Amended  IN  Senate  April 25, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1298

Introduced by Senator Ochoa Bogh
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Chen)(Coauthors: Senators Borgeas and Nielsen)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chen and Nguyen)

February 18, 2022

An act to amend Section 5960.05 of, and to add Section 5960.41 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to behavioral health, and making an appropriation therefor.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1298, as amended, Ochoa Bogh. Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program.
Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to, subject to an appropriation, establish a Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program. Existing law authorizes the department, pursuant to this program, to award competitive grants to qualified entities to construct, acquire, and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in needed mobile crisis infrastructure to expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources to build or expand the capacity of various treatment and rehabilitation options for persons with behavioral health disorders, as specified.
This bill would authorize the department, in awarding the above-described grants, to give preference to qualified entities that are, among other things, are intending to place their projects in any recently closed hospitals or skilled nursing facilities, as specified. specified facilities or properties. The bill would continuously appropriate, without regard to fiscal year, $1,000,000,000 to the department for purposes of implementing the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 5960.05 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

5960.05.
 (a) If the department establishes the program pursuant to this chapter, the department may award competitive grants to qualified entities to construct, acquire, and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in needed mobile crisis infrastructure to expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources to build new capacity or expand existing capacity for short-term crisis stabilization, acute and subacute care, crisis residential, community-based mental health residential, substance use disorder residential, peer respite, mobile crisis, community and outpatient behavioral health services, and other clinically enriched longer term treatment and rehabilitation options for persons with behavioral health disorders in the least restrictive and least costly setting.
(b) In awarding grants pursuant to subdivision (a), the department may give a preference to qualified entities that are intending to place their projects in any of the following facilities or properties:
(1) Recently closed hospitals or hospitals.
(2) Recently closed skilled nursing facilities.

(2)

(3) Unused city, county, or state properties.

(3)

(4) Facilities that are colocated or near state or local housing program sites.

(4)

(5) Recently closed or unused city or county jail facility.
(c) For purposes of this section, “recently closed hospitals” means hospitals that have been closed for at least two years.

SEC. 2.

 Section 5960.41 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

5960.41.
 Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the sum of one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) is hereby continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year, to the department for purposes of implementing this chapter.