Substance abuse and mental health services: advertising and marketing.

Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of an adult alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility, a psychiatric health facility, or a mental health rehabilitation facility by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law authorizes the department to impose specified penalties on a facility that is in violation of applicable laws and regulations governing the facility. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of a community care facility, including, among others, a social rehabilitation facility, by the State Department of Social Services. A violation of the act may be subject to specified civil penalties, license suspension or revocation, or misdemeanor charges. This bill would prohibit an operator of a licensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility, a certified alcohol or other drug program, and a licensed mental health rehabilitation center, psychiatric health facility, or social rehabilitation facility, from engaging in various acts, including making a false or misleading statement about the entity's products, goods, services, or geographical locations. The bill would also prohibit a picture, description, staff information, or the location of an entity from being included on an internet website along with false contact information that surreptitiously directs the reader to a business that does not have a contract with the entity. The bill would authorize the department responsible for the facility's licensure or certification to investigate allegations of a violation of these provisions and, upon finding a violation, to impose the civil sanctions and other penalties available pursuant to existing law, but would not make a violation of these provisions a crime.