§ 15.12. BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COMMISSION - COMPOSITION AND APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.

(a) There is hereby established a mental health board pursuant to the requirements of California Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 5604 et seq., to be known as the Behavioral Health Commission (“Commission”).

(b) The Commission shall consist of 17 members. Each member of the Board of Supervisors shall appoint a member of the Commission. The Board of Supervisors shall appoint the remaining six members, one of whom shall be a member of the Board of Supervisors.

(c) As required by California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5604, at least nine members of the Commission shall be consumers or the parents, spouses, siblings, or adult children of consumers, with at least four members being consumers and at least four other members being family of consumers. For purposes of this subsection (c), “family” includes domestic partners and significant others. For purposes of this subsection, a “consumer” is a person who has received mental health and/or substance use services in San Francisco from any program operated or funded by the City, from a State hospital, or from any public or private nonprofit mental health agency. The Board of Supervisors member position shall not count in determining whether the “consumer” and “family of consumer” requirements of this subsection are met.

(d) In addition to the requirements of subsection (c), one member of the Commission shall be a child advocate (a family member or consumer advocate for minors who use mental health services); one member shall be an older adult advocate (a family member or consumer advocate for persons 60 years of age or older who use mental health services); and two members shall be from the following professions: psychiatry, psychology, mental health social work, nursing with a specialty in mental health, marriage and family counseling, psychiatric technology, or administrator of a hospital providing mental health services or of a community mental health facility.

(e) Any positions on the Commission not allocated to specific types of members may be filled by persons with experience and knowledge of the mental health system representing the public interest.

(f) The Commission membership shall reflect the ethnic diversity of the client population in the City. The composition of the Commission shall, to the extent feasible, represent the demographics of the City as a whole. Except as provided in subsection (g) no member of the Commission or his or her spouse shall be a full-time or part-time County employee of a County mental health service, an employee of the State Department of Health Care Services, or an employee of, or a paid member of the governing body of, a mental health contract agency.

(g) A consumer who has obtained employment with an employer described in subsection (f), and who holds a position in which the consumer has no interest, influence, or authority over any financial or contractual matter concerning the employer may be appointed to the Commission. Such a member shall not participate in any financial or contractual issue concerning his or her employer that may come before the Commission.

(h) References in the Administrative Code or other1 any other part of the Municipal Code, or any City ordinance to the Advisory Board of the Community Mental Health Services, or to the San Francisco Mental Health Board shall be deemed references to the Commission.

(Added by Ord. 98-93, App. 4/13/93; amended by Ord. 337-99, File No. 992043, App. 12/30/99; Ord. , File No. 190497, App. 10/18/2019, Eff. 11/18/2019)

CODIFICATION NOTE

1. So in Ord. .