(1) 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, established the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to oversee the implementation of the MHSA. Existing law specifies the composition of the 16-member commission, including the Attorney General or their designee, the Superintendent of Public Instruction or their designee, specified members of the Legislature, and 12 members appointed by the Governor, as prescribed.
Existing law, the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 1 at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, recast the MHSA by, among other things, renaming the commission to the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission and changing its composition and duties.
This bill would make technical changes to reflect the correct name of the commission.
(2) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires a health facility to develop, implement, and comply with a patient safety plan to improve the health and safety of patients and to reduce preventable patient safety events. Existing law requires a patient safety plan to contain specified elements, including, but not limited to, a reporting system for patient safety events that allows anyone involved to make a report of a patient safety event to the health facility and a process for a team of facility staff to conduct analyses related to root causes of patient safety events. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2026, and biannually thereafter, requires a health facility to submit a patient safety plan to the department. A violation of these provisions is a crime.
This bill would instead require a health facility to submit a patient safety plan to the department biennially. The bill would also make technical corrections to those provisions. By changing the frequency that a health facility is required to submit a patient safety plan, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties to license and administer health facilities, as defined, including skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities. Existing law requires the department to prepare and maintain a list of approved training programs for nurse assistant certification, which are required to include a precertification training program consisting of at least 60 classroom hours of training on basic nursing skills, patient safety and rights, the social and psychological problems of patients, and elder abuse recognition and reporting and at least 100 hours of supervised and on-the-job training clinical practice. Existing law requires at least 2 hours of the 60 hours of classroom training and at least 4 hours of the 100 hours of the supervised clinical training to address the special needs of persons with developmental and mental disorders, including intellectual disability, Alzheimer's disease, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and mental illness. A violation of these provisions is a crime.
This bill would require that at least 2 of the 60 hours of classroom training address the special needs of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) Existing law authorizes the State Public Health Officer, to the extent allowable under federal law, and upon the availability of funds, to expend moneys from the continuously appropriated AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Rebate Fund for a program to cover the costs of prescribed ADAP formulary medications for the prevention of HIV infection and other specified costs.
This bill would make technical corrections to a related provision.
(5) Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to develop and administer a syndromic surveillance program and, subject to an appropriation, to either designate an existing system or to create a new system that would be required, at a minimum, to provide public health practitioners access to an electronic health system to rapidly collect, evaluate, share, and store syndromic surveillance data, as specified.
This bill would make technical corrections to related provisions.
(6) Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a large group disability insurance policy, except as specified, issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services, as specified.
This bill would make technical corrections to those provisions.
(7) Existing law requires an insurer to provide an insured with an annual electronic notice regarding the benefits of a behavioral health and wellness screening, as defined, for children and adolescents 8 to 18 years of age.
This bill would make technical changes to those provisions.
(8) 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.

Statutes affected:
SB 862: 232.7 EDC, 49421 EDC, 1279.6 HSC, 1337.3 HSC, 120960 HSC, 131365 HSC, 131370 HSC, 10119.6 INS, 10123.1991 INS, 5814 WIC, 5847 WIC, 5899 WIC
03/17/25 - Introduced: 232.7 EDC, 49421 EDC, 1279.6 HSC, 1337.3 HSC, 120960 HSC, 131365 HSC, 131370 HSC, 10119.6 INS, 10123.1991 INS, 5814 WIC, 5847 WIC, 5899 WIC