BILL NUMBER: AB 847	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Mullin and Ridley-Thomas

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act relating to mental health.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 847, as introduced, Mullin. Mental health: community-based
services.
   Existing law establishes the State Department of Health Care
Services and prescribes the department's powers and duties, including
with respect to mental health services. Existing federal law, the
Excellence in Mental Health Act, establishes criteria for the
certification of federally qualified community behavioral health
centers, and requires the administrator of the federal Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration to certify centers
that meet those criteria. The act also authorizes the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to award matching grants to states to
expend funds for the construction or modernization of facilities used
to provide community-based mental health and substance abuse
services.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would require the State Department of Health Care
Services to initiate planning and apply for one of those grants.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would require the State Department of Health Care
Services to initiate planning and apply to the federal Secretary of
Health and Human Services for a federal matching grant, under the
federal Excellence in Mental Health Act, to expend funds for the
construction or modernization of facilities used to provide
community-based mental health and substance abuse services.