BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 766 (Ridley-Thomas) - Public School Health Center Support
Program
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|Version: April 27, 2015 |Policy Vote: HEALTH 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 766 would require the Department of Public Health
to give grant funding preference to schools with a high
percentage of students enrolled in Medi-Cal, under the Public
School Health Center Support Program.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown cost pressure to provide grant funds to schools
with a high percentage of students who are enrolled in Medi-Cal
(General Fund or other unknown fund source). Under the existing
Public School Health Center Support Program, the Department of
Public Health is authorized to provide grant funding for school
based health centers. Current law requires preference to be
given to schools with a high percentage of low-income and
uninsured children. This bill would add schools with a high
percentage of students enrolled in Medi-Cal to that grant
preference. By expanding the existing preference, the bill may
impose cost pressure on the program, to the extent that the new
preference results in schools qualifying for grant funds who
AB 766 (Ridley-Thomas) Page 1 of
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would not under current law. The bill does not identify a source
of funds for these new grants. The current program has been
authorized in statute for eight years, but has never been
funded.
Background: Under current law, schools may operate student health centers
to provide health services to students.
Under current law, the Department of Public Health is required
to establish a Public School Health Center Support Program to
support the establishment of school health centers. The
Department is also required to establish a grant program to
provide funding to school health centers. This program has been
in place for the past eight years. To date, no funding has been
made available and no program activities have taken place.
Proposed Law:
AB 766 would require the Department of Public Health to give
grant funding preference to schools with a high percentage of
students enrolled in Medi-Cal, under the Public School Health
Center Support Program.
Related
Legislation:
AB 118 (Liu) would authorize a new category of grants within
the Public School Health Center Support Program. The bill
would also rename the program and change some of the program's
goals and procedures. That bill is pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1025 (Thurmond) requires the Department of Education to
establish a pilot program to encourage practices that
integrate mental health, special education, and other issues.
That bill is pending in this committee.
AB 1133 (Achadjian) would make changes to the statute
governing grants to local education agencies to pay for the
costs of providing early mental health interventions. That
bill was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's
Suspense File.
AB 1055 (Liu, 2014) was substantially similar to SB 118. That
bill was held in the Senate Rules Committee.
AB 174 (Bonta, 2013) would have required the Department of
Public Health to establish a pilot program in Alameda County
to address trauma and mental health issues in schools. That
AB 766 (Ridley-Thomas) Page 2 of
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bill was vetoed by Governor Brown.
Staff
Comments: As noted above, the current program has never been funded.
Staff is not aware of any new sources of non-General Fund
funding that could be used to fund the existing program or the
newly authorized activities in this bill.
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