BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2661
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2661 (Salas) - As Introduced: February 19, 2010
Policy Committee: Veterans
AffairsVote: 8-0
Health 16-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California National Guard to develop and
implement a mental health assessment program for every National
Guard soldier who has been deployed to a combat zone.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)General Fund costs to the Military Department of several
million dollars annually to develop and provide a mental
health assessment to every deployed soldier. There have been
more than 32,000 deployments (including multiple deployments)
of guard personnel since September 11th.
2)To the extent that providing an assessment for all deployed
soldiers leads to early intervention with mental health issues
that would otherwise become more acute, there could be
significant savings in mental health treatment costs and
potentially other social services and criminal justice-related
costs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, the Military Department has
a few mental health personnel that provide emergency crisis
counseling, referral and personal support, combat stress
evaluations, and mental health support for an increasingly
tasked state military force. The author argues that a
comprehensive and mandatory mental health program would enable
the department to step up its support structure for deploying
and returning service members to enhance morale, retention,
AB 2661
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and mental health. The author believes the state needs to
assume responsibility for making these services defined and
uniformly implemented. According to the author, the federal
government does not provide for the needs of current service
members in the National Guard and there have been no increases
in federal or state funding aimed at improving the assessment
and treatment of the mental health needs of returning veterans
to California.
2)Costs for Returning Soldiers . A 2008 RAND Corporation Center
for Military Health Policy Research Report, "Invisible Wounds:
Mental Health and Cognitive Care Needs of America's Returning
Veterans" (RAND) estimated that, for two years
post-deployment, medical treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and depression can total between $5,900 and
$27,650 per case. Estimates for mild-Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI) range from $27,260 to $32,760 and can go as high as
$268,900 to $408,520 for severe TBI.
3)Prior Legislation .
a) SB 1401 (Simitian)/Chapter 593 of 2008, requires the
Secretary of Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Adjutant General to develop an outreach plan for TBI and
PTSD health screenings for California's returning veterans.
b) AB 3083 (Cook)/Chapter 591 of 2008, requires counties to
provide mental health services to California veterans,
including National Guard members in need of services and
who meet existing eligibility requirements, to the extent
services are available to other adults, and expands the
definition of a serious mental disorder to include PTSD and
bipolar disorder for purposes of qualifying target
populations for county mental health services.
c) AB 581 (Salas) of 2007, which would have required the
Military Department to create a Combat Stress Support Team
Program to provide emergency crisis counseling, referral
and personal support, combat stress evaluations, and mental
health support for state military personnel and their
families, was held on Suspense in Senate Appropriations.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081