Under usual circumstances, much of the County Family would have
met in person this week for CSAC’s annual Legislative Conference
and Board of Directors meeting. However, as counties across
California and the nation continue to cope with the COVID-19
pandemic, legislative advocacy continued this week — but in a
far different form than typical.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) has begun accepting applications for COVID-19 Emergency
Response Suicide Prevention (COVID-19 ERSP) grants. Last week
SAMHSA announced the shortened turnaround due to the critical
need. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 22,
2020.
This week the Legislature began holding public hearings to review
the Governor’s May Revision Budget. With the condensed
Legislative timelines, the Budget Subcommittees are doing their
best to fully examine the proposed investments and cuts laid out
in the Governor’s 172 page
summary. In addition to their internal review, the
Legislature has made an asserted effort to hear from the all
parties that will be impacted by what the Legislature approves by
June 15.
At the time of this writing, 20 California counties have received
the go-ahead to allow dine-in restaurants, office spaces, and
some outdoor spaces to reopen with proper safety precautions
under Stage 2 of the Governor’s Resilience Roadmap. The CSAC map
below/above shows each county and links to their variance plans.
The state is investing nearly $28 million into two projects to
help counties with contact tracing efforts, including $8.7
million to operationalize an online training program for up to
20,000 new contact tracers and $18.7 million for a data
management system to support that new contact tracing workforce.
The California Department of Finance notified the Legislature on
the expected expenditures on May 8 as required by SB 89 (Chapter
2, Statutes of 2020).
The Governor announced today that the state would be moving into
Stage 2 this Friday – for counties that can attest to their
readiness to do so.
With the state’s COVID-19 readiness “report card” in good shape –
conducting 30,000 tests daily, millions of N-95 masks on the way,
more than 2,000 hospital beds available, and 10,000 ventilators
at the ready – and significant pressure from local government
building by the hour, Governor Newsom released a new Executive
Order loosening his statewide stay-at-home order and promised new
guidance on Thursday.
Over the past week, the Governor has made a series of
announcements and focused significant time in his daily press
briefings on the issue of food assistance for older adults and
families.
Governor Newsom signed Executive
Order N-55-20 to extend deadlines and requirements for
Medi-Cal providers and facilities in the state.
The new Executive Order grants the Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) the power to waive signature requirements for
psychiatric medications and extends the administrative deadlines
for reporting and inspections for substance use disorder and
psychiatric treatment facilities.
The California
Testing Task Force hosted a second webinar for local
elected officials, local public health directors and officers,
and local emergency managers to discuss the rapid increase in
COVID-19 testing capacity and areas that they will continue
working on.
Governor Newsom announced his four stage plan to reopen the state
today, called the California Resilience Roadmap. In response to
some county concerns shared by CSAC over the weekend, he
indicated that the reopening process could occur regionally and
promised to work closely with local health officers on the
roadmap. He also took the opportunity to emphasize that the state
is trending in the right direction and that he is thinking of the
stages, especially moving from stage 1 (which we are in
currently) to stage 2, in weeks, not months.
Over the weekend, the California Department of Public Health
released the new
COVID-19 testing prioritization document. The
California Testing Task Force also hosted a webinar to
discuss the increase in COVID-19 testing capacity and areas that
they will continue working on.
The County Medical Services Program (CMSP) Governing Board has
begun accepting applications for the CMSP COVID-19 Bridge Loan
Program. The loan program aims to assist community health centers
continue the essential health care services during this pandemic.
Eligible entities are federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural
Health Clinics, and Tribal Health Programs with active contracts
in one of the
35 CMSP counties.
Accompanied by Santa Clara Supervisors Cindy Chavez and Susan
Ellenberg, as well as San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Governor
Newsom delivered one of his daily COVID-19 updates over the
weekend from a newly leased Motel 6 in Santa Clara County.
This backdrop was significant as Governor
Newsom announced a new statewide master lease
agreement/template with Motel 6 corporate. The agreement includes
5,025 new rooms across Motel 6 locations in 19 counties, and
contains language on extending the leases into the future beyond
the COVID-19 pandemic.
CSAC and county affiliates submitted a coalition
letter to our California Congressional delegation requesting
their support in urging extensions to the Section 1115 Medicaid
waiver and the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services
(1915(b)) waiver. Our coalition has specifically asked our
delegation to support a one-year extension for both waivers.
