Medication-Assisted Treatment Grant Program.

Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, under the oversight of the Undersecretary of Health Care Services, to establish a 3-year pilot program at one or more institutions that will provide a medically assisted substance use disorder treatment model for treatment of inmates with a history of substance use problems. Existing law requires the department, in establishing the program, to consider specified treatment components, including, among others, access to medication-assisted treatment throughout the period of incarceration up to and including immediately prior to release. This bill would establish, until January 1, 2026, the Medication-Assisted Treatment Grant Program, to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections. The bill would require the board to award grants, on a competitive basis, to counties and would authorize counties that receive grants to use grant funds for various purposes relating to the treatment of substance use disorders and the provision of medication-assisted treatment. The bill would prohibit counties from using the grant funds to supplant existing resources for medication-assisted treatment services delivered in county jails or in the community. The bill would require counties that receive grants pursuant to these provisions to collect and maintain data relating to the effectiveness of the program and would require the board, by July 1, 2025, to submit a report to the Legislature describing the activities funded by the grant program and the success of those activities in reducing drug overdoses and recidivism by jail inmates and persons under criminal justice supervision.