Amended  IN  Senate  April 19, 2021
Amended  IN  Senate  March 23, 2021
Amended  IN  Senate  March 10, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 106

Introduced by Senator Umberg

January 05, 2021

An act to amend Section 5830 of, and to add and repeal Section 5831 to, of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to mental health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 106, as amended, Umberg. Mental Health Services Act: innovative programs.
Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), 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 and requires counties to spend those funds as specified. As part of the MHSA, existing law requires counties to engage in specified planning activities, including creating and updating a 3-year program and expenditure plan through a stakeholder process. Existing law authorizes counties to spend 5% of MHSA money on innovative programs, upon approval of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.
Existing law authorizes the MHSA to be amended by a 2/3 vote of the Legislature if the amendments are consistent with, and further the purposes of, the MHSA.
This bill would amend the MHSA by authorizing counties counties, until January 1, 2025, to expend funds for their innovative programs without approval by the commission if the program is establishing or expanding a program implementing the full-service partnership model, as defined. defined, that serves a diverse community.
This bill would state the finding and declaration of the Legislature that this change is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the MHSA.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 5830 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

5830.
 County mental health programs shall develop plans for innovative programs to be funded pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 5892.
(a) The innovative programs shall have the following purposes:
(1) To increase access to underserved groups.
(2) To increase the quality of services, including better outcomes.
(3) To promote interagency collaboration.
(4) To increase access to services, including, but not limited to, services provided through permanent supportive housing.
(b) All projects included in the innovative program portion of the county plan shall meet the following requirements:
(1) Address one of the following purposes as its primary purpose:
(A) Increase access to underserved groups, which may include providing access through the provision of permanent supportive housing.
(B) Increase the quality of services, including measurable outcomes.
(C) Promote interagency and community collaboration.
(D) Increase access to services, which may include providing access through the provision of permanent supportive housing.
(2) Support innovative approaches by doing one of the following:
(A) Introducing new mental health practices or approaches, including, but not limited to, prevention and early intervention.
(B) Making a change to an existing mental health practice or approach, including, but not limited to, adaptation for a new setting or community.
(C) Introducing a new application to the mental health system of a promising community-driven practice or an approach that has been successful in nonmental health contexts or settings.
(D) Participating in a housing program designed to stabilize a person’s living situation while also providing supportive services on site.
(c) An innovative project may affect virtually any aspect of mental health practices or assess a new or changed application of a promising approach to solving persistent, seemingly intractable mental health challenges, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) Administrative, governance, and organizational practices, processes, or procedures.
(2) Advocacy.
(3) Education and training for service providers, including nontraditional mental health practitioners.
(4) Outreach, capacity building, and community development.
(5) System development.
(6) Public education efforts.
(7) Research. If research is chosen for an innovative project, the county mental health program shall consider, but is not required to implement, research of the brain and its physical and biochemical processes that may have broad applications, but that have specific potential for understanding, treating, and managing mental illness, including, but not limited to, research through the Cal-BRAIN program pursuant to Section 92986 of the Education Code or other collaborative, public-private initiatives designed to map the dynamics of neuron activity.
(8) Services and interventions, including prevention, early intervention, and treatment.
(9) Permanent supportive housing development.
(d) If an innovative project has proven to be successful and a county chooses to continue it, the project workplan shall transition to another category of funding as appropriate.

(e)Except as provided in Section 5831, county mental health programs shall expend funds for their innovative programs upon approval by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.

(e) (1) County mental health programs shall expend funds for innovative programs upon approval by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.
(2) Until January 1, 2025, counties may expend funds for innovative programs without approval of the commission if the expenditure meets the requirements of Section 5831.

SEC. 2.

 Section 5831 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

5831.
 (a) County mental health programs shall not require approval from the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to expend funds for their innovative programs as required in subdivision (e) of Section 5830 if those funds are spent to establish or expand a program implementing a full-service partnership model. model that serves a diverse community. Programs funded pursuant to this subdivision shall comply with all requirements for innovative programs and are not exempt from any other requirement of the Mental Health Services Act.
(b) For purposes of this section, “full-service partnership” means the collaborative relationship between the county and the client and, when appropriate, the client's family, through which the county plans for and provides the full spectrum of community services so that the client can achieve the identified goals.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that this act is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the Mental Health Services Act within the meaning of Section 18 of that act.