NEWSOM signs law extending the Mental Health Program of Care

From Jocelyn Wiener and Marisa KendallCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

One of the government Gavin NewsomMarquee mental health programs can expand their scope despite the constant questions about the number of people who help and whether it achieves goals He undertakes when he startsS

NEWSOM today has signed a law that expands the admissibility of a court care to include people who experience psychotic symptoms as a result of bipolar disorder. According to previous law restrictions, only people with schizophrenia and other limited psychotic disorders were admissible.

Newsom in a written statement called the law and its expansion an important part of the administration’s efforts to bring people to people with Serious mental illness in treatment.

“California does not sit on the sidelines as people get through the cracks,” he said. “We do not stand as people stopped on our sidewalks or pass through the emergency rooms and the cells of the prison – we are activated. We have built a court court to connect people to treatment, dignity and accountability – because care and accountability belong to the center of how we serve our communities.”

Newsom Introduced Court of Care in 2022.Creating a program that allows family members, first responsible, doctors and others to submit a petition to the courts on behalf of people with severe psychosis who could not care for themselves.

Once a petition is accepted, the persons present themselves with a voluntary treatment plan that may include consultations, medicines and housing. If they refuse, in theory a judge may order to participate in a treatment plan.

For almost two years, the care court has struggled to fulfill the initial promises of Newsom. Recently Investigation of CalMatters It found that the program had so far reached several hundred people, far from the thousands of originally predicted.

The new law, from Senator Tom Humberg, Democrat by Santa Anna, sailed through the legislature with almost unanimous bilateral support, Without votes against and only a handful of abstentions.

“The court of beauty of the care is that it carries both institutions and responsibility, guarantees that people receive the necessary care and gives the judges a clear role in the supervision and management of the process,” Humberg says in a written statement today. “This bill focuses on implementation by listening and learning from the counties about what works, and what does not, in order to achieve the goals of the legislation for the original court court.”

But the bill was confronted with a lot of criticism in the community, with counties questioning how they will fulfill An extended program for a strict time line and rights to disability rights that cause concerns about the effectiveness of a program they consider to be “ineffective”.

“We have to tell the truth,” says Lex Stepling, the founder of the health team of all people. “This is not working. It will not be working. And I personally believe that the cracks in the foundation are becoming more and more bigge and will collapse.”

Stepling saved his most acute criticism for “the self-written” liberal and progressive “politicians, who he said were afraid of the Newsom administration to oppose the bill.

Wide estimates regarding the enlargement of the court

Umberg legislation may extend the court’s registration, although it is not clear how much. The Umberg service has no evaluation of how many people will be eligible for the program under the new parameters. San Diego County said the new rules could increase its number to each from 3.5% to 48.1%.

“We are trying to focus on the right population,” Humberg said. “I think it will expand it, but not dramatically.”

Monica Porter Gilbert, a defender of the mental health policy with the rights to disability California, said the lack of clear information from the state about how the program has been implemented so far is a large part of the problem.

“It feels about the mass opening of the gates to extend the eligibility of the program when we really have no evidence that the program has a positive impact,” she said.

Initially, Humberg wanted to expand the court of care in a way that would make even more people eligible for it. A more project of his legislation would include all mood disorders with psychotic characteristics. But critics, including the Association of Directors of County’s Behavioral Health, have warned that “large -scale expansion” will lead to flooding people in the court of care more than the counties can provide services. As a discount, Humberg eventually limited his bill to bipolar disorder.

Overhaul of Newsom mental health

In addition to expanding the eligibility, Umberg’s bill also eliminates what he said are some “ineffective” from the care process. This includes combining two early court hearings into one, he said, thus reducing the time that participants should spend in court and save administrative resources.

The legislation also allows criminal justice to direct someone directly to the court of care if they are charged with a crime and are considered incompetent for sustaining a court.

Michelle Doty Cabrera, CEO of the California Association of Directors of Behavioral Health, said its organization opposed the new law. She worries that counties will not have the resources for staff or housing needed to deal with the influx of people. And they are still working in a system that is still relatively new, she said.

At the same time, according to her, district behavioral health departments also revolve to deal with dozens of other new initiatives, including 2024 on Newsom 2024 Housing for mental health Known as a proposal 1, as well as Kalaim, a major overhaul of the governor of Medi-Cal for Mental Health ServicesS

“We have to allow the counties to apply many many things that are placed on the table,” she said.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.