SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More Californians with untreated mental illness and addiction problems will be held against their will and forced into treatment under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. may be forced. The growing homelessness crisis.
new lawThe bill, which would reform the state’s conservatorship system, expands the definition of a “severely disabled person” who, due to untreated mental illness or unhealthy drug or alcohol use, is self-sufficient for basic needs such as food and shelter. We try to include people who cannot. Local governments say current state law leaves their hands tied if they refuse assistance.
The law aims to make it easier for authorities to provide care to people with untreated mental illnesses and alcohol and drug addictions, many of whom are homeless.
The bill was aimed, in part, to address the state’s homelessness crisis. California is home to more than 171,000 homeless people. 30% of the nation’s homeless population. States have spent more than $20 billion to help them in the past few years, with mixed results.
Newsom is pushing forward with his plan to reform the state’s mental health system. Newsom’s proposal is Overhauling county payment methods A funding package to borrow $6.3 billion for mental and behavioral health programs and create 10,000 new mental health treatment beds will go before voters next March.
“California is undertaking a major overhaul of its mental health system,” Newsom said in Tuesday’s signing announcement. “We are working to ensure that no one is left in the lurch and that people get the support they need and the respect they deserve.”
The bill, authored by Democratic Sen. Susan Eggman, is the latest attempt to update California’s 56-year-old law governing mental health conservatorships. A mental health conservatorship is a system in which a court appoints someone to make legal decisions for another person, including whether to accept treatment. and take medicine.
The bill, supported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness of California and mayors of California’s largest cities, argues that existing conservatorship systems make it difficult to provide mental health care to those most in need. He said there was.
Opponents of the bill, including disability rights activists, feared the new law would lead to more people being locked up and stripped of basic rights. Forcing patients to undergo treatment may have the opposite effect, he said.
Eggman said holding a mentally ill person against their will should only be used as a last resort. The bill aims to provide an alternative to sending people with mental illness and addiction issues to prison.
“There are many people in our state prisons with serious mental health issues and drug addiction issues who remain incarcerated even after they have been reinstated,” Eggman said in an interview. . “I think that’s the most inhumane way to treat the most vulnerable among us.”
The law would go into effect in 2024, but counties could delay implementation until 2026. The changes would be another way to help the state reform its mental health system.Last year, Newsom signed into law It created a new court process that allows family members and others to ask judges to create treatment plans for specific people with specific diagnoses, including schizophrenia. The law would allow judges to force people into treatment for up to a year. In the court program, It started this month It also aims to address the state’s homelessness crisis in seven counties.
