Core Behavioral Health Crisis Services System.

Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency, as defined, to have an emergency communication system and requires the digits "911" to be the primary emergency telephone number within the system. Existing law contains provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law specifies that county mental health services should be organized to provide immediate response to individuals in precrisis and crisis and to members of the individual's support system, on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis and authorizes provision of crisis services offsite as mobile services. Existing federal law, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, designated the three-digit telephone number "988" as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline maintained by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Veterans Crisis Line maintained by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This bill would create the Core Behavioral Health Crisis Services System, using the digits "988" for the 988 Suicide Prevention and Behavioral Health Crisis Hotline, in compliance with existing federal law and standards governing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The bill would require the department, as defined, to take specified actions to implement the hotline system. The bill would require the department to charge a fee on each resident of the state that is a subscriber of commercial mobile or IP-enabled voice services to pay for the costs of the program. The bill would create the 988 Fund, a new continuously appropriated fund, and would require the fees to be deposited along with other specified moneys into the 988 Fund. By creating a new continuously appropriated fund and establishing a fee as a new source of revenue for the continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also require local jurisdictions, in collaboration with the department, to create Mobile Crisis Teams, as specified, to provide onsite response services to crisis calls made through the hotline. By imposing this new requirement on local jurisdictions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.