BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 364
Page 1
REPLACE : 08/27/2013 Changes per consultant.
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 364 (Steinberg)
As Amended August 15, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :39-0
HEALTH 19-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Pan, Logue, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Atkins, Bonilla, Bonta, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Chesbro, Gomez, Roger | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Hernández, Lowenthal, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Maienschein, Mansoor, | |Hall, Holden, Linder, |
| |Mitchell, Nazarian, | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| |Nestande, | | |
| |V. Manuel Pérez, Wagner, | | |
| |Wieckowski, Wilk | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Revises the law related to 72-hour involuntary
detention for mental health evaluation and treatment (referred
to as 5150 in reference to Welfare and Institutions Code Section
5150) by adding to the types of facilities that a county is
allowed to designate to provide services and allowing county
mental health directors to develop procedures for the
designation and training of professionals who can perform 5150
functions. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows a county mental health director to develop procedures
for the designation and training of professionals who perform
5150 functions, including license types, practice disciplines,
clinical experience, training and testing requirements,
application and approval processes, and monitoring and
reviewing processes.
2)Requires 5150-designated facilities to be licensed or
certified as mental health treatment facilities or hospitals,
as defined, and specifies that 5150-designated facilities may
include, but are not limited to, licensed psychiatric
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hospitals, licensed psychiatric health facilities, and
certified crisis stabilization units.
3)Creates the option, in addition to placement for evaluation
and treatment in a designated facility, for a person who is a
danger to self or others or gravely disabled to be taken into
custody for up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation, and
crisis intervention. Requires assessment and evaluation to be
conducted and provided on an ongoing basis and specifies that
crisis intervention may be provided concurrently with other
services.
4)Requires individuals to be provided evaluation, crisis
intervention, or other inpatient or outpatient services on a
voluntary basis if an assessment yields a determination that a
person can be properly served without being detained.
5)Requires a person, at the time he or she takes another person
into custody under the 5150 process, to provide currently
required oral advisements in a language or modality accessible
to the person and record documentation of that language or
modality and makes other minor changes to required oral
advisements.
6)Requires the information given upon 72-hour admission to
include various advisements: a person may request a facility
or treating professional of his or her choice; a person can
contact the county's Patients' Rights Advocate if they have
questions about their legal rights; and a statement if
weekends and holidays will be excluded from the 72-hour
period.
7)Requires the professional person in charge of a facility
designated by the county for evaluation and treatment, member
of the attending staff, or professional person designated by
the county to assess the person to determine whether he or she
can be properly served without being detained.
8)Encourages each city or county mental health department to
include on its Web site a current list, updated annually, of
local ambulatory services and other resources for persons with
mental health disorders and substance use disorders.
9)Makes numerous minor, clarifying, technical, and
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terminological changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would have negligible state fiscal effect.
COMMENTS : Section 5150 of the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act
allows peace officers, staff-members of county-designated
evaluation facilities, or other county-designated professional
persons, to take an individual into custody and place him or her
in a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation if they
believe that, due to a mental disorder, the individual is a
danger to himself, herself, or others, or is gravely disabled.
The author writes that, unfortunately, Section 5150 has become
part of a modern day vernacular that implies an individual is
being locked up and put away. This bill is intended to change
this construct by making focused changes to this section of the
landmark LPS Act to reflect its intent as a civil rights act for
persons with mental health disorders. To that end, this bill
clarifies that if a person can be treated without being
detained, they must be transitioned for evaluation, crisis
intervention, or other inpatient or outpatient services on a
voluntary basis. In addition, this bill broadens the types of
facilities a county can designate for 5150 purposes in order to
help alleviate emergency room wait times and offer a less
restrictive environment for a client to receive necessary
assistance. Finally, to improve consistency across counties for
the application of 5150 protocols, this bill authorizes county
mental health directors to develop procedures for the
designation of LPS facilities and the training of professionals
who perform 5150 functions.
Supporters of this bill, including the California Mental Health
Directors Association, the Urban Counties Caucus, and the Arc
and United Cerebral Palsy in California, write that this bill
provides helpful clarifications to the LPS Act while upholding
the original intent of these landmark civil rights statutes.
Supporters write that this bill will remove the unnecessary and
burdensome process of requiring county-designated facilities to
also be approved by the state and make changes to better reflect
the sequence of events that may occur under the LPS Act.
Disability Rights California, also in support, writes that this
bill will help ensure people with mental health disabilities are
treated appropriately and in the least restrictive environments.
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Several individual judges, in support, write that this bill
will expand the number of available mental health services and
facilities, allowing for more efficient and timely processing of
court cases.
The California Psychiatric Association, in opposition, argues
that this bill authorizes crisis residential programs to receive
dangerous patients pursuant to 5150, that these facilities are
not designed or licensed to treat such sick and dangerous
patients, and that this bill lacks adequate procedures and due
process protections for patients detained in these facilities.
The California American College of Emergency Physicians, with a
position of "oppose unless amended," requests an amendment to
clarify that designated personnel (e.g., emergency physicians)
may direct individuals to certain voluntary services, instead of
providing individuals a right to receive such services. Also in
opposition, several individuals argue this bill would exacerbate
the current balkanization of the mental illness treatment system
by giving too much authority to counties. The Citizens
Commission on Human Rights and numerous individuals are opposed
to this bill because they contend that it will expand authority
to impose involuntary treatment, which they object to in
general.
Analysis Prepared by : Ben Russell / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097
FN: 0001951