By Kapish Kalita
SACRAMENTO, CA — A measure at the Capitol here, Senate Bill 1320, designed to ensure “health plans and insurers establish a process to reimburse providers for mental health and substance use disorder treatments integrated with primary care” was signed into law by the California governor this week.
According to the bill’s author, Senator Aisha Wahab (D-Silicon Valley), who also chairs the Senate Committee on Public Safety, the bill attempts to create “[a]n effective approach to the fentanyl crisis requires improving access to critical and life-saving mental health and substance use disorder treatments.”
Wahab added, “With seniors as the fastest growing population of people with substance use disorders we have to acknowledge that these issues impact every family, and I’m grateful for the bipartisan and bicameral support this legislation received.”
Wahab’s office said, “SB 1320 is part of the evidence-based approach to fentanyl in the Working Together for a Safer California Plan developed by the Senate” with the bill being “passed through the legislature on consent in its legislative hearings in both houses and its floor votes.”
SB 1320 was passed July 15, and, according to LegiScan, “adds Section 1374.725 to the Health and Safety Code,” which “reimburses providers for mental health and substance use disorder…for services provided to an enrollee under a health care service plan contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2025.”
Legiscan also affirmed SB 1320 added “Section 10144.58 to the Insurance Code, relating to health care coverage,” and establishes a “process to reimburse providers for mental health and substance use disorder treatment services that are integrated with primary care services.”
