AB 501: Mental health: community care facilities.

(1)Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law includes within the definition of community care facility a short-term residential therapeutic program, which is a residential facility licensed by the department and operated by any public agency or private organization that provides an integrated program of specialized and intensive care and supervision, services and supports, treatment, and short-term, 24-hour care and supervision to children. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor.

This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to, no later than January 1, 2019, and contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for these purposes, license a short-term residential therapeutic program operating as a childrens crisis residential program, as defined, and would require the department to regulate those programs, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services and the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, among others, to provide guidance to counties for the provision of childrens crisis residential services, including funding for children who are Medi-Cal beneficiaries and who are admitted to a childrens crisis residential program. By expanding the types of facilities that are regulated as a community care facility, this bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, thus creating a state-mandated local program.

(2)Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. In order to be eligible for AFDC-FC, existing law requires a child or nonminor dependent to be placed in a specified placement, including, a short-term residential therapeutic program.

Existing law requires a short-term residential therapeutic program to obtain a contract with a county mental health plan to provide specialty mental health services and demonstrate the ability to meet the therapeutic needs of each child identified in specified plan documents. Existing law authorizes a short-term residential therapeutic program to accept for placement children who meet certain criteria, except as otherwise specified.

This bill would authorize a short-term residential therapeutic program that is operating as a childrens crisis residential program to accept for admission any child who meets specified requirements, including, among other things, that the child has a serious behavioral health disorder and is referred by a parent or guardian, physician, or licensed mental health professional, or by the representative of a public or private entity that has the right to make these decisions on behalf of a child who is experiencing a mental health crisis.

The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with certain stakeholders including the State Department of Social Services, to establish program standards and procedures, as specified, for a childrens crisis residential mental health program approval, and would require the childrens crisis residential mental health program approval to be a condition of continued licensure for a short-term residential therapeutic program operating as a childrens crisis residential program.

(3)Existing law establishes the Investment in Mental Health Wellness Act of 2013. Existing law provides that funds appropriated by the Legislature to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority for the purposes of the act be made available to selected counties or counties acting jointly, except as otherwise provided, and used to provide, among other things, a complete continuum of crisis services for children and youth 21 years of age and under regardless of where they live in the state. The act requires grant awards made by the authority to be used to expand local resources for the development, capital, equipment acquisition, and applicable program startup or expansion costs to increase capacity for client assistance and services generally and for client assistance and crisis services for children and youth 21 years of age and under in specified areas, including crisis residential treatment as authorized by specified provisions.

This bill would include within these specified areas crisis residential treatment provided at a childrens crisis residential program.

(4)The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services to adopt regulations to implement the act no later than July 1, 2022, as specified, and would authorize the departments to implement and administer the changes made by this act through information notices, all-county letters, or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted.

(5)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 612 to be operative only if this bill and SB 612 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11462.01 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 404 to be operative only if this bill and AB 404 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

(6)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.