Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary detention and treatment of persons with specified mental health disorders. 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 authorizes specified individuals to take a person into custody pursuant to these provisions, including designated members of a mobile crisis team and professional persons designated by the county.
This bill would require
authorize a county to develop a training relating to taking, or causing to be taken, a person into custody pursuant to those provisions and would require a county to develop a written policy regarding designating members of a mobile crisis team and designating professional persons to take, or cause to be taken, a person into custody pursuant to those provisions. The bill would require the policy to contain specified components, including, among others, the process to receive that designation. The bill would also exempt an employee of a municipality who is a member of a mobile crisis team or a professional person, who has been designated by the county, and who is responsible for the detainment of the person from civil or criminal liability for any action by a
person released at or before the end of the 72-hour detention. By imposing new duties on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.