BILL NUMBER: AB 1969	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Steinberg
   (Coauthor: Senator Perata)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2000

   An act to add Section 4044 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to mental health.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1969, as introduced, Steinberg.  Mental health: housing.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Mental Health, to
the extent resources are available, to provide program development
guidelines, evaluation models, and operational assistance on all
aspects of services to mentally ill persons, including housing
development.
   Existing law provides for the regulation of health facilities,
including skilled nursing facilities, by the State Department of
Health Services. Existing law requires that the regulations adopted
by the department prescribe standards based on the type of health
facility and the needs of the persons served.  In this regard, the
regulations set forth the requirements for a skilled nursing facility
to provide special treatment programs to serve certain mentally ill
patients.
   This bill would require the department, in conjunction with
various other entities, to develop protocols to review, monitor, and
report on existing and potential skilled nursing facilities that have
or could have special treatment programs.  The bill would prescribe
various requirements of the department regarding developing a program
for conducting local reviews concerning these facilities, developing
a mechanism that allows public access, including Internet access, to
information regarding the reviews and developing a mechanism that
allows public access to information related to any citations issued
to these facilities by the State Department of Health Services or the
State Department of Social Services.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  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 as follows:
   (a) There is a nexus between homelessness among the seriously
mentally ill and adequate and affordable housing.
   (b) Twenty-four-hour housing for the seriously mentally ill is a
continuum that includes the following alternatives:
   (1) State hospital.
   (2) Institute for mental disease.
   (3) Mental health rehabilitation centers.
   (4) Board and care.
   (5) Supported living.
   (6) Independent living.
   (c) The monitoring of living situations for the seriously mentally
ill needs to include more than monitoring "bricks and mortar,"
square footage requirements, or local zoning regulations.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4044 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   4044.  (a) The State Department of Mental Health, in conjunction
with county mental health programs, county mental health boards and
commissions, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-California,
and the California Client Network shall develop protocols to review,
monitor, and report on existing and potential skilled nursing
facilities that have or could have a special treatment program, as
described in Sections 72443 to 72475, inclusive, of Title 22 of the
California Code of Regulations, to serve patients who have a chronic
psychiatric impairment and whose adaptive functioning is moderately
impaired.
   (b) The department shall establish a program for conducting local
reviews of a skilled nursing facility described in subdivision (a)
using the protocols developed pursuant to subdivision (a).  The
reviews conducted locally shall be conducted by a group that shall
include, but not be limited to, representatives from all of the
entities specified in subdivision (a).
   (c) The department shall develop a mechanism that allows public
access, including Internet access, to information regarding the
results of the reviews conducted pursuant to subdivision (b) and
related to any citations issued to a skilled nursing facility
described in subdivision (a) by the State Department of Health
Services or the State Department of Social Services.
   (d) (1) The State Department of Health Services and the State
Department of Social Services shall forward copies of citations
issued to a skilled nursing facility described in subdivision (a) to
the State Department of Mental Health and the county in which the
facility or program is located.
   (e) The reviews and licensing information collected pursuant to
this section shall be used to develop an assessment of the statewide
housing options available to persons with mental illness.