BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 585| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 585 Author: Steinberg (D) and Correa (D), et al. Amended: 5/13/13 Vote: 21 SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/24/13 AYES: Hernandez, Anderson, Beall, De León, DeSaulnier, Monning, Nielsen, Pavley, Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT : Mental health: Mental Health Services Fund SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill clarifies that state funding sources for county mental health programs, including funds generated under the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), can be expended to support mental health treatment services provided under the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002 (AOT Act, which is also known as "Laura's Law"). Senate Floor Amendments of 5/13/13 add Senator Yee and Assemblymember Mansoor as coauthors. The amendments clarify that the county board of supervisors may authorize, through the county budget process, the use of Mental Health Services funds for the AOT Act. ANALYSIS : CONTINUED SB 585 Page 2 Existing law: 1. Establishes MHSA which provides for local mental health services, as specified. 2. Establishes the Mental Health Services Fund in the state Treasury, administered by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), to fund specified county mental health programs. 3. Establishes the Local Revenue Fund and the Local Revenue Fund 2011, which contain specified accounts to fund county mental health services. 4. Allows county Boards of Supervisors, by resolution, to authorize the AOT Act whereby a county mental health director can petition for a court to order a person over age 18 with a mental illness to receive AOT if the court finds the individual meets specified criteria. 5. Requires counties implementing the AOT Act to make a finding that no voluntary mental health program serving adults, and no children's mental health program, may be reduced as a result of the implementation. 6. Requires a county that provides court-ordered AOT services to also offer the same services on a voluntary basis. 7. Requires DHCS to submit a report and evaluation of all counties implementing any component of the AOT Act to the Governor and the Legislature by July 1, 2015. 8. Sunsets the AOT Act on January 1, 2017. 9. Establishes the Lanterman-Petris Short Act, which authorizes a person to be involuntarily detained for inpatient mental health treatment when, as a result of a mental disorder, the person is a danger to himself/herself or to others, or is gravely disabled. 10.Authorizes a peace officer, member of the attending staff of an evaluation facility designated by the county, designated members of a mobile crisis team, or other professional person designated by the county, upon probable cause, to take a CONTINUED SB 585 Page 3 person with a mental disorder who is a danger to himself/herself, a danger to others, or who is gravely disabled, into custody and place him/her in a facility designated by the county and approved by Department of Social Services as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation (referred to as a 72-hour hold). This bill: 1. Clarifies that MHSA revenues distributed by the State Controller to counties can be expended for mental health treatment services provided under the AOT Act. 2. Requires a county to include provisions for the AOT Act in its MHSA plan or annual update, if a county elects to implement the AOT Act and use MHSA funds for implementation. 3. Specifies that, for mental health treatment services provided under the AOT Act, counties may also use funds distributed to them through various county realignment accounts, as specified. 4. Specifies that mental health clients should be fully informed and volunteer for all treatment provided under a court order for the AOT Act and, prior to the filing of the petition for the AOT Act, the client has been offered voluntary treatment and has failed to engage in that treatment. Prior legislation AB 1569 (Allen, Chapter 441, Statutes of 2012) extends the sunset date of AOT Act from January 1, 2013, until January 1, 2017. Requires DHCS to submit a report and evaluation of all counties implementing any component of the AOT Act to the Governor and the Legislature by July 1, 2015. AB 2134 (Chesbro, 2012) would have required a county that elects to provide AOT services to develop best practices for the purposes of responding to a mental health crisis, and would have required these best practices to include the utilization of crisis intervention teams, mobile crisis teams, or psychiatric emergency response teams, with an emphasis on peer support. This bill failed passage in the Senate Health Committee. CONTINUED SB 585 Page 4 AB 2357 (Karnette and Yee, Chapter 774, Statutes of 2006) extended the AOT Act sunset date to January 1, 2013, and required the former DMH to submit a progress report to the Governor and Legislature in 2011. AB 1421 (Thompson, Chapter 1017, Statutes of 2002) enacted the AOT Act with a January 1, 2008 sunset date. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 5/7/13) California Association of Psychiatric Technicians California Mental Health Directors Association California Psychiatric Association Mental Illness Policy Org. National Alliance on Mental Illness Nick and Amanda Wilcox Treatment Advocacy Center Urban Counties Caucus ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Mental Health Directors Association and the California Psychiatric Association (CPA) write in support that they applaud the author for taking a stand to settle this issue so that counties may act with assurance that they can use all available mental health funds to support an AOT program, including services provided under the AOT Act. The CPA maintains that counties will benefit from wider implementation of the AOT Act by having a tool in their continuum of care with services to prevent crises before they happen. The Urban Counties Caucus (UCC) writes that since the creation of the AOT Act, many counties have considered adopting this law in order to address the mental health needs of their constituents, however, one of the major barriers to the adoption has been the funding of this program. According to UCC, this bill makes it clear that counties may use MHSA and other funding to address these critical needs. JL:d 5/15/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED SB 585 Page 5 **** END **** CONTINUED