BILL NUMBER: AB 2743	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eggman

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to add Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 1289) to
Chapter 2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
health facilities.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2743, as introduced, Eggman. Psychiatric bed registry.
   Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health licenses
and regulates health facilities, as defined. A violation of these
provisions is a crime.
   Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the
involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental
disorders for the protection of the persons so committed. Under the
act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a
danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, he
or she may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by a peace
officer, a member of the attending staff of an evaluation facility,
designated members of a mobile crisis team, or another designated
professional person, and placed in a facility designated by the
county and approved by the State Department of Social Services as a
facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation.
   Beginning July 1, 2017, this bill would require the department to
establish and administer an Internet Web site-based electronic
registry, known as the acute psychiatric bed registry, to collect,
aggregate, and display information regarding the availability of
acute psychiatric beds in health facilities to facilitate the
identification and designation of health facilities for the temporary
detention and treatment of individuals who meet specified criteria
for temporary detention. The bill would require a health facility to,
on or before July 1, 2017, designate an employee to submit to the
registry notification that an acute psychiatric bed has become
available at the health facility and to serve as the contact person
to respond to requests for information related to data reported to
the registry, as provided.
   This bill would provide that a violation of its provisions is not
a crime under existing law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 1289) is added to
Chapter 2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      Article 3.7.  Acute Psychiatric Bed Registry


   1289.  For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Designated employee" means the employee designated by a
health facility pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1289.4.
   (b) "Registry" means the acute psychiatric bed registry
established pursuant to subdivision (a) Section 1289.2.
   1289.2  (a) On or before July 1, 2017, the department shall
establish an Internet Web site-based electronic acute psychiatric bed
registry to collect, aggregate, and display information regarding
the availability of acute psychiatric beds in health facilities to
facilitate the identification and designation of health facilities
having beds available for the temporary detention and treatment of
individuals who require that level of care or who meet the criteria
for temporary detention under Section 5150 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code.
   (b) The department shall administer the operation of the registry.

   (c) When the registry becomes operational, the department shall
notify each health facility that the registry is operational.
   1289.4.  (a) On or before July 1, 2017, a health facility shall
designate an employee who shall submit information for inclusion in
the acute psychiatric bed registry and serve as the contact person to
respond to requests for information related to data reported to the
registry.
   (b) On and after the date on which the department notifies a
health facility that the registry is operational pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 1289.2, the health facility, through its
designated employee pursuant to subdivision (a), shall submit to the
registry notification that an acute psychiatric bed has become
available, upon the bed becoming available, at the health facility.
   1289.6.  Notwithstanding Article 4 (commencing with Section 1290),
a violation of this article is not a crime.