Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including short-term residential therapeutic programs, by the State Department of Social Services, and defines a short-term residential therapeutic program as a residential facility licensed by the department and operated by any public agency or private organization that provides an integrated program of specialized and intensive care and supervision, services and supports, treatment, and short-term, 24-hour care and supervision to children that is trauma-informed. A violation of the act is a crime.

Existing law requires a short-term residential therapeutic program to prepare and maintain a current, written plan of operation that includes a program statement containing, among other things, a description of how the short-term residential therapeutic program will meet specified standards established by the department in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law requires the program to submit a copy of its program statement to all county placing agencies from which the short-term residential therapeutic program accepts placements, including the county in which the facility is located, for optional review when the short-term residential therapeutic program updates its program statement. Existing law requires a short-term residential therapeutic program applicant to include a letter of recommendation in support of its program from a county placing agency in its licensing application.

This bill would additionally require a short-term residential therapeutic program applicant to submit a copy of its program statement to the board of supervisors in the county in which the program operates for optional review when the program updates its program statement. The bill would also require a short-term residential therapeutic program applicant to include a letter of recommendation in support of its program from the board of supervisors in the county in which the program will operate in its licensing application, except as specified. The bill would require the department to cease review of the application if it does not include the letter of recommendation from the board of supervisors or if it receives a letter indicating that the board of supervisors does not support the operation of the program in the county. The bill would require that, if a program intends to move locations to a new county, the licensee must submit an application to renew the license.

The bill would, notwithstanding any law and commencing January 1, 2027, require licenses for short-term residential therapeutic programs to be renewed annually. The bill would require an application for renewal to include, among other things, a form indicating whether or not the board of supervisors of the county in which the program operates supports the operation of the program in the county. The bill would require the department to cease further action on the renewal application if a board of supervisors submits a form indicating that it does not support the licensee’s operation in the county.

The bill would, notwithstanding any law and commencing January 1, 2027, prohibit the department from issuing or renewing licenses for the operation of short-term residential therapeutic programs in counties with less than 75,000 residents and that do not have a high school or a general acute care hospital operating in the county.