BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1644
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1644 (Bonta)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Education |7-0 |O'Donnell, Olsen, | |
| | |Kim, McCarty, | |
| | |Santiago, Thurmond, | |
| | |Weber | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Health |18-0 |Wood, Maienschein, | |
| | |Bonilla, Burke, | |
| | |Campos, Chiu, | |
| | |Dababneh, Gomez, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Lackey, Nazarian, | |
| | |Olsen, Patterson, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Ridley-Thomas, | |
| | |Santiago, Steinorth, | |
| | |Thurmond, Waldron | |
AB 1644
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| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Recasts and renames the Early Mental Health Initiative
(EMHI) as the HEAL Trauma in Schools Act, expands the program to
serve preschool and transitional Kindergarten students, and
establishes an initiative to encourage and support local
decisions to provide funding for services offered in that
program. Specifically, this bill:
1)Renames the EMHI as the Healing from Early Adversity to Level
the impact of Trauma in Schools Act or the HEAL Trauma in
Schools Act.
2)Expands the definition of eligible pupils to include preschool
and transitional Kindergarten students, and extends the
program to charter schools.
3)Names the Department of Public Health (DPH), and the Director
of the DPH as the administrators of the program.
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4)Requires that, in determining which students receive services
under the program, local educational agencies prioritize
children who have been exposed to childhood trauma, including
students in foster care and students who are homeless.
5)Includes, as services which may be funded under the program,
evidence-based interventions and promising practices intended
to mitigate the consequences of childhood adversity and
cultivate resilience and protective factors.
6)Establishes the School-Based Early Mental Health Intervention
and Prevention Services Support Program, administered by the
DPH, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), the Director of Health Care Services, and
the Attorney General to encourage and support local decisions
to provide funding for the eligible support services.
7)Requires the DPH to provide outreach to local education
agencies (LEAs) and county mental health agencies to inform
them of the program.
8)Requires the DPH to provide free regional training on eligible
support services, including individual and group intervention
and prevention services, parent engagement, teacher and staff
conferences and training, referral to outside resources, use
of trained and supervised paraprofessional staff, and other
services to improve student mental health, particularly
evidence-based interventions and promising practices intended
to mitigate the consequences of childhood adversity and
cultivate resilience and protective factors.
9) Requires the DPH to also provide free regional training on:
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a) The potential for the support services to help fulfill
state priorities described by the local control funding
formula (LCFF) and local control and accountability plans
(LCAPs)
b) How educational, mental health, and other funds subject
to local control can be used to finance the eligible
support services
c) External resources available to support the eligible
support services, including workshops, training,
conferences, and peer learning networks
d) State resources available to support student mental
health and positive, trauma-informed learning environments
10) Requires DPH to provide technical assistance to LEAs,
including assistance in designing programs, training staff;
and conducting evaluations; coordination with county mental
health agencies and professionals; and leveraging local funds.
11) Requires the DPH to select and support schoolsites as
follows:
a) Requires, during the first 12 months of the program, the
DPH to support, strengthen, and expand the provision of
eligible services at schoolsites that previously received
funding for EMHI and have continued to provide eligible
support services
b) Requires the DPH to develop a process to identify
schoolsites that demonstrate the willingness and capacity
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to participate in the program
c) Requires the DPH, during the subsequent 36 months of the
program, to select new schoolsites that are not providing
eligible support services but that demonstrate the
willingness and capacity to participate in the program.
Requires the DPH to work with these schoolsites to deliver
eligible support services
12) Requires the DPH to prioritize school sites in communities
that have experienced high levels of childhood adversity, such
as adverse childhood experiences and childhood trauma, and
schoolsites that prioritize children who have been exposed to
childhood trauma, such as students in foster care and those
who are homeless. Also prioritizes geographic diversity,
program effectiveness, program efficiency, and long-term
sustainability.
13) Requires the DPH to submit an interim report to the
Legislature at the end of the second year of the program, and
to submit an evaluation at the end of the four year pilot and
submit it to the Legislature.
14) States that implementation of the support program is
contingent upon an appropriation in the annual budget act, and
sunsets the support program on January 1, 2022.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1) General Fund administrative costs to the Department of Public
Health (DPH) of approximately $300,000 to oversee the program,
provide outreach, free regional training, and technical
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assistance to school sites over four years. DPH would also
incur costs related to interim reporting requirements and final
evaluation of program.
