AB 193, as amended, Maienschein. Mental health: conservatorship hearings.
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 and render a written report to the court of his or her 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, and the agency is required to disclose any records or information that may facilitate an investigation. Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation, when he or she concurs with the recommendation of the professional person or facility, to petition the superior court in the patient’s county of residence for a conservatorship.
This bill would authorize the court, after a hearing attended by the proposed conservatee or the proposed conservatee’s counsel, or both, to recommend a conservatorship to the officer providing conservatorship investigation if thebegin delete courtend deletebegin insert court, in consultation with a physician providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment,end insert in a conservatorship proceeding determines, based on the evidence presented to the court, including medical evidence, that a person for whom a conservatorship has been established may be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism and is unwilling to accept, or is incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily. The bill
would also require the court to appoint counsel to a proposed conservatee if he or she cannot afford counsel. The bill would require the officer providing conservatorship investigation to petition the superior court in the patient’s county of residence to establish conservatorship if he or she concurs with the recommendation of the court, and to file a copy of his or her report with the court within 30 days of the court’s recommendation. The bill would require an existing probate conservator, if conservatorship is recommended by the court, to disclose any records or information that may facilitate the investigation. The bill would also make conforming changes.
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 5350.2 of the Welfare and Institutions
2Code is amended to read:
Reasonable attempts shall be made by the county
4mental health program to notify family members, or any other
5person designated by the person for whom conservatorship is
6sought, of the time and place of the conservatorship hearing. The
7person for whom the conservatorship is sought shall be advised
P3 1by the facility treating the person, or by the probate court if the
2recommendation was made pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
35352, that he or she may request that information about the time
4and place of the conservatorship hearing not be given to family
5members if the proposed conservator is not a family member. The
6request shall be honored by the mental health program. Neither
7this section nor Section 5350 shall be interpreted
to allow the
8proposed conservatee to request that any proposed conservator not
9be advised of the time and place of the conservatorship hearing.
Section 5352 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
11amended to read:
(a) If the professional person in charge of an agency
13providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing
14intensive treatment determines that a person in his or her care is
15gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder or impairment by
16chronic alcoholism and is unwilling to accept, or incapable of
17accepting, treatment voluntarily, he or she may recommend
18conservatorship to the officer providing conservatorship
19investigation of the person’s county of residence before admitting
20the person as a patient in the facility.
21(b) The professional person in charge of an agency providing
22comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive
23
treatment may recommend conservatorship for a person without
24the person being an inpatient in the facility if both of the following
25conditions are met:
26(1) The professional person or another professional person
27designated by him or her has examined and evaluated the person
28and determined that the person is gravely disabled.
29(2) The professional person or another professional person
30designated by him or her has determined that future examination
31on an inpatient basis is not necessary for a determination that the
32person is gravely disabled.
33(c) (1) The court, after a hearing attended bybegin delete bothend delete the proposed
34conservatee or
the proposed conservatee’s counsel, or both, may
35recommend a conservatorship under this chapter to the officer
36providing conservatorship investigation of the person’s county of
37residence if thebegin delete courtend deletebegin insert court, in consultation with a physician
38providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment,end insert in a
39proceeding under the Probate Code determines based on evidence
40presented to the court, including medical evidence, that a person
P4 1for whom a conservatorship has been established under the Probate
2Code may be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or
3impairment by chronic alcoholism and is unwilling to accept or is
4incapable of accepting treatment voluntarily. If the proposed
5conservatee cannot afford counsel, the court shall appoint
counsel
6for him or her.
7(2) Within 30 days after the recommendation pursuant to
8paragraph (1), the officer providing conservatorship investigation
9shall file a copy of his or her report with the court making the
10recommendation in the probate conservatorship.
11(d) If the officer providing conservatorship investigation concurs
12with the recommendation of the professional person, pursuant to
13subdivision (a) or (b), or the court, pursuant to subdivision (c), he
14or she shall petition the superior court in the patient’s county of
15residence to establish conservatorship.
16(e) If temporary conservatorship is indicated, that fact shall be
17alternatively pleaded in the petition. The officer providing
18conservatorship investigation or
other county officer or employee
19designated by the county shall act as the temporary conservator.
Section 5354 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
21amended to read:
(a) The officer providing conservatorship investigation
23shall investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship and
24shall recommend conservatorship to the court only if no suitable
25alternatives are available. This officer shall render to the court a
26written report of investigation prior to the hearing. The report to
27the court shall be comprehensive and shall contain all relevant
28aspects of the person’s medical, psychological, financial, family,
29vocational, and social condition, and information obtained from
30the person’s family members, close friends, social worker, or
31principal therapist. The report shall also contain all available
32information concerning the person’s real and personal property.
33The
facilities providing intensive treatment or comprehensive
34evaluation shall disclose any records or information that may
35facilitate the investigation. If the recommendation for
36conservatorship was made pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
375352, the existing probate conservator shall disclose any records
38or information that may facilitate the investigation. If the officer
39providing conservatorship investigation recommends against
40conservatorship, he or she shall set forth all alternatives available.
P5 1A copy of the report shall be transmitted to the individual who, or
2the court that, originally recommended conservatorship, to the
3person or agency, if any, recommended to serve as conservator,
4and to the person recommended for conservatorship. The court
5may receive the report in evidence and may read and consider the
6contents thereof in rendering its judgment.
7(b) Notwithstanding Section 5328, when a court with jurisdiction
8over a person in a criminal case orders an evaluation of the person’s
9mental condition pursuant to Section 5200, and that evaluation
10leads to a conservatorship investigation, the officer providing the
11conservatorship investigation shall serve a copy of the report
12required under subdivision (a) upon the defendant or the
13defendant’s counsel. Upon the prior written request of the
14defendant or the defendant’s counsel, the officer providing the
15conservatorship investigation shall also submit a copy of the report
16to the court hearing the criminal case, the district attorney, and the
17county probation department. The conservatorship investigation
18report and the information contained in that report, shall be kept
19confidential and shall not be further disclosed to anyone without
20the prior written consent of the defendant. After disposition
of the
21criminal case, the court shall place all copies of the report in a
22sealed file, except as follows:
23(1) The defendant and the defendant’s counsel may retain their
24copy.
25(2) If the defendant is placed on probation status, the county
26probation department may retain a copy of the report for the
27purpose of supervision of the defendant until the probation is
28terminated, at which time the probation department shall return
29its copy of the report to the court for placement into the sealed file.
Section 5360 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
31amended to read:
(a) The officer providing conservatorship investigation
33shall recommend, in his or her report to the court, for or against
34imposition of a disability set forth in Section 5357 on the basis of
35the determination of the professional person who recommended
36conservatorship pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 5352,
37or the determination of the physician who presented medical
38evidence to the court pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 5352.
39(b) The officer providing conservatorship investigation shall
40recommend in his or her report any of the additional powers of a
P6 1conservator set forth in Section 2591 of the Probate Code if the
2needs of
the individual patient or his estate require such powers.
3In making this determination, the officer providing
conservatorship
4investigation shall consult with the professional person who
5recommended conservatorship pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b)
6of Section 5352, or the determination of the physician who
7presented medical evidence to the court pursuant to subdivision
8(c) of Section 5352.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
10this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
11local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
12pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
134 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
O
98