AB 1013 amends Penal Code section 13515.27 to convert an existing Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) classroom course on behavioral health into a required course for every law enforcement officer at the rank of supervisor or below who is assigned to patrol duties or who supervises patrol officers. The bill also explicitly authorizes POST to partner with local departments of behavioral health, community‑based organizations, or nonprofits to develop and maintain the course and updates the statutory implementation date to 2026.
The change shifts training responsibilities to local agencies without providing direct appropriations, and the statute flags the reimbursement process under the Commission on State Mandates if the commission finds the bill creates state‑mandated local costs. Compliance officers, agency chiefs, county behavioral health directors, and community trainers should evaluate operational impacts: delivery channels, timelines for rolling out mandatory training, recordkeeping, and interim funding while reimbursement claims proceed.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires POST to provide a classroom‑based, instructor‑led behavioral‑health training course and requires covered patrol officers and their supervisors to complete it. It authorizes POST to partner with local behavioral‑health departments, community‑based organizations, and nonprofits to create and update the curriculum and specifies a minimum three consecutive hours of classroom instruction with scenario‑based learning and defined topic areas.
Who It Affects
Local law enforcement agencies that employ patrol officers and first‑line supervisors; county behavioral‑health departments and community organizations that may be asked to design or deliver training; POST for course administration and recordkeeping; and county and municipal budgets that will bear upfront training costs.
Why It Matters
The bill moves an available training into a mandatory continuing‑education requirement for a large segment of California’s officers, changing operational and budget priorities for agencies. It also formalizes a cross‑sector partnership model for course development, which will influence curriculum content and who shapes frontline de‑escalation practice.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
AB 1013 takes a POST classroom training on interacting with people who have mental illness, intellectual disability, or substance use disorders and makes completion mandatory for every officer at the rank of supervisor or below who works patrol or supervises patrol units. The statute prescribes court‑room style instructor‑led learning, allows scenario‑based exercises, and requires coverage of stigma, culturally relevant approaches, indicators of behavioral health conditions, de‑escalation and conflict resolution, appropriate language, available resources, and lived‑experience perspectives.
Rather than forcing POST to develop the course in isolation, the bill authorizes POST to partner with county behavioral‑health agencies, community‑based organizations, and nonprofits. That creates a formal avenue for local providers and advocacy groups to contribute to curriculum design, scenario content, and delivery — which agencies can use to tailor training to local population needs while staying within the statute’s topic and duration floor.The bill sets a minimum delivery standard — at least three consecutive hours of classroom instruction — but does not prescribe assessment mechanisms, certification intervals, or detailed recordkeeping rules.
It also advances the statutory implementation deadline to 2026. Importantly for finance officers, the bill contains the standard clause directing the Commission on State Mandates to determine whether the measure imposes reimbursable state mandates and to trigger reimbursement under Government Code procedures if so; the text does not appropriate upfront funding.Operationally, agencies will need to integrate the required course into in‑service calendars, decide whether to use POST‑led sessions or local partners for delivery, and allocate staffing coverage for officers attending multi‑hour classroom sessions.
Because the bill does not specify a completion deadline for existing officers beyond the implementation date, agencies will have to set internal timelines and track compliance to meet the statutory requirement once POST makes the course available.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill amends Penal Code §13515.27 to require the POST classroom behavioral‑health course be completed by every officer of supervisor rank or below who is assigned to patrol duties or supervises patrol officers.
POST may partner with county behavioral‑health departments, community‑based organizations, or nonprofit organizations to establish and keep the course updated.
The course must be at least three consecutive hours, instructor‑led, potentially scenario‑based, culturally relevant, and must cover a specified list of topics including stigma, indicators, de‑escalation, appropriate language, resources, and lived‑experience perspectives.
The statute’s implementation deadline is updated from August 1, 2016 to August 1, 2026, making POST responsible for implementing the requirement by that date.
The bill declares it creates a state‑mandated local program and references the Commission on State Mandates process for potential reimbursement under Government Code Part 7 if the commission finds reimbursable costs.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
POST establishes and maintains the classroom behavioral‑health course
This subsection directs the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to establish and keep updated a classroom‑based continuing training course focused on interactions with people who have mental illness, intellectual disability, or substance use disorders, explicitly requiring instructor‑led active learning such as scenario‑based exercises. Practically, POST is the accountable state body for course content, periodic updates, and ensuring statewide availability.
