Existing law establishes a procedure, until January 1, 2024, for the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco, if the board of supervisors authorizes the appointment of a conservator for a person who is incapable of caring for the person’s own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, as evidenced by frequent detention for evaluation and treatment, which is 8 or more detentions for evaluation and treatment in the preceding 12 months. Existing law automatically terminates a conservatorship initiated pursuant to these provisions one year after the appointment of the conservator unless the court specifies a shorter period. Existing law authorizes the person for whom conservatorship is sought to demand a court or jury
trial on the issue of whether the person meets the criteria for the appointment of a conservator pursuant to these provisions. Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to adopt rules, forms, and standards necessary to implement these provisions.
This bill would additionally authorize the court to establish a temporary conservatorship for a period of 30 28 days or less if the court is satisfied of the necessity, as specified. The bill would define “serious mental illness and substance use disorder” for the purposes of those provisions and authorize a conservator of the person to be
initially appointed pursuant to those provisions only if the person is presently incapable of caring for the person’s own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder and the person has been detained 8 times for evaluation and treatment in a 12-month period pursuant to existing law authorizing the detention of mentally disordered persons who are a danger to self or others or gravely disabled, without reference to evidence of frequent detention for evaluation and treatment. The bill would also
change the definition of “frequent detention for evaluation and treatment” for purposes of these conservatorship provisions to mean 8 or more detentions in a 12-month period. The bill would require that a petition seeking to establish the above-described conservatorship be filed with the court no later than 180 28 days following the 8th detention in a 12-month period. period, and would establish the procedures for filing the petition, including confirming that there are adequate resources to appropriately serve the person in the least
restrictive manner and designating the public conservator to serve as the potential conservator.
This bill would require a court or jury trial making a determination regarding the issue of whether a person meets the criteria for appointment of a conservator to make that determination beyond a reasonable doubt. The bill would provide that the conservatorship would automatically terminate 6 months, rather than one year, after the appointment of the conservator by the superior court, or a shorter period if ordered by the court. The bill would require the conservator to file a report with the court every 60 days regarding the conservatee’s progress and engagement with treatment and, if the court is not satisfied that the conservatorship continues to be justified, the bill would authorize the court to terminate the conservatorship or reduce the length of the
conservatorship.
Existing law makes the establishment of a conservatorship pursuant to these provisions subject to, among other things, a finding by the court that the behavioral health director of the county or the city and county has previously attempted by petition to obtain a court order authorizing assisted outpatient treatment pursuant to the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, known as Laura’s Law, for the person for whom conservatorship is sought, that the petition was denied or the assisted outpatient treatment was insufficient to treat the person’s mental illness, and that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person in the instant matter in lieu of a conservatorship.
This bill would instead make the establishment of the above-described conservatorship subject to a finding by the court that the behavioral health director or the
director’s designee (1) has previously attempted to obtain the above-described court order and that the petition was denied or the assisted outpatient treatment was insufficient to treat the person’s mental illness, or (2) has evaluated
whether that treatment is appropriate for the person and concluded that the person is not eligible for that treatment or that the reasonably determines that the person, as a matter of law, does not meet the criteria described for assisted outpatient treatment or finds by clear and convincing evidence that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person in lieu of a conservatorship.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.