BILL NUMBER
SB 11 |
BILL AUTHOR
Beall |
DATE INTRODUCED
12/01/2014 |
DATE LAST AMENDED
12/01/2014 |
RELATED BILLS
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SPONSORED BY
Author |
RECOMMENDED POSITION
Opposed unless amended |
| GENERAL, ANALYSIS, & RECOMMENDATION |
| GENERAL: |
| This bill states that it is the intent of the legislature to enact legislation to increase the minimum mental health training standard for California peace officers to address officer and community safety and achieve improved outcomes when interacting with persons with mental illness. |
| ANALYSIS: |
The Commission recognizes that interactions peace officers have with the people in the communities they serve are a critical part of establishing and maintaining public trust. Recent events involving peace officers dealing with persons suffering from mental illness have captured the attention of the national media and the public. Questions have been raised whether California peace officers need additional training related to handling people that are mentally ill.
All officers who complete the Regular Basic Course (RBC) receive six hours of classroom training on People with Disabilities (Learning Domain 37). This domain includes training and testing related to persons suffering from mental illness. In addition to the classroom instruction, students are given workbook assignments and must complete scenario-based and written testing. These activities add approximately four additional hours of mental health-related training and testing. In addition to Learning Domain 37, POST staff has identified 16 additional learning domains that exposes students to some aspect of mental health training or content related to working with people with disabilities.
Currently, POST has 38 certified courses that provide mental illness training to law enforcement officers and dispatchers. Twenty-five of these are crisis intervention training (CIT) courses that range from 8 to 40 hours. Five are crisis intervention update training courses, and the remaining courses address related topics such as developmental disabilities and autism. POST has also produced several 2-hour training videos on various mental health topics including Autism Recognition and Response (2010), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/TBI) (2012), Mental Health Update (2013), and Response to Persons Residing in Mental Health and Developmental Disability Facilities (2014). These continue to be available to every law enforcement agency in the POST program. POST also provided a Law Enforcement Response to Mental Illness/Developmental Disability Guide which is currently being updated and modified to make it available on mobile digital devices. Several of these topics were produced by POST as a result of previous legislative action.
POST staff met with the author who expressed the belief that more mental health training hours are needed in the RBC, Field Training Program, and in-service training. The bill does not yet describe the curriculum to be added, however the author expressed a willingness to allow POST to identify this curriculum to be included in the language. The author believes the current number of hours dedicated to mental health training is insufficient on its face. He is adamant that more "training hours" are needed to reduce the incidences of serious injury or death during encounters officers have with persons suffering from mental illness.
The intent of Senate Bill 11 is to direct POST to increase the minimum number of mental illness training hours in the RBC. This could result in the RBC exceeding the current 664-hour minimum training and testing requirement, or necessitating a redistribution of hours to maintain the 664-hour minimum standard. To accommodate additional training hours in Learning Domain 37 without adding hours to the overall RBC, staff is reviewing other learning domains to identify areas where related material may be consolidated and duplicate material may be eliminated.
Senate Bill 11 currently is a "spot bill." The final intent and language has not been developed. Over the next several months it is the intent of the author to consult with interested parties to develop more definitive and proscriptive language. POST Staff is working with the author and stakeholders to develop the actual language of the bill.
The bill would likely create an unfunded training mandate for local law enforcement agencies.
There is no indication that the bill will provide supplemental funding for POST to develop the training. Should the following options be chosen to address the requirements of the bill, the cost to develop a 2-hour training video is $120,000 and the cost for a self-paced course supported on the Learning Portal can be $250,000 to $350,000 depending upon the required content. The cost to increase the minimum hours of the RBC by four hours would increase local agency reimbursement per student from $4,150 to approximately $4,175. Depending on the conditions of the mandate, the cost could be substantially higher. This is especially problematic for POST in light of continuing declining revenue.
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| RECOMMENDATION: |
| Staff recommends that the Commission take a position of OPPOSED UNLESS AMENDED on Senate Bill 11. |
| ATTACHMENT(S): |
| Name: |
Type: |
| No Attachments Available |
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ANALYSIS PERFORMED BY
Alexis Blaylock |
DATE REVIEWED
01/21/2015 |
FISCAL IMPACT
Undetermined |
LEGISLATIVE LIAISON
Alexis Blaylock |
DATE REVIEWED
01/21/2015 |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Robert Stresak |
DATE REVIEWED
02/03/15 |
COMMISSION MEETING DATE
02/19/2015 |
COMMISSION POSITION
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