Conservatorship hearings.

Existing law provides a procedure for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is determined to be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or an impairment by chronic alcoholism and requires an officer, including a county public guardian or a county mental health program, to conduct a conservatorship investigation and render a written report to the court of his or her investigation. Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment for a gravely disabled person may recommend a conservatorship for that person, and the agency is required to disclose any records or information that may facilitate an investigation. Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation, when he or she concurs with the recommendation of the professional person or facility, to petition the superior court in the patient's county of residence for a conservatorship. This bill would authorize the court, after a hearing attended by the proposed conservatee or the proposed conservatee's counsel, or both, to recommend a conservatorship to the officer providing conservatorship investigation when the court, in a conservatorship proceeding under the Probate Code, determines, based on evidence presented to the court, including medical evidence, that a person, for whom a conservatorship has been established under the Probate Code, may be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism and is unwilling to accept, or is incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily. This bill would also require the court to appoint counsel to a proposed conservatee if he or she cannot afford counsel. This bill would require the officer providing conservatorship investigation to petition the superior court in the patient's county of residence to establish conservatorship if he or she concurs with the recommendation of the court, and to file a copy of his or her report with the court within 30 days of the court's recommendation. This bill would require an existing probate conservator, if conservatorship is recommended by the court, to disclose any records or information that may facilitate the investigation. This bill would also make conforming changes. By expanding the duties of the county officer providing conservatorship investigation, 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 these statutory provisions.