Section 5604.

(a) (1) Each community mental health service shall have a mental health board consisting of 10 to 15 members, depending on the preference of the county, appointed by the governing body, except that boards in counties with a population of less than 80,000 may have a minimum of five members. One member of the board shall be a member of the local governing body. Any county with more than five supervisors shall have at least the same number of members as the size of its board of supervisors. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the ability of the governing body to increase the number of members above 15. Local mental health boards may recommend appointees to the county supervisors. Counties are encouraged to appoint individuals who have experience and knowledge of the mental health system. The board membership should reflect the ethnic diversity of the client population in the county.

(2) Fifty percent of the board membership shall be consumers or the parents, spouses, siblings, or adult children of consumers, who are receiving or have received mental health services. At least 20 percent of the total membership shall be consumers, and at least 20 percent shall be families of consumers.

(3) (A) In counties under 80,000 population, at least one member shall be a consumer, and at least one member shall be a parent, spouse, sibling, or adult child of a consumer, who is receiving, or has received, mental health services.

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a board in a county with a population under 80,000 that elects to have the board exceed the five-member minimum permitted under paragraph (1) shall be required to comply with paragraph (2).

(b) The term of each member of the board shall be for three years. The governing body shall equitably stagger the appointments so that approximately one-third of the appointments expire in each year.

(c) If two or more local agencies jointly establish a community mental health service under Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, the mental health board for the community mental health service shall consist of an additional two members for each additional agency, one of whom shall be a consumer or a parent, spouse, sibling, or adult child of a consumer who has received mental health services.

(d)  No member of the board 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.

(e) Members of the board shall abstain from voting on any issue in which the member has a financial interest as defined in Section 87103 of the Government Code.

(f) If it is not possible to secure membership as specified from among persons who reside in the county, the governing body may substitute representatives of the public interest in mental health who are not full-time or part-time employees of the county mental health service, the State Department of Health Care Services, or on the staff of, or a paid member of the governing body of, a mental health contract agency.

(g) The mental health board may be established as an advisory board or a commission, depending on the preference of the county.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 34, Sec. 118. Effective June 27, 2012.)