BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 174 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mike Gatto, Chair AB 174 (Bonta) - As Amended: April 17, 2013 Policy Committee: HealthVote:13-5 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to establish a grant program within the Public School Health Center Support Program (PSHCSP), to the extent funding is made available, to provide resources for activities and services that directly address the mental health and related needs of students impacted by trauma, as defined. Specifically, this bill: 1)Permits grant funds to be used for specified activities and services, including counseling, outreach and education, risk screening, triage, and referral to campus-based services, crisis response coordination, and oversight, coordination, and evaluation of grant services. 2)Identifies categories of individuals who may provide counseling under the grant program and who are required to provide or oversee other grant program activities. These categories are: a) a licensed mental health professional, as specified; b) a credentialed school social worker; and c) an unlicensed mental health professional registered by either the Board of Behavioral Sciences or the Board of Psychology, with supervision as specified. 3)Requires grants to be awarded to eligible applicants, including local education agencies, nonprofit organizations, community health centers, and county mental health departments. 4)Requires grant applications to comply with specified requirements and identifies priorities for awarding a grant. 5)Requires a grantee to commit to an annual report, as AB 174 Page 2 specified, a memorandum of understanding (MOU), as specified, between the school, school district, and other entities providing grant-funded services in an effort to develop a strong collaborative partnership (CP), and imposes various requirements on the CP. 6)Makes its implementation contingent on public or private funding, as specified. FISCAL EFFECT Initial and ongoing costs of $200,000 to $1 million or more for DPH to establish and administer the grant program. Actual costs are unknown because the bill does not address the funding level of the overall grant program, the size of individual grants or the number of grants to be awarded. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author points to the short-term and long-term consequences of trauma and the lack of current law focused explicitly on preventing and addressing students' trauma-related needs through school-based services. This bill has numerous supporters, including the California Medical Center, Children Now, and co-sponsors California School Health Centers Association and California PanEthnic Health Network, who argue school-based mental health services work and can reduce both depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 2)Prior Legislation . AB 2560 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 334, Statutes of 2006, requires the Department of Health Services now DPH, to establish the PSHCSP. SB 564 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 381, Statutes of 2008, defines school health centers (SHCs) and requires DPH, to the extent funds are appropriated for implementation, to establish a grant program to provide technical assistance and funding for the expansion, renovation, and retrofitting of existing SHCs and the development of new SHCs, as specified. Funding has not been appropriated for either the overarching PSHCP or the SB 564 grant program. AB 174 Page 3 Analysis Prepared by : Debra Roth / APPR. / (916) 319-2081