(a) No program, regardless of how it is funded, may be licensed unless all of the requirements of this chapter and of the regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter have been met.

(b) Each licensed program shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

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(1) For the alcohol or drug education and counseling services programs specified in subdivision (b) of Section 11837, each program shall provide for close and regular face-to-face interviews. For the 18-month programs specified in subdivision (a) of Section 11837, each program shall provide for close and regular supervision of the person, including face-to-face interviews at least once every other calendar week, regarding the person’s progress in the program for the first 12 months of the program and shall provide only community reentry supervision during the final six months of the program. In the last six months of the 18-month program, the provider shall monitor the participant’s community reentry activity with self-help groups, employment, family, and other areas of self-improvement. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the provider’s monitoring services are limited to not more than six hours. For the 30-month programs specified in subdivision (b) of Section 23548, subdivision (b) of Section 23552, and subdivision (b) of § 23568 of the Vehicle Code, each program shall provide for close and regular supervision of the person, including regular, scheduled face-to-face interviews over the course of 30 months regarding the person’s progress in the program and recovery from problem drinking, alcoholism, chemical dependency, or polydrug abuse, as prescribed by regulations of the department. The interviews in any of those programs shall be conducted individually with each person being supervised and shall occur at times other than when the person is participating in any group or other activities of the program. No program activity in which the person is participating shall be interrupted in order to conduct the individual interviews.

(2) (A) The department shall approve all fee schedules for the programs and shall require that each program be self-supporting from the participants’ fees and that each program provide for the payment of the costs of the program by participants at times and in amounts commensurate with their ability to pay in order to enable these persons to participate. Each program shall make provisions for persons who can successfully document current inability to pay the fees. Only the department may establish the criteria and procedures for determining a participant’s ability to pay. The department shall ensure that the fees are set at amounts that will enable programs to provide adequately for the immediate and long-term continuation of services required pursuant to this chapter. The fees shall be used only for the purposes set forth in this chapter, except that any profit or surplus that does not exceed the maximum level established by the department may be utilized for any purposes allowable under any other provisions of law. In its regulations, the department shall define, for the purposes of this paragraph, taking into account prudent accounting, management, and business practices and procedures, the terms “profits” and “surplus.” The department shall fairly construe these provisions so as not to jeopardize fiscal integrity of the programs. The department may not license any program if the department finds that any element of the administration of the program does not assure the fiscal integrity of the program.

(B) Each program licensed by the department under this section may request an increase in the fees. The request for an increase shall initially be sent to the county alcohol and drug program administrator. The county alcohol and drug program administrator shall, within 30 days of receiving the request, forward it to the department with the administrator’s recommendation that the fee increase be approved or disapproved.

(C) The administrator’s recommendation shall, among other things, take into account the rationale that the program has provided to the administrator for the increase and whether that increase would exceed the profit or surplus limit established by the department.

(D) If the county alcohol and drug program administrator fails to forward the request to the department within the 30 days, the program may send the request directly to the department. In this instance, the department may act without the administrator’s recommendation.

(E) The department shall, within 30 days of receiving the request pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (D) approve or disapprove the request. In making its decision, the department shall consider the matters described in subparagraph (C).

(3) The licensed programs described in paragraph (1) shall include a variety of treatment services for problem drinkers, alcoholics, chemical dependents, and polydrug abusers or shall have the capability of referring the persons to, and regularly and closely supervising the persons while in, any appropriate medical, hospital, or licensed residential treatment services or self-help groups for their problem drinking, alcoholism, chemical dependency, or polydrug abuse problem. In addition to the requirements of paragraph (1), the department shall prescribe in its regulations what other services the program shall provide, at a minimum, in the treatment of participants, which services may include lectures, classes, group discussions, group counseling, or individual counseling in addition to the interviews required by paragraph (1), or any combination thereof. However, any group discussion or counseling activity, other than classes or lectures, shall be regularly scheduled to consist of not more than 15 persons, except that they may, on an emergency basis, exceed 15, but not more than 17, persons, at any one meeting. At no time shall there be more than 17 persons in attendance at any one meeting. For the 30-month programs specified in subdivision (b) of Section 23548, subdivision (b) of Section 23552, and subdivision (b) of § 23568 of the Vehicle Code, each licensed program shall include a method by which each participant shall maintain a compendium of probative evidence, as prescribed in the regulations of the department, on a trimonthly basis demonstrating a performance of voluntary community service by the participant, including, but not limited to, the prevention of drinking and driving, the promotion of safe driving, and responsible attitudes toward the use of chemicals of any kind, for not less than 120 hours and not more than 300 hours, as determined by the court, with one-half of that time to be served during the initial 18 months of program participation and one-half of that time to be served in the final 12 months. In determining whether or not the participant has met the objectives of the program, the compendium of evidence shall also include, and the court shall consider, the participant’s demonstration of significant improvement in any of the following areas of personal achievement:

(A) Significant improvement in occupational performance, including efforts to obtain gainful employment.

(B) Significant improvement in physical and mental health.

(C) Significant improvement in family relations, including financial obligations.

(D) Significant improvement in financial affairs and economic stability.

The compendium of evidence shall be maintained by the participant for review by the program, court, probation officer, or other appropriate governmental agency. The program officials, unless prohibited by the referring court, shall make provisions for a participant to voluntarily enter, using the participant’s own resources, a licensed chemical dependency recovery hospital or residential treatment program which has a valid license issued by the State of California to provide alcohol or drug services, and to receive three weeks of program participation credit for each week of that treatment, not to exceed 12 weeks of program participation credit, but only if the treatment is at least two weeks in duration. The program shall document probative evidence of this hospital or residential care treatment in the participant’s program file.

(4) In order to assure program effectiveness, the department shall require, whenever appropriate, that the licensed program provides services to ethnic minorities, women, youth, or any other group that has particular needs relating to the program.

(5) The goal of each program shall be to assist persons participating in the program to recognize their chemical dependency and to assist them in their recovery.

(6) Each program shall establish a method by which the court, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the person are notified in a timely manner of the person’s failure to comply with the program’s rules and regulations.

(c) No program may be licensed unless the county complies with the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 11812. The provider of a program that offers an alcohol or drug education and counseling services program, an 18-month program, or a 30-month program or any or all of those programs described in this section shall be required to obtain only one license. The department’s regulations shall specify the requirements for the establishment of each program. The license issued by the department shall identify the program or programs licensed to operate.

(d) (1) Departmental approval for the establishment of a 30-month program by a licensed 18-month program is contingent upon approval by the county alcohol and drug program administrator, based upon confirmation that the program applicant is capable of providing the service and that the fiscal integrity of the program applicant will not be jeopardized by the operation of the program.

(2) The court shall refer a person to a 30-month treatment program only if a 30-month program exists or is provided for in the jurisdiction of the court.

(e) A county or program shall not prescribe additional program requirements unless the requirements are specifically approved by the department.

(f) The department may license a program on a provisional basis.

(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 862, Sec. 108. Effective January 1, 2005.)