2021 End of Year Summary
Updated October 26, 2021
Harm Reduction
Bill: AB 1344 (Arambula, D-Fresno) - California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Exemption for Needle and Syringe Exchange Services
Description: Exempts needle and syringe exchange programs from review under CEQA. According to the author, “SEPs are a cost-effective strategy instituted to slow the spread of deadly and disabling conditions. They have a proven track record of reducing the transmission of many deadly diseases, including HIV and hepatitis C.”
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/04/2021)
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Bill: SB 57 (Wiener, D-San Francisco) - Overdose prevention program
Description: Would have allowed for the establishment of pilot “overdose prevention programs” (OPPs) in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. Specifically, SB 57 would have allowed approved entities to operate programs that provide “hygienic space supervised by trained staff where people who can use drugs can consume pre-obtained drugs, sterile consumption supplies, access or referrals to substance use disorder treatment” and staff trained to use an opioid antagonist such as naloxone to clients experiencing an overdose. The bill would have also exempted staff from civil, criminal and professional liability for services provided at the sites.
Status: Held in the Assembly
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Bill: SB 73 (Wiener, D-San Francisco) - Probation eligibility for crimes related to controlled substances
Description: Permits a court to grant probation for specified drug offenses which are currently ineligible for probation. According to an October 6, 2021 article in The Hill, the bill was state legislators' fourth attempt at such a proposal. Previous versions in 2018 and 2019 failed due to opposition from law enforcement groups. The proposal was put on hold in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced lawmakers to pare down their legislative agendas.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/05/2021)
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Bill: SB 110 (Wiener, D-San Francisco) - Contingency Management Services Medi-Cal Option for Substance Use Disorder Treatment
Description: Would have required substance use disorder services provided under Medi-Cal (the state’s Medicaid program) to include contingency management (CM) services as an optional benefit. Contingency management is a type of behavioral therapy that uses incentives to reinforce desired behavior. Incentives typically include vouchers, small amounts of money or tokens that can be exchanged for rewards.
Status: Vetoed by Governor (10/08/2021)
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Bill: SB 367 (Hurtado, D-Sanger) - Opioid Overdose Reversal Medication Required on Public College Campuses
Description: Would have required California Community Colleges and California State University campuses (and requested the University of California) to distribute a federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication to students and to provide educational and preventive information about opioid overdose and reversal medication.
Status: Held in Assembly
Treatment Industry
Bill: AB 381 (Davies, R-Laguna Niguel) - Licensed Facilities Required to Maintain Opioid Overdose Medication
Description: Will require licensed addiction treatment facilities to maintain at least two unexpired doses of naloxone or any other approved opioid antagonist on the premises and have at least one staff members on site who has been trained to use the mediation. The bill requires the California Department of Health Care Services to adopt regulations to implement these provisions on or before July 1, 2024.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/1/2021)
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Bill: AB 541 (Berman, D-Menlo Park) - Treatment Facilities and Programs Required to Provide Tobacco Assessment and Treatment
Description: Requires licensed facilities or certified programs to assess a patient or client for the use of tobacco products at the time of initial intake and to provide information and treatment (or a referral to treatment) if the patient or client has a tobacco use disorder.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (8/31/2021)
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Bill: AB 666 (Chiu, D-San Francisco) - Substance Use Disorder Treatment Workforce Development
Description: would have required the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to conduct a needs assessment for the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment workforce, determine barriers to entry and implement a SUD workforce development program “to support a career ladder for the SUD workforce.”
Specifically, the bill would have required DHCS to deliver a report on the SUD workforce needs assessment study by July 1, 2022, and to implement a workforce development program no later than January 1, 2024. Under the proposal, the work would have been paid for with $9 million from the state’s $573 million settlement with McKinsey & Company over the consulting firm’s role in the opioid crisis.
Status: Held in the Senate
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Bill: AB 1158 (Petrie-Norris, D-Laguna Beach) - Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services Advertising and Marketing Practices
Description: Requires a licensee operating an alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility and serving more than 6 residents to maintain specified insurance coverages, including, among others, commercial general liability insurance and employer’s liability insurance. The bill would require a licensee that serves 6 or fewer residents to maintain general liability insurance coverage.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/1/2021)
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Bill: SB 434 (Bates, R-Laguna Niguel) - Insurance Coverage Requirements for Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facilities and Recovery Residences
Description: Prohibits entities licensed or certified by the state to provide substance use or mental health disorder services from making false statements or providing false information in advertising or marketing. The proposal was named “Brandon’s Law” after Brandon Nelson who died in 2018 at an unlicensed rehab home promising services it did not provide.
