BILL NUMBER: AB 1725 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Maienschein
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
An act to amend Sections 5350.2 and 5352 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, relating to mental health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1725, as introduced, Maienschein. Mental health:
conservatorship hearings for the gravely disabled.
Existing law provides a procedure for the appointment of a
conservator for a person who is determined to be gravely disabled as
a result of a mental disorder or an impairment by chronic alcoholism
and requires an officer, including a county public guardian or a
county mental health program, to conduct a conservatorship
investigation. Under existing law, a professional person in charge of
an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing
intensive treatment for a gravely disabled person may recommend a
conservatorship for that person. Existing law requires the officer
providing conservatorship investigation, when he or she concurs with
the recommendation, to petition the superior court in the patient's
county of residence for a conservatorship.
This bill would include a person who is gravely disabled as a
result of substance abuse as a person for whom a conservatorship may
be requested and granted. This bill would also provide a procedure
for a family member or interested person who believes a
conservatorship is necessary to petition the probate court to
establish a conservatorship, as specified. This bill would also
authorize the court, after a hearing, to recommend a conservatorship
to the officer providing conservatorship investigation when the
court, in a conservatorship established under the Probate Code,
determines that a person, for whom a conservatorship has been
established under the Probate Code, may be gravely disabled as a
result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism or
substance abuse and is unwilling to accept, or incapable of accepting
treatment voluntarily. This bill would require the officer providing
conservatorship investigation to file a copy of his or her report
with the court within 30 days of the court's recommendation.
By expanding the duties of the county officer providing
conservatorship investigation, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 5350.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
5350.2. Reasonable attempts shall be made by the county mental
health program , or the petitioning party, to notify
family members or any other person designated by the person for whom
conservatorship is sought, of the time and place of the
conservatorship hearing. The person for whom the conservatorship is
sought shall be advised by the facility treating the person that he
or she may request that information about the time and place of the
conservatorship hearing not be given to family members, in those
circumstances where the proposed conservator is not a family member.
The request shall be honored by the mental health program. Neither
this section nor Section 5350 shall be interpreted to allow the
proposed conservatee to request that any proposed conservator not be
advised of the time and place of the conservatorship hearing.
SEC. 2. Section 5352 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
5352. (a) When the professional person in
charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility
providing intensive treatment determines that a person in his or
her care is gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder or
impairment by chronic alcoholism by chronic
alcoholism or substance abuse and is unwilling to
accept, or incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily, he or
she may recommend conservatorship to the officer providing
conservatorship investigation of the person's county of
residence of the person prior to his
admission admitting him or her as a patient in
such the facility.
The
(b) The professional person in
charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility
providing intensive treatment may recommend conservatorship for a
person without the person being an inpatient in such
the facility, if both of the following
conditions are met: (a) the
(1) The professional person or
another professional person designated by him or her has
examined and evaluated the person and determined that he or she
is gravely disabled; (b) the disabled.
(2) The professional person or
another professional person designated by him or her has
determined that future examination on an inpatient basis is not
necessary for a determination that the person is gravely disabled.
If
(c) If the officer providing
conservatorship investigation concurs with the recommendation of
the professional person , he or she shall petition
the superior court in the patient's county of
residence of the patient to establish conservatorship.
If the officer providing conservatorship investigation does not
initiate conservatorship proceedings, but a family member or
interested person believes a conservatorship is necessary, the family
member or interested person may petition the Probate Court under
this chapter for the establishment of a conservatorship if the
following conditions have been met:
(1) The professional person in charge of an agency providing
comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment
has examined and evaluated the person and determined that he or she
is gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or impairment by
chronic alcoholism or substance abuse and is unwilling to accept, or
incapable of accepting, voluntary treatment.
(2) The professional person has recommended a conservatorship to
the officer providing conservatorship investigation in the county of
residence.
(3) The officer providing the investigation has made a report, but
declines to initiate conservatorship proceedings.
(d) (1) The court, after a hearing, may recommend a
conservatorship under this chapter to the officer providing
conservatorship investigation of the person's county of residence
when the court in a conservatorship established under the Probate
Code determines that a person, for whom a conservatorship has been
established under the Probate Code, may be gravely disabled as a
result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism or
substance abuse and is unwilling to accept, or incapable of accepting
treatment voluntarily.
(2) Within 30 days after the recommendation, the officer providing
conservatorship investigation shall file a copy of his or her report
with the court making the recommendation in the Probate
conservatorship.
Where
(e) Where temporary
conservatorship is indicated, the that
fact shall be alternatively pleaded in the petition. The officer
providing conservatorship investigation or other county officer or
employee designated by the county shall act as the temporary
conservator.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.