AB 1424, as amended, Mullin. Mental health: community mental health board.
Existing law requires each community mental health service to have a mental health board consisting of 10 to 15 members who are appointed by the governing body, and encourages counties to appoint individuals who have experience with and knowledge of the mental health system. Existing law requires 50% of the board membership to be consumers, or the parents, spouses, siblings, or adult children of consumers, who are receiving or have received mental health services. Existing law prohibits a member of the board, or his or her spouse, from being a full-time or part-time county employee of a county mental healthbegin delete services,end deletebegin insert service,end insert an employee of the State Department of Health Care Services, or an
employee of, or a paid member of the governing body of, a mental health contract agency.
This bill would exempt from this prohibition a consumer of mental health services who obtained employment with an employer described abovebegin delete as a part of his or her recoveryend delete and who holds a position in which he or she has no interest, influence, or authority over any financial or contractual matter concerning the employer, and would require that member to abstain from voting on any financial or contractual issue concerning his or her employer that may come before the board.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 5604 of the Welfare and Institutions Code
2 is amended to read:
(a) (1) Each community mental health service shall
4have a mental health board consisting of 10 to 15 members,
5depending on the preference of the county, appointed by the
6governing body, except that boards in counties with a population
7of less than 80,000 may have a minimum of five members. One
8member of the board shall be a member of the local governing
9body. Any county with more than five supervisors shall have at
10least the same number of members as the size of its board of
11supervisors. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
12ability of the governing body to increase the number of members
13above 15. Local mental health boards may recommend appointees
14to the county supervisors. Counties are encouraged to appoint
15individuals
who have experience with and knowledge of the mental
16health system. The board membership should reflect the ethnic
17diversity of the client population in the county.
18(2) Fifty percent of the board membership shall be consumers,
19or the parents, spouses, siblings, or adult children of consumers,
20who are receiving or have received mental health services. At least
2120 percent of the total membership shall be consumers, and at least
2220 percent shall be families of consumers.
23(3) (A) In counties under 80,000 population, at least one
24member shall be a consumer, and at least one member shall be a
25parent, spouse, sibling, or adult child of a consumer, who is
26receiving, or has received, mental health services.
27(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a board in a county with
28a population under 80,000 that elects to have the board exceed the
29five-member minimum permitted under paragraph (1) shall be
30required to comply with paragraph (2).
P3 1(b) The term of each member of the board shall be for three
2years. The governing body shall equitably stagger the appointments
3so that approximately one-third of the appointments expire in each
4year.
5(c) If two or more local agencies jointly establish a community
6mental health service under Article 1 (commencing with Section
76500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government
8Code, the mental health board for the community mental health
9service shall consist of an additional two members for each
10additional agency, one of whom shall
be a consumer or a parent,
11spouse, sibling, or adult child of a consumer who has received
12mental health services.
13(d) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no member of the
14board or his or her spouse shall be a full-time or part-time county
15employee of a county mental health service, an employee of the
16State Department of Health Care Services, or an employee of, or
17a paid member of the governing body of, a mental health contract
18agency.
19(2) A consumer of mental health services who has obtained
20employment with an employer described in paragraph (1)begin delete as part and who holds a position in which he or she
21of his or her recoveryend delete
22does not have any interest, influence, or authority
over any financial
23or contractual matter concerning the employer may be appointed
24to the board. The member shall abstain from voting on any financial
25or contractual issue concerning his or her employer that may come
26before the board.
27(e) Members of the board shall abstain from voting on any issue
28in which the member has a financial interest as defined in Section
2987103 of the Government Code.
30(f) If it is not possible to secure membership as specified in this
31section from among persons who reside in the county, the
32governing body may substitute representatives of the public interest
33in mental health who are not full-time or part-time employees of
34the county mental health service, the State Department of Health
35Care Services, or on the staff of, or a paid member of the governing
36body
of, a mental health contract agency.
37(g) The mental health board may be established as an advisory
38board or a commission, depending on the preference of the county.
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