Involuntary commitment.

Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, authorizes the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to self or others, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by specified individuals, including, among others, by peace officers and designated members of a mobile crisis team, and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. This bill would additionally authorize, until January 1, 2030, a person to be taken into custody, pursuant to those provisions, by a licensed mental health professional, as defined. The bill would require a licensed mental health professional who is not direct staff of, or contracted by, a county to complete a specified training prior to exercising that authority and would prohibit those licensed mental health professionals from transporting a person taken into custody pursuant to the above-described provisions unless specifically authorized by the county to do so. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to collect and publish annually quantitative information concerning the operation of various provisions relating to community mental health services, including the number of persons admitted for evaluation and treatment for certain periods, transferred to mental health facilities, and for whom certain conservatorships are established, as specified. Existing law requires each county behavioral health director, each designated and approved facility, and each other entity, as specified, to provide accurate and complete data as prescribed by the department. This bill would require county behavioral health directors to provide, and would require the State Department of Health Care Services to collect and publish, additional information, including, among other things, the number of individuals designated by each county to perform specified functions, their profession, and the number of holds initiated per profession, as specified. The bill would require each law enforcement agency to provide accurate and complete data to the department regarding the number of holds initiated by a peace officer. By increasing the duties on county behavioral health directors and law enforcement agencies, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.