Lanterman-Petris-Short Act: hearings.

Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, authorizes the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental health disorders for the protection of the persons so committed. Under the act, if a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to themselves, or is 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 as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. Existing law provides for judicial review of the involuntary commitment and requires reasonable attempts to be made by the mental health facility to notify family members or any other person designated by the patient of the time and place of judicial review. This bill would authorize a family member, friend, or acquaintance with personal knowledge of the person receiving treatment to make a request to testify in the judicial review proceedings, in writing, to the counsel of a party to the judicial review. The bill would require the receiving counsel, or their designee, to determine whether the requester's testimony will assist the proceeding and, within a reasonable time, respond to the requester, in writing, with an approval or denial.