BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1847
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 1847 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
PROPOSED CONSENT
SUBJECT : Mental Health Disorders: Language
KEY ISSUE : Should outdated and offensive terms used to describe
mental health conditions and differing intelletual capabilities
that appear in California COde Provisions (excluding the penal
code) be replaced with more current and less offensive terms?
SYNOPSIS
This lengthy but non-controversial bill would update various
California code provisions (other than those in the Penal Code)
in order to remove outdated and offensives terms once commonly
used to describe various kinds of mental and psychological
conditions and replace them with more current, less offensive
terms. The measure will not change terminology in the Penal
Code because, at criminal law, certain terms - such as insanity
- still carry legal significance, especially as to criminal
defenses. This is not the first legislation in recent years to
address this issue. Since 2007, at least three bills have
changed specific code sections in a more or less piecemeal
fashion. This bill is a more comprehensive clean-up measure
that removes remaining stigmatizing terms relating to the
various challenges that many of our friends, family members, and
fellow citizens confront. The bill is sponsored by Disability
Rights California and supported by several professional
associations. There is no opposition to this humane and common
sense measure.
SUMMARY : Deletes certain offensive and outdated terms once used
to describe mental health conditions and disabilities in various
California statutes (other than the Penal Code) and replaces
them with more current, less offensive, terms.
EXISTING LAW uses dated and professionally rejected terms, such
"mentally defective," "mentally disordered," or "insane,"
throughout the several California codes.
AB 1847
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FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : This bill seeks to update various California code
provisions (other than those in the Penal Code) in order to
remove outdated and offensive terms once used to describe
various kinds of mental and psychological conditions and replace
them with more current, less offensive terms. The bill does not
change terms in the Penal Code because, at criminal law, certain
terms - such as insanity - still carry legal significance
(especially in defenses to criminal prosecution) even though the
term itself has been more or less abandoned by the professional
community and, in many cases, the larger society. Part of the
task of updating California code provisions was accomplished
through prior legislation. For example, SB 1381 (Chapter 457,
Stats. of 2012) and AB 2370 (Chapter 448, Stats. of 2012)
replaced references to "mental retardation" with "intellectual
disability" and replaced "mentally retarded persons" and with
"persons with an intellectual disability" or the "intellectually
disabled." Similarly, AB 1640 (Ch. 31, Stats. of 2007) deleted
the even older terms "idiot," "imbecility," and "lunatics" from
state code and replaced those terms with "persons who are
mentally incapacitated." All of those bills passed out of this
Committee unanimously. This bill is effectively a clean-up
measure to those earlier efforts.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According the sponsor, Disability Rights
California (DRC), some of the language used in California law
reflects "the times in which [it was] created and displays a
lack of knowledge round certain subject matter." DRC writes
that terms like "lunatic, insane, feeble-minded, mentally
defective, and abnormal . . . increases stigma by making
assumptions about the characteristics of people with psychiatric
disabilities. Some devalue them, distinguish them as outsiders,
perceive them as weak, or speak in terms that focus on the
person's disability, instead of the person. It can also promote
discrimination by promoting action based on these preconceived
notions." Professional associations of psychologists, social
workers, and mental workers support this bill for the same
reasons.
In short, words matter.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 1847
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Support
Disability Rights California (sponsor)
California Mental Health Directors Association
California Psychological Association
Foundation for Mental Health
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334