CA SB964

Department of Health Care Access and Information shall commission consultants to prepare a landscape analysis report of California's current behavioral health workforce and workforce needs by January 1, 2024.

Report must include analysis of public, private, and nonprofit behavioral health labor markets, including employment status, compensation levels, turnover rates, and barriers to workforce stability across geographic regions.

Report shall analyze both licensed and unlicensed behavioral health workers including psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors, psychiatric nurses, peer support specialists, and community health workers.

Report must provide demographic analysis of the workforce including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language capabilities, and lived experience with mental illness or substance use disorder (collected voluntarily and reported as deidentified data only).

Report shall include short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations to increase the behavioral health workforce, analyze licensing requirements compared to other states, and examine license renewal requirements for those with expired licenses.

This chapter expires and is repealed on January 1, 2028.