GOVERNOR NEWSOM SIGNS CARE COURT LEGISLATION TO ASSURE MENTALLY ILL ARE HOUSED AND GET TREATMENT

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By Miriam Raftery

Photo via the Governor’s office: Governor Gavin Newsom signs the CARE Act into law at a ceremony in San Jose

September 29, 2022 (Sacramento) – East County’s legislators unanimously supported a measure signed into law Sept. 14 by Governor Gavin Newsom. It’s aimed at addressing a dire problem: homeless people suffering from untreated mental illness or substance abuse disorders.

The new law established by SB 1338 sets up a Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court that will make it easier for loved ones, first responders and mental health workers to force severely mentally ill individuals suffering from schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders into mental health treatment and assure that they are housed.

The new CARE Courts will roll out in 2023, with San Diego in the first tier of cities to launch the program in what Newsom calls “the hard work of the next year.”

Locally, mentally ill homeless individuals have frequently been seen wandering in traffic, screaming at bystanders, making delusional statements, and in one recent case, dangled over a freeway overpass threatening to jump off.  

Yet currently, there is no way to hold a clearly mentally ill individual for more than 72 hours – and often, hospitals release them the same day, El Cajon Mayor Bills, a mental health professional, told ECM.

Wells, a Republican, supports the measure, as do both Assemblymember Akilah Weber, a Democrat and a medical doctor, and Senator Brian Jones, Republican Caucus Chair. The measure has also drawn bipartisan praise from San Diego Supervisors.

Though the measure passed both houses of the Legislature nearly unanimously, a rarity in Sacramento, it did face strong opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union, which issued a statement indicating it expects to see legal challenges to what it calls a “misguided plan.”

CARE Court was created based on the evidence that people with untreated psychosis can be stabilized and housed in community-based care settings, with treatment and support. The plan focuses on people with schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, who may also have substance use challenges. 

Civil libertarians raise fears of a return to an era when mentally ill people could be locked away in institutions for years or even life. The laws that allowed that changed in the 1970s, when then-Governor Ronald Reagan did away with schizophrenics and other mentally ill people being involuntarily and indefinitely locked away in state hospitals.

But the new CARE Court system will have safeguards, requiring that courts periodically review any mandated mental health treatment to assure that people have an opportunity to be released from the program once they have recovered.

“With overwhelming support from the Legislature and stakeholders across California, CARE Court will now become a reality in our state, offering hope and a new path forward for thousands of struggling Californians and empowering their loved ones to help,” said Governor Newsom. “I thank our legislators and the broad coalition of partners who made this day possible and look forward to our work ahead together to implement this transformative program in communities across California.”

The framework is supported by unprecedented funding under the state’s $15.3 billion investment in addressing homelessness, including $1.5 billion for behavioral bridge housing; more than $11.6 billion annually for mental health programs throughout California; and more than $1.4 billion for our health and human services workforce. An additional $63 million in CARE Court start-up funds was provided for counties, courts, self-help and legal aid.

“I have seen first-hand the good that can come when our judicial, executive, and legislative branches work together to address delicate populations and nuanced issues like mental health, veterans, at-risk youth, and substance use,” said Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), coauthor of the bill. “The individual frameworks and best practices for collaboration exist here – and we pulled them together in SB 1338 for something new and revolutionary in California.”

“It is an inescapable conclusion – with the evidence observable in community after community in California – that our behavioral health system is broken and has allowed too many people with severe mental illness to fall through the cracks,” said Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), the bill’s other coauthor. “The crisis is playing out on our streets and Californians want an answer to the crisis of conscience we all feel when we see this suffering firsthand. The CARE Act provides a critical new on-ramp into the behavioral health system for a population of people that are the hardest to reach. Basic human dignity requires us to put our full effort into helping get care for people struggling with severe mental illness on our streets.”

Secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly says, “The CARE Act recognizes that to serve those with the most complex behavioral health conditions, we must do the hard work of prioritizing those who need help the most, providing a comprehensive CARE plan that honors self-determination to the greatest extent possible, and holding ourselves accountable to delivering services and housing that are key to long term stability and recovery.”

CARE Court will provide individuals with clinically appropriate, community-based and court-ordered Care Plans consisting of culturally and linguistically competent county mental health and substance use disorder treatment services. These include short-term stabilization medications, wellness and recovery supports, social services and housing. Services are provided to the individual while they live in the community. Plans can be between 12-24 months. In addition to their full clinical team, the client-centered approach also includes a volunteer supporter to help individuals make self-directed care decisions, and an attorney.

The CARE Court framework includes real accountability. Counties and other local governments could be issued fines by the court if they are out of compliance. That money will be placed in the CARE Act Accountability Fund and will be used to support the efforts of the local government entities that paid the fines to serve individuals. 

For more information, visit https://www.chhs.ca.gov/care-court/.

 


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