Sen. Susan Eggman

This measure would proclaim the month of March 2023 as Social Work Month.

This measure would, among other things, proclaim that the Legislature stands in solidarity with the people of Iran in their fight for self-determination, their opposition to torture, and their resistance to the oppression of their personal liberties and condemns the violent acts against the Iranian people.

This measure would declare February 3, 2023, as Wear Red Day in California and would declare February 2023 as American Heart Month in California.

(1) Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (the 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 by a peace officer, a member of the attending staff of an evaluation facility, designated members of a mobile crisis team, or another designated professional person, 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. The act also authorizes a conservator of the person, of the estate, or of both, to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled as a result of a mental health disorder. This bill, on or before December 1, 2023, would require the State Department of Health Care Services to convene a stakeholder group of entities, including the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California and the California Hospital Association, among others, to create a model care coordination plan to be followed when discharging those held under temporary holds or a conservatorship. The bill would require the model care coordination plan and process to outline who would be on the care team and how the communication would occur to coordinate care. Among other components, the bill would require the model care coordination plan to require that an individual exiting a temporary hold or a conservatorship be provided with a detailed plan that includes a scheduled first appointment with the health plan, the mental health plan, a primary care provider, or another appropriate provider to whom the person has been referred. The bill would require facilities designated by the counties for evaluation and treatment of involuntarily committed patients to implement the care coordination plan by August 1, 2024. This bill would require a care coordination plan to be developed, as specified, and provided to an individual before being discharged from a hold or released after being detained for evaluation and treatment. The bill would also require a care coordination plan to be developed and provided to a conservatee prior to their release. The bill would require the county behavioral health department, among others, to participate in designing an individual's care coordination plan. By placing additional duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require, for purposes of care coordination and scheduling a followup appointment, the health plan, mental health plan, primary care provider, or other appropriate provider to whom a person released from hold or a conservatorship is referred for services to make a good faith effort to contact the referred individual no less than 3 times, either by email, telephone, mail, or in-person outreach, as specified. (2) Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the continuously appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. The MHSA also established the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to oversee the administration of various parts of the act. This bill, to the extent permitted under state and federal law and consistent with the MHSA and for the purposes of the above-mentioned provisions of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, would clarify that counties may pay for the services authorized in those provisions using funds from the Mental Health Services Fund when included in county plans, as specified, and would also authorize counties to pay for those services with specified funds from the Local Revenue Fund and the Local Revenue Fund 2011. The bill would make these provisions severable. (3) 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.

Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, among other provisions, authorizes a conservator of the person, of the estate, or of the person and the estate to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled as a result of a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, as specified, in order to provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement. Existing law authorizes a court to establish a temporary conservatorship for a period not to exceed 30 days and appoint a temporary conservator under specified circumstances. Existing law, if the proposed conservatee demands a court or jury trial on the issue of whether they are gravely disabled, authorizes the court to extend the temporary conservatorship until the date of the disposition of the issue by the court or jury trial if that extension does not exceed 6 months. This bill would instead authorize the court to extend the temporary conservatorship until the date of the disposition of the issue by the court or jury trial if that extension does not exceed 180 days.