BILL NUMBER: AB 168 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Maienschein
JANUARY 22, 2015
An act to amend Section 96.15 of the Revenue and Taxation
Code, relating to local government finance. add
Section 14021.2 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
mental health services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 168, as amended, Maienschein. Local government
finance. Mental health: community-based services.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and
under which qualified low-income persons receive health care
benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by
federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of
benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for specified
services, including various mental health services. Existing federal
law, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, requires the
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to, among other
things, select, no later than September 1, 2017, among those states
awarded a planning grant to participate in a time-limited
demonstration program that is designed to improve access to community
mental health and substance use treatment services provided by
certified community behavioral health clinics.
This bill would require the department to develop and submit a
proposal to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
to be selected as a participating state in the time-limited
demonstration program described above to receive enhanced federal
matching funds for mental health services provided by certified
community behavioral health clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The
bill would require the department to work with counties and other
stakeholders in developing its proposal for participation in the
demonstration program. The bill would also require the department to
include in its proposal a requirement that a county shall not be
selected to participate in the demonstration program unless the
county includes plans to redirect a portion of the funds currently
used to match federal funds to provide increased housing
opportunities for individuals with severe mental illnesses, as
specified.
Existing law generally requires the county auditor, in each fiscal
year, to allocate property tax revenues to local jurisdictions in
accordance with specified formulas and procedures, and generally
requires that each jurisdiction be allocated an amount equal to the
total of the amount of revenue allocated to that jurisdiction in the
prior fiscal year, subject to certain modifications, and that
jurisdiction's portion of the annual tax increment, as defined.
Existing property tax law also requires a county auditor to make
certain property tax revenue allocations to qualifying cities, as
defined, in accordance with a specified Tax Equity Allocation
formula, and to make corresponding reductions in the amount of
property tax revenue that is allocated to the county. Existing law
also requires the county auditor, in the case in which a qualifying
city becomes the successor agency to a special district as a result
of a merger with that district as described in a specified statute,
to additionally allocate to that successor qualifying city that
amount of property tax revenue that otherwise would have been
allocated to that special district pursuant to general allocation
requirements.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the provision
pertaining to property tax revenue allocations to a qualifying city
that merges with a special district.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the
following:
(a) In 2014 Congress enacted the federal Protecting Access to
Medicare Act of 2014.
(b) Under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, eight states will
be selected to have their federal share of costs increased to 90
percent for two years for outpatient behavioral health care for
individuals with severe mental illnesses or serious emotional
disturbances.
(c) If successful, this federal opportunity would enable
California to serve the tens of thousands of individuals with those
conditions that it now lacks the funding to serve.
(d) A major challenge in serving that population is that many are
homeless and in need of housing assistance. Federal funding cannot
pay for that housing assistance.
(e) This federal funding would free up nearly $2 billion in county
funds now being used to match federal funds. The money that is
currently being used to match federal funds will now be available to
be used to meet the housing needs of those individuals who are not
currently receiving the behavioral health care that they need.
(f) In October 2015, the United States Secretary of Health and
Human Services awarded California a planning grant pursuant to
Section 223 of the federal Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014
to support California in, among other things, developing its proposal
to participate in the two-year demonstration program.
SEC. 2. Section 14021.2 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
14021.2. (a) The department shall develop and submit a proposal
to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services for
selection as a participating state in the time-limited demonstration
program pursuant to Section 223 of the federal Protecting Access to
Medicare Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-93) in order to improve mental
health services furnished by certified community behavioral health
clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
(b) In planning to develop its proposal for the demonstration
program, the department shall work with counties and other
stakeholders to identify the unmet need for the covered services and
to estimate the number of individuals who will need housing
assistance.
(c) The proposal shall require that counties shall not be selected
to participate in the demonstration program unless they include
plans to redirect a portion of the funds that are currently used to
match federal funds but will not be needed for that purpose during
the demonstration period to provide increased housing opportunities
for individuals with severe mental illnesses.
SECTION 1. Section 96.15 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code is amended to read:
96.15. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
if a qualifying city, as defined by subdivision (d) of Section 98 or
subdivision (f) of Section 98.02, becomes the successor agency to a
special district as a result of a merger described in Section 57087.3
of the Government Code, the auditor shall allocate to that
qualifying city, in addition to any other amount of ad valorem
property tax revenue required to be allocated to that city pursuant
to this chapter, the amount of ad valorem property tax revenue that
otherwise would be allocated to that district pursuant to this
article.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section
to confirm and clarify a county auditor's duty and authority,
established by subdivision (d) of Section 57087.3 of the Government
Code, to allocate to a qualifying city the ad valorem property tax
revenue of a subsidiary district that has been merged with the city.