Assisted outpatient treatment programs.

The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, known as Laura's Law, commencing January 1, 2022, requires each county to offer specified mental health programs, unless a county or group of counties opts out by a resolution passed by the governing body stating the reasons for opting out and any facts or circumstances relied on in making that decision. Existing law authorizes participating counties to pay for the services provided from moneys distributed to the counties from various continuously appropriated funds, including the Mental Health Services Fund, when included in a county plan, as specified. Existing law authorizes a court to order a person who is the subject of a petition filed pursuant to those provisions to obtain assisted outpatient treatment if the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that the facts stated in the petition are true and establish that specified criteria are met, including that the person has a history of lack of compliance with treatment for their mental illness, and that there has been a clinical determination that the person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision. Existing law authorizes the petition to be filed by the county behavioral health director, or the director's designee, in the superior court in the county in which the person who is the subject of the petition is present or reasonably believed to be present, in accordance with prescribed procedures. This bill would additionally authorize the filing of a petition to obtain assisted outpatient treatment under the existing petition procedures, for a conservatee or former conservatee, as specified, who would benefit from assisted outpatient treatment to reduce the risk of deteriorating mental health while living independently.