California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills on Sept. 27 which aim to strengthen California’s behavioral health system, focusing on access for those with severe mental health and substance use disorders.
This package includes SB 42, SB 1400, SB 1238 and AB 2376.
Senate Bill 42 introduces numerous clarifications on the CARE act, which will be implemented at the end of this year.
The CARE act will authorize specific adults — care providers, family members or first responders — to petition a civil court to create a voluntary or involuntary CARE plan for an individual with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders who is deemed in danger. This plan may include treatment, housing resources and other services.
“SB 42 honors [our] commitment by making critical adjustments to CARE Court to further help families and those enrolled in CARE Court before it is implemented statewide this December,” State Senator Tom Umberg — who introduced the bill — said.
Senate Bill 1400, introduced by State Senator Henry Stern, aims to increase references for mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Specifically, in a misdemeanor case which would normally be dismissed as the individual is deemed mentally incompetent, it requires a court to first determine if the accused individual is eligible for programs or treatment.
“This law will prevent thousands of severely mentally ill people who are arrested from simply being recycled from jail back into the streets,” Stern said. “This is a problem that must be remedied with front-loaded mental health care.”
Senate Bill 1238 is an act which will amend Section 5121 of the Welfare and Institutions Code to make it easier to train professionals to perform assessments for involuntary mental health treatment.
Introduced by District 5 State Senator Susan Eggman, SB 1238 would authorize a county to designate a professional who is not a county employee or not contracted by the county to perform assessments for involuntary mental health holds.
“SB 1238 expands the range of facilities that can treat individuals with severe substance use disorders and provides California Department of Healthcare Services with the authority to approve future facility types to treat those who are ‘gravely disabled’ from either a severe substance use disorder or mental health disorder,” Eggman said.
Assembly Bill 2376 aims to increase the number of hospital beds available for the treatment of substance use disorders. It does this by giving facilities flexibility in managing their treatment slots.
These facilities include chemical dependency recovery services, medications for addiction treatment and medically supervised inpatient detoxification care.
Anthony Vasek can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
