Mental health: 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. Existing law also provides for the establishment of a conservatorship for a person who is unable to properly provide for his or her personal needs or is substantially unable to manage his or her finances. This bill would authorize the court, if a conservatorship has already been established under the Probate Code, and after a hearing attended by the conservatee, unless he or she waives presence, and the conservatee's counsel, to order an investigation from the officer providing conservatorship investigation if the court, in consultation with a licensed physician or psychologist, as specified, providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment, determines, in a specified proceeding, that the conservatee 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. The bill would also require the court to appoint counsel to a conservatee if he or she cannot afford counsel. The 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 conservatorship investigation order of the court, and to file a copy of his or her report with the court. The bill would require a conservator to disclose any records or information that may facilitate the investigation. The 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.