2) Proposition 98 General Fund (GF) cost pressure, in the
millions of dollars, to fund grants pursuant to the HEAL Trauma
in Schools Act. Grants are contingent upon an appropriation in
the annual budget act. The Assembly Budget proposes $6 million
GF for this program.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. The author states: "For 20 years, the EMHI
Matching Grant Program was a highly successful state program
that provided matching grants to local education agencies to
provide school-based mental health supports to young pupils
experiencing mild to moderate school adjustment difficulties.
EMHI supported Primary Intervention Programs consisting of
one-on-one services or services delivered in small groups to
address social skills, anger management, friendship groups, or
topic-specific issues such as bullying or divorce; and indirect
services such as parent and teacher services and classroom
curricula.
"The EMHI Matching Grant Program served over 15,000 children per
year and its services were in great demand. Despite its success
and the demand for services, the program was defunded in 2012.
Additionally, with the dissolution of the Department of Mental
Health, its oversight and agency was eliminated, effectively
ending the program.
"Studies such as the Centers for Disease Control's Adverse
Childhood Experiences (ACE) study indicate that childhood
exposure to abuse, neglect, and other traumatic experiences has
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lifelong health impacts. Left unaddressed, ACEs expose children
to toxic stress, keeping them in a constant state of
fight-or-flight and taking years off their lives and damaging
their health. I believe that restoring and expanding the EMHI
Program is a significant step towards addressing the harmful and
long-lasting effects of ACEs, and will give our children a
better shot at success."
EMHI program history and outcomes. In 1981 the Legislature
created the Primary Prevention Project, now named the Primary
Intervention Program, and in 1991 created the School-based Early
Mental Health Intervention and Prevention Services for Children
Program (EMHI).
From 1992 to 2012, the Department of Mental Health awarded
matching grants to LEAs to fund prevention and early
intervention programs, including EMHI. In the 2011-12 fiscal
year, the EMHI received $15 million in state funds, and there
was significant unmet demand for services. At its peak, there
were 15,823 students receiving EMHI-funded services. Funding
for the program was eliminated in 2012. It is now a local
decision whether to continue this program without state matching
grant support.
According to the author, the legislation authorizing this
program set a target of at least 75% of the participating
children showing an improvement in at least one of the following
four areas: learning behaviors, attendance, school adjustment,
and school-related competencies. A 2010-11 evaluation showed
that 79% had met that target.
When state funding for this program was eliminated, LEAs could
continue the program using local resources, and limited evidence
suggests that some have continued to operate programs using a
range of funding, from federal Title I funds to county mental
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health funding, to local general purpose funds.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study and trauma-informed
practices. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study is a
landmark investigation into associations between childhood
maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. The ACE
study is a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente's Health Appraisal Clinic
in San Diego.
The ACE study uses a score to represent the degree to which a
person has experienced traumatic events. One point is recorded
for each type of trauma exposure in the areas of abuse, neglect,
and household dysfunction, and the points add up to a score
ranging from 0 to 10. The higher an ACE score, the greater
one's risk of a broad range of health, mental health, and
at-risk behaviors.
The ACE Study has shown that adverse childhood experiences are
major risk factors for the leading causes of illness and death,
as well as poor quality of life. Related research has also
demonstrated a strong association between high ACE scores and
poor performance in school, including a higher risk of learning
and behavior problems. Other research into the effects of
chronic stress (often caused by ACEs) on children, has
identified a profound effect on the developing brain, which in
turn affects school performance and behavior.
Recognition of the impact of these childhood experiences has led
to the development and increasing use of "trauma-informed"
approaches in a variety of fields, including education. Broadly
speaking, trauma-informed practices in schools are those which
involve 1) a realization of the widespread prevalence and impact
of trauma, 2) recognition of signs of traumatic exposure, 3)
responses grounded in evidence-based practices, and 4) resisting
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the re-traumatization of students [definition from the federal
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA)]. Examples of
such practices in schools include professional development for
educators on the role of trauma in learning, classroom
management practices and discipline policies focused on conflict
resolution and restorative practices, and even instructional
modifications which address the specific learning needs of
students exposed to trauma.
Analysis Prepared by:
Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0003353