BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2190
Author: Maienschein (R)
Amended: 5/23/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/18/14
AYES: Hernandez, Morrell, Beall, DeSaulnier, Evans, Monning,
Nielsen, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: De Le�n
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, De Le�n, Knight, Liu, Mitchell,
Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/28/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Criminal defendants: gravely disabled persons
SOURCE : Judicial Council of California
DIGEST : This bill allows a court to place a person found to
be incompetent to stand trial (IST) or not guilty by reason of
insanity (NGI) on outpatient status within a mental health
treatment facility, as specified. Requires a conservatorship
investigator to submit a copy of his/her report, upon prior
written request of the defendant or the defendant's attorney, to
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specified entities in a criminal case.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Prohibits any person charged with and found IST on a charge or
conviction or found NGI of specified felonies from being
released on outpatient status unless the person has been
confined in a state hospital or other treatment facility for
180 days or more.
2.Allows any person subject to the provision above to be placed
on outpatient status if specified conditions are satisfied.
3.Authorizes a court to grant outpatient status, prior to actual
confinement in a state hospital or other treatment facility,
to any person charged with and found IST on the charge or
conviction of any misdemeanor or any non-specified felony or
found NGI of any misdemeanor. Allows any person subject to
this provision to be placed on outpatient status if specified
conditions are satisfied.
4.Permits any person alleged, as a result of mental disorder, to
be a danger to him- or herself or others; or, to be gravely
disabled to be given an evaluation of his condition under a
superior court order, as specified. Requires that the
evaluation be carried out with the utmost consideration for
the privacy and dignity of the person for whom a court-ordered
evaluation is requested.
5.Permits a conservator of the person, of the estate, or of the
person and the estate to be appointed for any person who is
gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder or impairment
by chronic alcoholism.
6.Requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation
to investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship
and to recommend conservatorship to the court only if no
suitable alternatives are available and to set forth all
alternatives available if he or she recommends against
conservatorship. Requires the officer, prior to the hearing,
to render to the court a comprehensive written report that
contains all relevant aspects of the person's medical;
psychological; financial; family; vocational; and, social
condition; information obtained from the person's family
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members, close friends, social worker, or principal therapist;
and all available information concerning the person's real and
personal property. Requires the facilities providing intensive
treatment or comprehensive evaluation to disclose any records
or information that may facilitate the investigation.
7.Requires a copy of the officer's report to be transmitted to
the individual who originally recommended conservatorship, to
the person or agency, if any, recommended to serve as
conservator, and to the person recommended for
conservatorship. Allows the court that is determining
conservatorship to receive the report in evidence and to read
and consider its contents in rendering its judgment.
This bill:
1.Allows outpatient status to a person, who under existing law
is required to be confined in a state hospital or other
treatment facility for 180 days or more for the commission of
specified felonies, if the court finds a suitable placement,
including an outpatient placement program, that would provide
the person with more appropriate mental health treatment and
the court finds that the placement would not pose a danger to
the health or safety of others, including the victim and his
or her family.
2.Requires the officer providing a conservatorship
investigation, when a court with jurisdiction over a person in
a criminal case orders an evaluation of the person's mental
condition, as specified, to serve a copy of the report to the
defendant or his or her attorney. Requires, upon prior written
request of the defendant or his or her attorney, the officer
providing the conservatorship investigation to submit a copy
of the report to the court hearing the criminal case, the
district attorney, and the county probation department.
Requires the conservatorship investigation report, and the
information contained in it, to be kept confidential and not
further disclosed to anyone without the prior written consent
of the defendant.
3.Requires the court to place all copies of the report in a
sealed file after disposition of the criminal case. Permits
the defendant and defendant's attorney to retain their copies.
Permits, if the defendant is placed on probation status, the
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probation department to retain a copy for the purpose of
supervision until probation is terminated, at which time the
department is required to return its copy to the court for
placement in the sealed file.
4.Makes findings and declarations relative to a conservatee's
confidentiality rights. Makes other technical, clarifying
changes.
