CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1443

Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty

February 19, 2021

An act to amend Section 5001 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to mental health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1443, as introduced, McCarty. Mental health: treatment.
Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary detention and treatment of persons with specified mental health disorders for the protection of the persons committed. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to themselves, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Social Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Existing law requires a person admitted to a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation under the act to receive an evaluation as soon as possible after admission and to receive whatever treatment and care their condition requires for the period that the person is held. Other existing law, the Children’s Civil Commitment and Mental Health Treatment Act of 1988, provides additional procedural protections and requirements during those 72 hours for minors with mental health disorders who are involuntarily detained. Existing law requires these two acts to be construed to promote specified legislative intent, including providing prompt evaluation and treatment and guaranteeing and protecting public safety.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision relating to legislative intent.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 5001 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

5001.
 The provisions of this part and Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 5585) shall be construed to promote the legislative intent intent, as follows:
(a) To end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of persons with mental health disorders, developmental disabilities, and chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities.
(b) To provide prompt evaluation and treatment of persons with mental health disorders or who are impaired by chronic alcoholism.
(c) To guarantee and protect public safety.
(d) To safeguard individual rights through judicial review.
(e) To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for persons who are gravely disabled.
(f) To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel, and public funds to accomplish these objectives objectives, and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures.
(g) To protect persons with mental health disorders and developmental disabilities from criminal acts.
(h) To provide consistent standards for protection of the personal rights of persons receiving services under this part and under Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 5585).
(i) To provide services in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the needs of each person receiving services under this part and under Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 5585).