Specifically, SB 434 prohibits 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.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/1/2021)
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Bill: SB 541 (Bates, R-Laguna Niguel) - Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facilities and Programs: Disclosure of License and Certification Status
Description: Requires an entity licensed or certified by the Department of Health Care Services to provide substance use disorder treatment services to disclose information about its license or certification.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/8/2021)
Patient/Client Rights
Bill: SB 221 (Weiner, D-San Francisco) - Timely Access to Care
Description: Requires health plans and insurers to provide patients with timely follow-up care for mental health and substance use disorders and will go into effect July 1, 2022. Specifically, the bill codifies existing timely access to care standards for health plans and health insurers, applies these requirements to Medi-Cal managed care plans, adds a standard for non-urgent follow-up appointments for nonphysician mental health care or substance use disorder providers that is within 10 business days of the prior appointment, and prohibits contracting providers and employees from being disciplined for informing patients about timely access standards.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (10/8/2021)
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Bill: SB 349 (Umberg, D-Orange county) - California Ethical Treatment for Persons with Substance Use Disorder Act (Client/Patient Bill of Rights)
Description: Would have required a SUD treatment provider to adopt a client bill of rights for persons receiving treatment for a SUD, and to make the bill of rights available to all clients and prospective clients. The proposal also would have established requirements and prohibitions related to the marketing and advertising practices of SUD treatment providers.
Status: Held in Assembly.
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Bill: AB 1542 (McCarty, D-Sacramento) - Secured Residential Treatment Program - Yolo County
Description: would have authorized California’s Yolo county to offer a pilot Secured Residential Treatment Program for individuals suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs) who have been convicted of “drug-motivated” felony crimes.
Specifically, the bill would have required a judge to offer a defendant voluntary participation in the pilot program as an alternative to a jail or prison sentence otherwise imposed, if the defendant’s crime was caused in whole or in part by the defendant’s SUD, the crime was not a sex crime, serious or violent felony, or nonviolent drug possession, and the judge makes their determination based on the recommendations of the treatment providers, on a finding by the health and human services agency of the county that the defendant’s participation would be appropriate.
Status: Vetoed by Governor (10/8/2021).
Alcohol Sales
Bill: AB 239 (Weiner, D-San Francisco) - Winegrower and brandy manufacturers’ sales
Description: Will allow winegrowers and brandy manufacturers to sell and deliver to consumers in containers supplied, furnished, or sold by the consumer away from their licensed premises.
Status: Signed by Governor and Chaptered (9/22/2021)
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Bill: SB 314 (Weiner, D-San Francisco) - Expanded alcohol catering authorization for restaurants
Description: This bill authorizes the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) to, for 365 days from the date the Covid-19 state of emergency is lifted, allow licensees to continue to exercise license privileges in an expanded licensed area authorized pursuant to a Covid-19 temporary catering authorization. The bill also allows a licensed manufacturer to share a common licensed area with multiple licensed retailers. Finally, this bill increases the number of times, from 24 to 36 in a calendar year, that the Department of ABC can issue a caterer’s permit for use at any one location.
Status: Vetoed by Governor (10/8/2021).
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Bill: SB 389 (Dodd, D-Napa) - “To go” alcohol sales privileges for restaurants
Description: This bill authorizes, until December 31, 2026, licensees for restaurants to sell alcohol for off-site consumption if the beverages are in manufacturer-prepackaged containers, and ordered and picked up by the consumer. This bill also authorizes a licensee to sell some alcohol for off-site consumption that are not in manufacturer-prepackaged containers if specified conditions are met.
Status: Signed by the Governor and Chaptered (10/8/2021).
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Bill: SB 793 (Weiner, D-San Francisco) - Establishment of a new “music venue” alcoholic beverage sales license
Description: Would have authorized the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to issue a music venue license that would allow the licensee to sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits for consumption on the premises in a music entertainment facility, as defined; and authorizes specified alcohol licensees to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption within an entertainment zone, as defined.
Status: Ordered to inactive file at request of the author (6/2/2021)