Background
In an April 2011 report, "Recommendations for Changing the
Paradigm for Persons with Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice
System," the Task Force for Criminal Justice Collaboration on
Mental Health Issues stated that courts, in collaboration with
state hospitals and local mental health treatment facilities,
should create and employ methods that prevent prolonged delays
in case processing and ensure timely access to restoration
programs for defendants found incompetent to stand trial. The
Task Force recommended that state hospitals and mental health
outpatient programs be adequately funded to ensure effective and
timely restoration of competency; increase community placement
options through the Forensic Conditional Release Program and
other community-based programs for IST defendants charged with
nonviolent offenses; and modify existing law to provide courts
hearing competency matters more alternative procedural and
disposition tools, including the jurisdiction to conditionally
release a defendant found IST to the community, where
appropriate, rather than in a custodial or hospital setting, to
receive mental health treatment with supervision until
competency is restored. The Task Force also recognized that
some criminal defendants with mental illness may be conserved or
may be involved in conservatorship proceedings at the same time
that their criminal case is being processed. Because these cases
are currently heard by different judicial officers on different
calendars, judicial officers hearing either the civil or
criminal case often do not have all applicable information,
which can result in conflicting orders and other complications
for the defendant.
Comments
Confidentiality of mental health records. According to the
Disability Rights California Internet Web site, all information
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about mental health services that one receives, whether received
voluntarily or involuntarily, is confidential and cannot be
released without authorization. However, there are situations
when records can be released without authorization. In some
cases, limited information must be released to law enforcement
when a person is an involuntary patient or under a Penal Code
commitment in a facility and being moved, is under criminal
investigation, or escapes from a state hospital. Information
about a person's mental health care can also be released if one
is an involuntary patient and gravely disabled and the person
disappears from a facility or is transferred between state
hospitals. Generally, in order for mental health records to be
shared, a form must be signed by the person (or a person's
conservator) each time the information is shared, and it must
contain specific information to be shared, the name of the
agency or individual with whom information is shared, the name
of the agency or person authorized to release the information
and the purpose, and a valid expiration date. Statements must
also be provided informing a person about his or her right to
revoke authorization to share information, as well as a person's
right to a copy of the authorization. A person has the right to
receive copies of the form, which must be placed in the person's
medical record.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown potential increase in court costs from additional
hearings to determine appropriate placements (General Fund).
Some individuals who have been found IST or NGI and who have
been placed in a state hospital may request an additional
hearing to determine whether they can be placed in an
outpatient placement before 180 days have elapsed. For
example, if 5% of the applicable individuals currently in a
state hospital were to receive an additional half-day court
hearing, annual costs would be about $275,000 per year.
Potential annual costs in the low millions from community
placements paid for by the state (General Fund). Under
current law, the state pays for community placements of
patients who are moved from a state hospital under the
Forensic Conditional Release Program. If 50% of the patients
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in a state hospital who request a hearing for community
placement are successful, annual state costs to pay for their
community placement would be about $2 million.
No savings are likely in the near-term. There is a long
waiting list for placement in a state hospital for individuals
who are incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of
insanity (typically, these individuals are being held in
county jails or other facilities at the local level).
Therefore, any individuals who are released from a state
hospital will immediately be replaced by another individual
from the waiting list. In the 2014-15 Budget Act, the
Department of State Hospitals received about $35 million to
expand the capacity to house incompetent to stand trial
patients. In the long-run, there could be savings to the
state if there is no longer a waiting list for admission to
state hospitals.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/14)
Judicial Council of California (source)
Californians for Safety and Justice
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The sponsor and supporters argue that
this bill permits courts to make placements that are most
appropriate for individual defendants, which can result in cost
savings while still protecting the public. They further argue
that providing care to people in the criminal justice system
with a serious mental illness is essential to stopping the cycle
of crime and that access to appropriate care should be a
priority.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 05/28/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
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Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A.
P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Frazier, Vacancy
JL:nl 8/16/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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