5887.
(a) The Early Childhood Mental Health Services Act is hereby established as a mental health grant program to improve access to and quality of care, services, and supports for children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, and their parents, families, and caregivers, with emphasis on prevention and early intervention and disparities. (b) (1) The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission shall develop criteria to award grants to eligible entities or partnerships. Subject to an appropriation for this purpose, the commission shall award a grant under this section to applicants that meet the requirements of this section.
(2) Eligible applicants, including childcare and therapeutic or other early child education providers, community-based organizations, health care providers, including those with experience in maternal mental health, local government agencies, including counties, health care entities, and others, as determined by the commission, may apply for a grant to fund activities of the partnership.
(c) The commission shall establish criteria for awarding funds under the grant program, including the allocation of grant funds pursuant to this section, and shall require that applicants comply with, at a minimum, all of the following requirements:
(1) That applicants include with their application a plan developed and approved in collaboration with participating partners and that include a letter of intent, a memorandum of understanding, or other evidence of support or approval by the partners.
(2) That plans address some or all of the following goals:
(A) Preventing the onset or escalation of mental health needs.
(B) Improving timely access to services.
(C) Addressing disparities and the needs of underserved populations.
(D) Providing outreach to families, educators, employers, early care and primary health care providers, and others to recognize the early signs of potential mental health needs, including toxic stress as a result of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma, or other individual, family, or community stressors.
(E) Promoting positive socioemotional development and well-being and strengthening protective factors for young children and their adult caretakers.
(F) Improving understanding and reducing stigma associated with mental health needs or seeking mental health services and supports for young children and the adults who care for them.
(G) Reducing discrimination against people with mental health needs.
(H) Reducing implicit bias, suspensions, and expulsions in early care and education settings.
(I) Preventing negative outcomes in the targeted population.
(3) That the plan includes a description of the following:
(A) The need for mental health education, services, or supports for children, parents, families, or other adult caretakers, and the unmet needs for mental health care, services, and supports in the community that would be supported with grant funding.
(B) The proposed use of funds, including how the funds will be used to facilitate access to care, services, and supports, and, where relevant, how those activities may be sustained following the end of the grant funding.
(C) The applicant or applicants’ ability to do all of the following:
(i) Obtain federal Medicaid or other reimbursement, including Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment funds and Mental Health Services Act funds, when applicable, or to leverage other funds, when feasible.
(ii) To the extent possible, collect information on the health insurance carrier for each child, with the permission of the child’s parent, to allow the partnership to seek reimbursement for mental health services provided to children, where applicable.
(iii) Engage a health care service plan or a health insurer in the mental health partnership, when applicable, and to the extent mutually agreed to by the applicant or applicants and the plan or insurer.
(iv) Administer an effective service education or related program and the degree to which mental health providers and preschool and daycare programs or other potential partners will support and collaborate to accomplish the goals of the effort.
(v) Connect children and their families to a source of ongoing clinical mental health services, including, but not limited to, through Medi-Cal, specialty mental health plans, county mental health programs, or private health coverage, where relevant.
(vi) Continue to provide services and activities under this program after grant funding has been expended.
(d) Grants awarded pursuant to this section shall be used, as determined by the commission, to provide support services that may include some or all of the following:
(1) Services provided onsite, to the extent practicable.
(2) Parental suicide prevention services, where relevant.
(3) Infant and early childhood mental health prevention services.
(4) Outreach to high-risk children and families, including, but not limited to, foster children and children who have experienced trauma or ACEs.
(5) Placement or care coordination assistance and development of a service plan that can be sustained over time for children in need of ongoing or more intensive or individualized services.
(e) Funding may also be used to provide other community-based prevention, early intervention, and direct services, including, but not limited to, hiring qualified mental health personnel, providing early childhood education professionals, professional development for staff on trauma-informed and evidence-based mental health practices, hiring and capacity building for family, parent, and peer-support specialists, early childhood mental health consultations, professional development for the early childhood workforce, and other strategies that respond to the mental health needs of young children, as determined by the commission.
(f) The commission shall determine the amount of grants and shall take into consideration the level of need, disparities, and the number of children in participating entities when determining grant amounts. In determining the distribution of funds appropriated in a given fiscal year, the commission shall take into consideration any previous funding the grantee received under this section or Section 5886.
(g) The commission may establish incentives to encourage matching funds by awarding additional grant funds to partnerships that do so.
(h) Partnerships currently receiving grants from the Investment in Mental Health Wellness Act of 2013 (Part 3.8 (commencing with Section 5848.5)) or other grants administered by the commission are eligible to receive a grant under this section.
(i) Grants awarded pursuant to this section may be used to supplement, but not supplant, existing financial and resource commitments of the county, city, or multi-county mental health or behavioral health departments, or a consortium of those entities, or preschool and daycare programs that receive a grant.
(j) (1) The commission shall develop metrics and a system to measure and publicly report on the performance outcomes of services provided using the grants.
(2) (A) The commission shall provide a status report to the fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on the progress of implementation of this section no later than March 1, 2024, and provide an updated report no later than March 1, 2026. The reports shall address, at a minimum, all of the following:
(i) Successful strategies.
(ii) Identified needs for additional services.
(iii) Lessons learned, including state policy recommendations that further the goals of this section.
(iv) Numbers of, and demographic information for, the children served.
(v) Available data on outcomes, including, but not limited to, linkages to ongoing services and success in meeting the goals identified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c).
(B) The reports to be submitted pursuant to this paragraph shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(k) The commission may enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis in order to implement this section. Contracts entered into or amended pursuant to this subdivision are exempt from Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 14825) of Part 5.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, Section 19130 of the Government Code, and Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, and shall be exempt from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services.
(l) This section shall be implemented only to the extent moneys are appropriated in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this section.