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, funds a system of county mental health plans for the provision of mental health services, as specified. The act establishes the Mental Health Services Fund, which is continuously appropriated to, and administered by, the State Department of Health Care Services to fund specified county mental health programs.
This bill would authorize funding from the MHSA to be used to treat a person with cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders when the person would be eligible for treatment of the mental health disorder pursuant to the MHSA. The bill would also authorize the use of MHSA funds to assess whether a person has cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders and to treat a person who is preliminarily assessed to have cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders, even when the person is later determined not to be eligible for services provided with MHSA funds. The bill would require a person being treated for cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders who is determined to not need the mental health services that are eligible for funding pursuant to the act, to be, as quickly as possible, referred to substance use disorder treatment services. By authorizing the use of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, this bill would make an appropriation.
This bill would require a county that elects to use funding for the above purposes to report specified information to the State Department of Health Care Services, including the policies and practices and the outcomes achieved. The bill would also require the department, by January 1, 2022, and each January 1 thereafter, to publish on its internet website a report summarizing the county data for the prior fiscal year.