Bill Text

Bill Information


Bill PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

SB-1446 Behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, and other services or supports.(2021-2022)

SHARE THIS: share this bill in Facebook share this bill in Twitter
Date Published: 09/08/2022 09:00 PM
SB1446:v93#DOCUMENT

Enrolled  September 08, 2022
Passed  IN  Senate  August 31, 2022
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 30, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  August 24, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  August 15, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 23, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  May 23, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  April 18, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1446

Introduced by Senator Stern
(Principal coauthor: Senator Eggman)

February 18, 2022

An act to add Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5963) to Part 7 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to behavioral health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1446, Stern. Behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, and other services or supports.
Existing law establishes various state and local programs for the provision of behavioral health and housing assistance services within the jurisdiction of the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Social Services, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Behavioral Health Planning Council, the California Housing Finance Agency, and county public health or behavioral health departments, among other entities. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services, subject to an appropriation and until January 1, 2027, to establish an infrastructure program to award competitive grants to, among other things, expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources to build new capacity or expand existing capacity, as specified. Existing law also requires the department to maintain a behavioral health services and supports virtual platform for children and youth 25 years of age and younger, as specified.
This bill would declare that it is the public policy of the state that the State Department of Health Care Services when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, or grant program criteria relating to access to behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, or other services or supports, are required to ensure that any individual with a severe behavioral health disorder who, as a result, lacks supportive housing and behavioral health services and is otherwise not living safely in the community receives an individualized, clinically appropriate range of behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, as defined, and other services or supports. The bill would specify that these provisions do not expand any obligation of the state or other entities to provide access to services or supports beyond requiring the department to consider the state policy, as specified.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Severe behavioral health disorders, including severe mental illness, often result in diminished decisionmaking for many individuals who lack adequate access to treatment and housing. Lack of access to treatment and safe housing often results in a downward spiral of quality of life, socialization, nutrition, standards of health, and even death.
(b) As of January 2020, California had an estimated 161,548 persons experiencing homelessness on any given day, based on reports by Continuums of Care to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is estimated that about one quarter of those persons have mental illness, slightly above the national average of 20 percent of the homeless population living with mental illness.
(c) A 2022 report by the RAND Corporation found that California requires 50.5 inpatient psychiatric hospital beds per 100,000 adults, with approximately 26 beds at the acute level and approximately 25 beds at the subacute level. The state is estimated to have a shortfall of approximately 1,971 beds at the acute level, with 6.4 additional beds required per 100,000 adults, and a shortfall of 2,796 beds at the subacute level, with 9.1 additional beds required per 100,000 adults. It is estimated that the need for psychiatric beds will grow by 1.7 percent over the next four years.
(d) Only approximately 5,000 licensed or unlicensed mental health residential placements are estimated to exist. There are more closures of Board and Care Homes serving those individuals with severe mental illness than openings.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5963) is added to Part 7 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
CHAPTER  3. Access to Behavioral Health-Related Treatment, Housing That Heals, and Other Services or Supports

5963.
 (a) It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the state that the State Department of Health Care Services shall ensure when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, or grant program criteria, relating to access to behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, or other services or supports that any individual with a severe behavioral health disorder, including a severe mental illness, who, as a result, lacks supportive housing and behavioral health services and is otherwise not living safely in the community receives an individualized, clinically appropriate range of behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, and other services or supports.
(b) Implementation of this section shall not infringe on the rights or responsibilities of any state agency administering a community behavioral or mental health services program, public health care program, housing program, or other public social services program under this division, Division 9 (commencing with Section 10000), or any other law.
(c) This section does not expand any obligation of the state or other entities to provide access to behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, or other services or supports, or to require the expenditure of additional resources, beyond the requirement for the department to consider the state policy pursuant to subdivision (a).
(d) For purposes of this section, “housing that heals” means a behavioral health residential program that meets all of the following conditions:
(1) Leads to long-term supportive housing for individuals with severe and persistent behavioral health disorders.
(2) Offers services and resources that support the individual’s development of skills and that maintain the individual’s recovery, their mental and physical health, their overall well-being, their connection with friends and family, and their need to be purposeful and to contribute to their community if desired.
(3) Allows for a continuum of support, from least to most restrictive, as needed within the individual’s lifetime.
(4) Embraces therapeutic community models that increase well-being through intentionally engaging and empowering residents to develop community.