(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, the department shall develop and implement a program to fund and support vital public health activities and services provided by the 61 local health jurisdictions in California.
(b) As a condition of funding, each local health jurisdiction shall, by December 30, 2023, and by July 1 every three years thereafter, be required to submit a public health plan to the department consistent with the requirements of subdivision (c). Each local public health plan shall be informed by the jurisdiction’s most recent community health assessment, community health improvement plan, or strategic plan, and shall include proposed evaluation methods and metrics.
(c) The funds provided for this program shall be used to supplement, rather than supplant, existing levels of the services provided by qualifying local health jurisdictions. Each local health jurisdiction receiving funds through this article shall annually certify to the department that its portion of this funding shall be used to supplement and not supplant all other specific local county funds, including, but not limited to, local realignment and county general fund resources utilized for local health jurisdiction purposes, and excluding federal funds in this determination. In addition, each local health jurisdiction shall certify that 70 percent of funds will be used to support staff, including benefits and training, and that remaining funds, not to exceed 30 percent, may be used for equipment, supplies, and other administrative purposes, such as facility space, furnishings, travel, and similar activities.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), in the 2022–23 fiscal year, each local health jurisdiction may use funds to develop the plan required by subdivision (b), including contracting for services to support the development of the public health plans, community health assessments, community health improvement plans, and strategic plans.
(e) Each participating local health jurisdiction shall receive a base grant of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000). The remaining balance of the funding shall be provided to local health jurisdictions proportionally as follows: (1) 50 percent based on 2019, or most recent, population data, (2) 25 percent based on 2019, or most recent, poverty data, and (3) 25 percent based on the 2019, or the most recent, portion of the population that is Black/African American, Latinx, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
(f) A participating local health jurisdiction that does not have a completed community health needs assessment, community health improvement plan or strategic plan, shall commence coordination and planning activities by no later than October 1, 2022, and complete its triennial public health plan by December 30, 2023.
(g) In addition to local evaluation plans and metrics, the department shall work in collaboration with the County Health Executives Association of California, California Conference of Local Health Officers, and Service Employees International Union to determine any minimum requirements for the funding and to establish statewide metrics to evaluate the impact of the investment of these funds on public health outcomes.
(h) A local health jurisdiction may, upon submission of a letter of support to the department with a description of the regional capability being provided, direct a portion of its funds to another local health jurisdiction in support of regional capacity.
(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 47, Sec. 12. (SB 184) Effective June 30, 2022.)