5912 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to mental health, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2645, Chesbro. Mental health: skilled nursing facilities:
reimbursement rate.
   Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health
facilities, including skilled nursing facilities, by the State
Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the State
Department of Health Care Services to contract with skilled nursing
facilities that have been designated by the State Department of
Mental Health as institutions for mental disease to provide services
to the residents. Under existing law, as long as contracts require
institutions for mental disease to continue to be licensed as skilled
nursing facilities, they shall be reimbursed at a specified rate,
subject to an annual increase of 4.7 percent.
   This bill would, from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012, inclusive,
set the reimbursement rate for services in institutions for mental
disease licensed and certified as skilled nursing facilities at the
same rate as was in effect on July 1, 2009.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 5912 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   5912.  (a) As long as contracts require institutions for mental
disease to continue to be licensed and certified as skilled nursing
facilities by the State Department of Public Health, they shall be
reimbursed for basic services at the rate established by the State
Department of Health Care Services. Except as provided in this
section, reimbursement rates for services in institutions for mental
disease shall be the same as the rates in effect on July 31, 2004.
Effective July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2008, the reimbursement rate
for institutions for mental disease shall increase by 6.5 percent
annually. Effective July 1, 2008, the reimbursement rate for
institutions for mental disease shall increase by 4.7 percent
annually.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), from July 1, 2010, to June
30, 2012, inclusive, the reimbursement rate for services in
institutions for mental disease that are licensed and certified as
skilled nursing facilities shall be the same as the rates in effect
on July 1, 2009.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order for counties to begin using their limited mental health
realignment funds to provide community-based care to indigent
residents in need, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.