Mental health: conservatorship hearings for the gravely disabled.

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. 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. Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation, when he or she concurs with the recommendation, to petition the superior court in the patient's county of residence for a conservatorship. This bill would instead require the officer providing conservatorship investigation to petition the superior court for a conservatorship for a gravely disabled person whenever the professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment recommends conservatorship for a gravely disabled person. 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.