February 2, 2023

The California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) announced it will be hosting the first Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act Working Group meeting on February 14 from 1pm-4pm, in collaboration with the Department of Health Care Services and the Judicial Council of California.

January 26, 2023

January 19, 2023

The County Medical Services Program (CMSP) Governing Board is launching the CMSP Healthcare Infrastructure Development Matching Grant (HID Matching Grant) Program to assist CMSP counties develop expanded facility capacity to provide healthcare and behavioral health services to underserved populations, including CMSP beneficiaries.

January 5, 2023

California is experiencing a large winter storm with flash flood risks, heavy snow for the Sierra and other mountain ranges, and high wind warnings/advisories remain in effect for much of the state.

CalOES Deployed Resources Across the State:

January 5, 2023

December 8, 2022

The California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), in collaboration with the Department of Health Care Services and the Judicial Council of California, will be sharing a webinar with general information and important updates on the implementation of the Community Assistance, Recovery & Empowerment (CARE) Act. The recorded webinar will be posted on the CalHHS CARE Act website coinciding with an email announcement on Monday, December 19. 

The webinar will cover: 

December 8, 2022

Yesterday, Governor Newsom announced $480.5 million in awards for 54 projects across California to improve California’s behavioral health infrastructure for children and youth. These funds will be used to construct new facilities and expand existing facilities that help children, youth, transition-age youth, and perinatal individuals with a behavioral health and/or substance use disorder.

December 1, 2022

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is requesting local jurisdictions to submit all eligible COVID-19 costs incurred up to July 1, 2022 in order to maximize Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement. Although the September 30 deadline for this submission to Cal OES has lapsed, Cal OES is still accepting these submissions as many local jurisdictions’ submissions are still outstanding.

CSAC recently reported on the final outcomes of measures that were approved by the Legislature and delivered to Governor Newsom for action. To keep counties informed of new laws of interest and impact, CSAC will publish a series of articles to spotlight those laws in each policy area. This week, the Health and Human Services policy area provides information on new laws affecting behavioral health, health services, and human services in California counties.

The new laws listed below become effective January 1, 2023 unless otherwise noted.

November 3, 2022

Governor Newsom rejected all applications for the third round of state Homelessness Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grants today, calling for more accelerated goals to reduce street homelessness.

“As a state, we are failing to meet the urgency of this moment,” Newsom said. Read the Governor’s press release here.

October 20, 2022

October 13, 2022

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra extended the federal public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic for another 90 days on October 13, placing the expiration – for now – at or around January 11, 2023, although the Secretary may terminate the declaration whenever he determines that the emergency has ceased to exist. Secretary Becerra has previously promised to provide 60 days’ notice before ending the emergency.

Governor Newsom vetoed AB 240 (Rodriguez), which would have required the Department of Public Health to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of local health department infrastructure and to make recommendations for future staffing, funding, workforce needs, and resources, in order to accurately and adequately fund local public health.

September 29, 2022

The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) released new instructions to assist Covered Entities, Covered Service Employers (CEs/CSEs), and independent physicians or physicians who are part of a Physician Group Entities (PGEs) registration and application process to participate in Worker Retention Payments (WRP).

September 14, 2022

September 15, 2022

September 8, 2022

California’s legislative session came to a close in the early morning hours this week with hundreds of bills now awaiting action by Governor Gavin Newsom. The following provides an update on major bills of interest for the Health and Human Services policy area. CSAC staff will continue to monitor and advocate for County priorities during the signing period, which ends September 30, 2022.

August 18, 2022

Last Thursday marked another big day for the California Legislature. The Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees convened their suspense file hearings to consider nearly 800 bills prior to the fiscal committee deadline. As the Legislature approaches its last day on August 31 to finish out the two-year session, we wanted to provide an update on a key bill of interest to counties.

June 30, 2022

May 12, 2022

Governor Gavin Newsom announced $150 million in new funding for Project Homekey this week.  

The legislative vehicle to implement the Governor’s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court proposal, SB 1338 by Senators Tom Umberg and Susan Talamantes Eggman, passed two Senate policy committees this week. Next stop: the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Counties raised concerns primarily regarding the lack of funding for new county responsibilities as well as issues related to the bill’s language on county sanctions, housing, and who would be eligible for the CARE Court program.

The CSAC Health and Human Services Policy Committee tackled three major issues during the in-person meeting Thursday, hearing from speakers on aging, the Governor’s behavioral health priorities, and homelessness. Napa County Supervisor Belia Ramos, Vice Chair of the Committee, welcomed speakers on each topic.

April 7, 2022

The language to implement Governor Newsom’s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court proposal was amended into two legislative vehicles today, SB 1338 by Senators Tom Umberg and Susan Talamantes Eggman, and AB 2830 by Assembly Member Richard Bloom.

CSAC is working to analyze the language and is engaging with the Governor’s office on the goals for the language and to review the technical details.