New California law could force people with mental illness to get treatment

A new California law will expand the state’s ability to force residents who are suffering from severe mental illness and addiction issues to get treatment. 

Senate Bill 43, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) Tuesday, expands the definition of “gravely ill” to include people unable to provide basic needs to themselves due to untreated mental illness or unhealthy substance use disorders. Those individuals will not be eligible for conservatorship, effectively forcing them into mental health treatment.

The law is part of efforts to tackle homelessness in the Golden State, with local governments complaining their hands are tied if a person refuses to receive help. However, it has also raised concerns from civil liberties advocates who worry it will allow the state to over-impose its will on individuals.

The law, first introduced by state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D), will update situations “when this intervention can be considered and create the first-ever meaningful transparency into data and equity on mental health conservatorships.”

“California is undertaking a major overhaul of our mental health system. The mental health crisis affects us all, and people who need the most help have been too often overlooked,” Newsom said in a statement. “We are working to ensure no one falls through the cracks, and that people get the help they need and the respect they deserve.”

California, which is home to more than 171,000 homeless people — or about 30 percent of the total U.S. homeless population — has spent more than $20 billion in the past few years to address the issue, according to The Associated Press. 

The law updates the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, which was passed in 1967 to end involuntary, indefinite confinement.

“The LPS Act was adopted at a time when public policy was essentially to warehouse people that were mentally ill. The Act established strong and important civil liberty protections to ensure individual rights are protected,” Eggman said in a statement. 

“Like many things that are decades old, it has long been time to make some adjustments to the law to address the realities we are seeing today on our streets.”