Authorized partnerships for course development and upkeep
The bill authorizes POST to partner with local behavioral‑health departments, community‑based organizations, or nonprofits to establish and update the course. That language creates statutory cover for contracting, curriculum co‑development, and local delivery arrangements, which agencies can use to incorporate regional case examples and lived‑experience input into a state‑approved curriculum.
Minimum course length and required topics
This subsection fixes a floor: at least three consecutive hours of classroom instruction, with possible scenario and facilitated activities, and a required topic list (causes and indicators of conditions, response protocols, de‑escalation, language, resources, and lived‑experience perspectives). The statute sets educational boundaries that limit how short or narrowly focused local adaptations can be.
Mandatory provision and completion for patrol officers and supervisors
The bill changes POST’s duty from merely making the course available to providing the course and requiring every law enforcement officer at or below the rank of supervisor assigned to patrol duties — or supervising those officers — to complete it. The provision imposes an affirmative compliance obligation on officers and an administrative duty on agencies to ensure completion, though it leaves detailed compliance mechanics to POST or agency policy.
Implementation date change and reimbursement clause
The statute’s implementation date is updated to August 1, 2026. Separately, the bill includes the standard Commission on State Mandates language: if the commission determines the act imposes state‑mandated costs, reimbursement to local agencies will follow Government Code Part 7 procedures. The text does not allocate funds up front; reimbursement will depend on the commission’s findings and the separate claim process.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Criminal Justice across all five countries.
Explore Criminal Justice in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Individuals with behavioral‑health conditions and their families — more officers will receive standardized training on indicators, de‑escalation, and resource referrals, which may reduce escalations and improve referrals to services.
- Community‑based organizations and nonprofits focused on behavioral health — the partnership authorization creates new opportunities to shape curriculum, provide trainers, and secure contracts to deliver scenario‑based training tailored to local needs.
- Local behavioral‑health departments — the law formalizes their role in law‑enforcement training, enabling coordination on resources and local diversion pathways that can be taught to officers.
- Law enforcement supervisors and agencies seeking clearer training standards — the statute sets a statewide minimum for content and duration, which can reduce variability in how officers are prepared for behavioral‑health encounters.
Who Bears the Cost
- Local law enforcement agencies — responsible for paying for instructor time, overtime or backfill while officers attend multi‑hour classroom sessions, and administrative overhead to track completion; these are upfront costs absent a funding appropriation.
- Counties and county behavioral‑health agencies — if they participate in curriculum development or delivery, they may need to allocate staff time and program resources without guaranteed state funding.
- POST (administration) — increased administrative duties to develop, approve, update, deliver, and track course completion at scale, potentially requiring staffing or contracting resources.
- Community organizations that partner on training — while they may benefit contractually, they may also incur development and delivery costs (curriculum design, trainer training) that require negotiated compensation.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill balances two legitimate goals—uniform minimum training standards statewide and local tailoring through community partnerships—but solving for one undermines the other: stronger local influence improves cultural relevance and local diversion pathways but risks variable training quality and uneven compliance, while a tightly centralized POST program would ensure consistency but limit local input that can make de‑escalation strategies effective in diverse communities.
Two implementation tensions stand out. First, the bill makes training mandatory but provides no appropriation or explicit timeline for when individual officers must complete the course after POST implements it.
Agencies will face practical choices about phasing—whether to require completion at the next in‑service cycle, during a specified window, or immediately—which affects scheduling, staffing, and overtime costs. Second, the reimbursement mechanism is procedural: local agencies must rely on the Commission on State Mandates to find costs are reimbursable and then pursue claims under Government Code Part 7.
That process can take years, leaving local budgets to absorb upfront expenses and creating cash‑flow risk.
Another trade‑off arises from the partnership authorization. Local partners can improve cultural relevance and inject lived‑experience perspective, but they also risk producing uneven quality across jurisdictions unless POST sets clear standards for curricula, instructor qualifications, and scenario design.
The statute fixes content floors but leaves assessment, certification, and recordkeeping undefined, which could produce inconsistent compliance practices and litigation risk if an agency’s implementation is challenged after a serious incident. Finally, the absence of enforcement language or penalties for noncompletion means the requirement relies on agencies’ internal policies, collective‑bargaining agreements, and POST’s administrative follow‑through to be effective.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.