California behavioral health commission creates merged client, family and community inclusion advisory committee after contentious public comment

The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission on Aug. 28 voted to establish a new Client, Family and Community Inclusion, Lived Experience and Diversity Advisory Committee, merging the existing Client and Family Leadership Committee (CFLC) and the Cultural and Linguistic Competency Committee (CLCC).

Chair Myra Alvarez called the vote after a lengthy public comment period in which dozens of stakeholders urged the commission either to preserve the two separate advisory bodies or to proceed only with strong protections to ensure cultural representation and consumer voices were not diluted. The commission approved a motion creating the new committee with an amendment that requires the commission to evaluate the new committee’s effectiveness after three committee meetings and return the evaluation to the full commission for consideration.

The vote formalizes a staff and commissioner proposal intended to concentrate diverse lived‑experience perspectives in a single body that can advise the commission on implementation of the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) and on the Innovation Partnership Fund. Proponents said the merged body will better align community input with the commission’s new committee structure and deadlines tied to grant development and the fiscal calendar.

Opponents — including community advocates, county behavioral health officials and nonprofit providers — warned merging the two committees would weaken distinct advocacy channels for culturally and linguistically diverse communities and for clients and families. Jenny Bayardo, executive officer of the California Behavioral Health Planning Council, told commissioners the two advisory groups "are very different," and urged the commission to "reconsider the consolidation" to avoid loss of the consumer voice. Stacy Hiramoto of REMCO (the Reducing Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition) told the commission, "This will not increase the input and the voices of people of the community stakeholders," and asked commissioners to keep the committees separate.

Commissioner Rachelle Chambers, who presented the proposal, framed the change as a response to multiple listening sessions and to requirements in the BHSA directing the commission to ensure meaningful inclusion of people with lived experience and diverse communities. Chambers, who will chair the new advisory committee, said the combined committee is intended to make the commission’s deliberations more efficient and to provide a formal channel for the community to advise on the Innovation Partnership Fund and other competitive procurements. She invoked an organizing principle repeated by many public commenters: "Nothing about us without us."

Several commissioners urged the commission to treat the vote as the start of a process rather than a final redesign. Vice Chair Jay Rowlett and others stressed that membership, subcommittee structure and meeting cadence remain adjustable, and they highlighted the amendment requiring a formal evaluation after three meetings. "If it's not working," Rowlett said, "we can revisit it."

Public commenters asked the commission to specify how members will be chosen, and to ensure the membership reflects BHSA priority populations, including people who are justice‑involved, unhoused, transition‑age youth, veterans and people with co‑occurring substance use disorders. Dozens of callers and written commenters requested that the commission explicitly preserve spaces for cultural and linguistic representation (including AAPI, Black/African American and Latinx communities), LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and peer/family representatives.

The commission recorded the motion and completed a roll‑call vote; the motion passed and the new advisory committee will convene its first meeting in late September. Chair Alvarez announced that the commission would appoint Commissioner Rachelle Chambers as chair of the new committee and added that applications for additional members will be solicited for 2026 to broaden representation.

Next steps: staff will notify appointees in writing, post a charter and recruitment materials, and bring the required evaluation back to the full commission after the committee has met three times. Commissioners and staff signaled readiness to refine membership rules and to use subcommittees or listening sessions where necessary to protect the voices of culturally distinct communities.

Why it matters: The commission plays a consultative and funding role under the BHSA (Proposition 1), including advisory input on the Innovation Partnership Fund and other competitive grant programs. The new committee will be positioned to weigh in on grant design, RFP concepts and public outreach during a critical planning window before the Innovation Partnership Fund is scheduled to launch on July 1, 2026.

Ending: The commission’s decision does not end the conversation. Commissioners and staff repeatedly invited public stakeholders to participate in the committee and in recruitment for 2026 appointments, and several commissioners said the evaluation mechanism added to the motion is an explicit safety valve to return to the issue if the merged committee fails to deliver the intended outcomes.