BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1221| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: SB 1221 Author: Hertzberg (D) Amended: 4/26/16 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/12/16 AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT: Firefighters: interaction with mentally disabled persons SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill makes the POST training course relating to interactions with the mentally disabled available to the State Fire Marshall. ANALYSIS: Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) "to establish and keep updated a continuing education classroom training course relating to law enforcement interaction with the mentally disabled" and to make the course available to law enforcement agencies in California. (Penal Code §13515.25.) This bill: 1)Authorizes POST to make available this educational training to the State Fire Marshall, who may revise the course as appropriate to the firefighter training environment. SB 1221 Page 2 2)Makes additional purely technical amendments to this section. Background This legislation extends POST's current training program to prepare law enforcement officers for interactions with both developmentally and mentally disabled persons to firefighters. The POST training for law enforcement website highlights some examples of such disabilities and its common occurrences that the training would target: one out of 17 adults suffer from schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder or major depression, 46% of the homeless have a mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder, and one out of 68 children is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (www.post.ca.gov/did-you-know-mental-health.aspx) Currently, law enforcement training provides a minimum of 664 training hours in its Regular Basic Course, which is divided into 42 individual law enforcement topics called Learning Domains (LD). LD37 focuses on People with Disabilities and requires a minimum of 15 hours of instruction, learning activities, a written exam and resolving a "high stakes" scenario involving a person with a mental or developmental disability. The training is designed to: Introduce the laws that protect people with disabilities, enhance the recognition of behaviors that are indicative of disability or mental illness, provide de-escalation skills, teach situation-appropriate responses and referrals to the individual and community, and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and disabilities. (www.post.ca.gov/mental-health-training-in-the-regualr-basic-co urse.aspx) FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified4/25/16) SB 1221 Page 3 Association of Regional Center Agencies California Fire Chiefs Association California Public Defenders Association California State Council on Development Disabilities California State Sheriffs' Association Disability Rights California Fire Districts Association of California League of California Cities National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter Office of the Sheriff County of Los Angeles OPPOSITION: (Verified4/25/16) None received Prepared by:Molly Lao / PUB. S. / 4/27/16 15:57:27 **** END ****