BILL NUMBER: AB 847 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 22, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 10, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Mullin and Ridley-Thomas
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 14021.2 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to mental health, making an appropriation therefor,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 847, as amended, Mullin. Mental health: community-based
services.
Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act, an initiative
measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2,
2004, statewide general election, establishes the continuously
appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county
mental health programs. The act provides that it may be amended by
the Legislature by a 2/3 vote of each house as long as the amendment
is consistent with and furthers the intent of the act, and that the
Legislature may also clarify procedures and terms
of the act by majority vote.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and
under which qualified low-income persons receive health care
benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by
federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of
benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for specified
services, including various mental health services. Existing federal
law, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, requires the
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to, among other
things, select, no later than September 1, 2017,
select from among those states awarded a planning
grant to grant, the states that may participate
in a time-limited demonstration program that is designed to improve
access to community mental health and substance use treatment
services provided by certified community behavioral health clinics.
This bill would require the department to develop and
submit a proposal to for the
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to be selected
as a participating state in the time-limited demonstration program
described above to receive enhanced federal matching funds for mental
health services provided by certified community behavioral health
clinics to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The bill would appropriate
$1,000,000 from the Mental Health Services Act Fund to the State
Department of Health Care Services to develop that proposal. The
bill would make findings and declarations of the Legislature,
including that the changes the bill would make are
consistent with and further the intent of the act.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) In 2014 Congress enacted the federal Protecting Access to
Medicare Act of 2014.
(b) Under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, eight states will
be selected to have their federal share of costs increased to 65
percent for two years for outpatient behavioral health care for
individuals with severe mental illnesses or serious emotional
disturbances.
(c) If successful, this federal opportunity would enable
California to serve the tens of thousands of individuals with those
conditions that it now lacks the funding to serve.
(d) A major challenge in serving that population is that many are
homeless and in need of housing assistance. Federal funding cannot
pay for that housing assistance.
(e) This federal funding would free up nearly $2 billion in county
funds now being used to match federal funds. The money that is
currently being used to match federal funds will now be available to
be used to meet the housing and other needs of those individuals who
are not currently receiving the behavioral health care that they
need.
(f)
(c) In October 2015, the United States Secretary of
Health and Human Services awarded California a planning grant
pursuant to Section 223 of the federal Protecting Access to Medicare
Act of 2014 to support which partially
supported California in, among other things, developing its
proposal to participate in the two-year demonstration program.
(g)
( d) The Mental Health Services Act was
approved by voters in 2004 for the primary purpose of addressing
unmet mental health needs.
(h)
( e) It is an appropriate use of Mental
Health Services Act funds to support California's application to
participate in this demonstration program
program, including the use of by using
these funds to prepare actuarial rates and provide technical
assistance to counties seeking to become certified community
behavioral health centers.
(i) Successful participation in this demonstration program will
also result in significant General Fund savings due to reduced
hospitalizations of people with severe mental illnesses who do not
receive the behavioral health treatment they need, as well as savings
from the portion of mental health care that is paid for by Medi-Cal
managed care plans.
(f) This act is consistent with and furthers the intent of the
Mental Health Services Act within the meaning of Section 18 of the
Mental Health Services Act.
SEC. 2. Section 14021.2 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
14021.2. (a) The department shall develop and submit
a proposal to for the United
States Secretary of Health and Human Services for selection as a
participating state in the time-limited demonstration program
pursuant to Section 223 of the federal Protecting Access to Medicare
Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-93) in order to improve mental health
services furnished by certified community behavioral health clinics
to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
(b) The department shall use the funds appropriated in the act
that added this section to pay any costs that will support the
development of a competitive proposal, including, but not limited to,
establishing actuarially sound rates and providing technical
assistance to counties.
SEC. 3. The sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the Mental Health Services Fund to the State
Department of Health Care Services for the purpose of developing the
proposal described in Section 14021.2 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to require provide necessary
funding to the State Department of Health Care Services
to develop and submit for the development of
a proposal to participate in the federal Protecting Access to
Medicare Act of 2014 demonstration program, and to fund the
development of that proposal, program before the
deadline to apply for participation in the demonstration program, it
is necessary that this bill go into immediate effect.