Mental health.

(1) Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative statute enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to oversee various mental health programs funded by the act. The MHSA may be amended by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature if the amendment is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the act. The Legislature may clarify procedures and terms of the act by majority vote. Under the MHSA, the commission consists of 16 voting members, including, among others, the Chairpersons of the Senate Health and Human Services Committees or another Member of the Senate selected by the President pro Tempore of the Senate. This bill would clarify that the member of the commission representing the Senate may be the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Human Services, or another Member of the Senate selected by the President pro Tempore of the Senate. (2) Existing law establishes the Early Psychosis and Mood Disorder Detection and Intervention Fund and makes the moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the commission. Existing law authorizes the commission to allocate moneys from that fund to provide grants through a competitive selection process to counties or other entities to create, or expand existing capacity for, early psychosis and mood disorder detection and intervention services and supports. Existing law requires the commission to adopt regulations to implement these provisions, but provides that the adoption of those regulations and the implementation of the grant program are contingent upon the deposit into the fund of at least $500,000 in nonstate funds for those purposes. This bill would delete the requirement that the minimum $500,000 deposit be from nonstate funds and would specify that the grant program is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature or the minimum deposit. (3) Under the MHSA, funds are distributed to counties for local assistance for designated mental health programs according to a specified county plan. Under existing law, if a county receives approval from the commission of a plan for innovative programs, unspent funds identified in that plan for innovative programs do not revert to the state until 3 years after the date of the approval. Under that provision, if the county has a population of less than 200,000, unspent funds identified in that plan do not revert until 5 years after the date of the approval. This bill would amend the MHSA by instead not reverting to the state the county's funds identified in the plan for innovative programs so long as they are encumbered under the terms of the approved project plan, including any subsequent amendments approved by the commission, or until 3 years after the date of approval, or 5 years for a county with a population of less than 200,000, whichever is later. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.