Amended in Assembly April 30, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 847

Introduced by Assembly Members Mullin and Ridley-Thomas

February 26, 2015

An act relating to mental begin delete health. end delete begin insert health, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 847, as amended, Mullin. 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 begin delete federal end delete begin insert United States end insert Secretary of Health and Human Services to, among other things, award, no later than January 1, 2016, planning grants to states for the purpose of developing proposals to participate in time-limited demonstration programs to improve mental health services provided by certified community behavioral health clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

This bill would require the department to apply to the begin delete federal end delete begin insert United States end insert Secretary of Health and Human Services for that planning grant.

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This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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Vote:  begin delete majority end delete begin insert ²⁄₃ end insert . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The State Department of Health Care Services
shall apply to the begin delete federal end delete begin insert United States end insert Secretary of Health and
Human Services for the planning grant awarded pursuant to Section
223 of the federal Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 for
the purpose of developing proposals to participate in time-limited
demonstration programs to improve mental health services
provided by certified community behavioral health clinics to
Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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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:

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The federal Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 requires
the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to award
planning grants no later than January 1, 2016. In order to require
the State Department of Health Care Services to apply for a
planning grant before the secretary awards the planning grants
to states, it is necessary that this bill go into immediate effect.

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