Creates new conservatorship process in three counties

(1)Existing law establishes a procedure for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is determined to be gravely disabled as a result of a mental health disorder or an impairment by chronic alcoholism, as specified, pursuant to a petition to the superior court by an officer conducting an investigation and concurring with a recommendation of conservatorship. Existing law also establishes a procedure for the appointment of other types of conservatorship or a guardianship as ordered by the probate court.

Existing law, the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, known as Laura’s Law, until January 1, 2022, grants each county the authority to offer certain assisted outpatient treatment services for a person who meets specified criteria, including, among others, that the person is suffering from a mental illness, that the person has a history of lack of compliance with treatment for the person’s mental illness, and that the person is in need of assisted outpatient treatment, as specified. Laura’s Law authorizes designated persons to request the county behavioral health director to file a petition in the superior court for an order for assisted outpatient treatment.

This bill would establish a procedure, for the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco, if the board of supervisors of the respective county or city and county authorizes the application of these provisions subject to specified requirements, for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is incapable of caring for the person’s own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, as specified, for the purpose of providing the least restrictive and most clinically appropriate alternative needed for the protection of the person. The bill would prohibit a conservatorship from being established under these provisions if a conservatorship or guardianship exists under the above-described provisions.

This bill would make the establishment of a conservatorship pursuant to these provisions subject to, among other things, a finding by the court that the behavioral health director of the county or the city and county has previously attempted by petition to obtain a court order authorizing assisted outpatient treatment pursuant to Laura’s Law for the person for whom conservatorship is sought, that the petition was denied or the assisted outpatient treatment was insufficient to treat the person’s mental illness, and that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person in the instant matter in lieu of a conservatorship.

This bill would require a conservatorship initiated under these provisions to automatically terminate one year after the appointment of the conservator by the superior court, or shorter if ordered by the court, except as specified.

This bill would authorize the Judicial Council to adopt rules, forms, and standards necessary to implement these provisions.

(2)This bill would require the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco, subject to the county’s or city and county’s election to apply these provisions, to establish a working group, comprised of representatives of local agencies and disability rights advocacy groups, among others, to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of the conservatorship provisions described above in addressing the needs of persons with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. The bill would require each working group to prepare and submit a preliminary report to the Legislature on its findings and recommendations no later than January 1, 2021, and a final report no later than January 1, 2023.

(3)This bill would repeal, on January 1, 2024, all of the provisions relating to the new conservatorship procedure and the working group, as described above in paragraphs (1) and (2).

(4)This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco.