BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2679
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2679 (Logue and Nestande)
As Amended July 1, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 23, 2014) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 18, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: HEALTH
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
to develop a baseline report of system quality and access to
services in each county's mental health plan.
The Senate amendments remove intent language and make technical
changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : This bill was introduced in response to a 2013 audit
by the Bureau of State Audits entitled Mental Health Services
Act: The State's Oversight Has Provided Little Assurance of the
Act's Effectiveness, and Some Counties Can Improve Measurement
of Their Program Performance. The author of this bill notes the
audit found that, although the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)
funded many programs and served numerous individuals, the
Department of Mental Health and the Mental Health Services
Oversight and Accountability Commission did not provide the
oversight needed to demonstrate whether the MHSA is effective.
This bill seeks to provide the necessary oversight to ensure
that the funds generated through the MHSA are being used
effectively.
California has a decentralized public mental health system with
most direct services provided through the county mental health
system. Counties have the primary funding and programmatic
responsibility for the majority of local mental health programs.
Specifically, counties are responsible for: 1) all mental
health treatment services provided to low-income, uninsured
individuals with severe mental illness; 2) Medi-Cal Specialty
Mental Health Services for adults and children; 3) mental health
treatment services for individuals enrolled in other programs,
AB 2679
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including special education and CalWORKs; and, 4) programs
specifically associated with the MHSA.
The audit made several recommendations, mostly focused on urging
DHCS and counties to use performance contracts to achieve
effective oversight and accountability. The audit report made
one recommendation to the Legislature, which is to clarify that
DHCS can withhold certain funds from a noncompliant county.
The California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians (California ACEP) argues that this bill, by
establishing baseline measures for county mental health
programs, will help increase access to mental health services.
California ACEP states emergency physicians know firsthand the
difficulties facing patients in need of psychiatric care, and
those patients without access to adequate mental health services
often find themselves in the emergency department.
The California Mental Health Directors Association (CMHDA) with
a position of "support if amended," writes that while it
supports transparency and accountability in the public mental
health system, amendments are needed to ensure that meaningful
information without excessive regulation or bureaucracy is
reported. CMHDA asserts counties already report vast amounts of
information to the state and suggests that this bill creates
duplicative requirements. CMHDA requests that this bill be
amended to require DHCS to publish a report that makes use of
the extensive information already reported and collected, with
the aim of achieving a transformative, transparent, and useful
measuring tool that empowers policy makers and the public.
Analysis Prepared by : Paula Villescaz / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097
FN: 0004459