2020 California Code
Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC
DIVISION 5 - COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
PART 1 - THE LANTERMAN-PETRIS-SHORT ACT
CHAPTER 5 - Housing Conservatorship for Persons with Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders
Section 5465.5.
(a) If a person has been detained eight or more times for evaluation and treatment pursuant to Section 5150 in a 12-month period, the court may establish a temporary conservatorship for a period not to exceed 28 days and appoint a temporary conservator on the basis of the comprehensive report of the officer providing conservatorship investigation filed pursuant to Section 5457, or on the basis of an affidavit of the professional person who recommended conservatorship stating the reasons for that person’s recommendation, if the court is satisfied that the comprehensive report or affidavit shows that the person is presently incapable of caring for the person’s own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, that a temporary conservatorship is necessary, and that the county health director, or the county health director’s designee, has done all of the following:
(1) Before the eighth detention of the person in the 12-month period, all of the following:
(A) Made a finding pursuant to Section 5456.
(B) Confirmed that there are adequate resources, including clinically appropriate housing, to appropriately serve the person in the least restrictive manner.
(C) Confirmed that there are age-appropriate substance use disorder treatment resources, including, but not limited to, medication assisted treatment, as appropriate.
(D) Designated the public conservator to serve as the potential conservator, and instructed that person to begin preparing for the investigation required pursuant to this chapter.
(E) Identified an option or options for available and appropriate housing of the person upon discharge from a potential conservatorship established pursuant to Section 5451.
(F) Identified an option or options for available and age-appropriate substance use disorder treatment upon discharge from a potential conservatorship established pursuant to Section 5451.
(2) (A) On each detention of the person after the fifth detention in the 12-month period, provided the person with a written notice containing detailed information regarding the possibility that the person may be conserved pursuant to this chapter if they are detained eight times in the 12-month period, and the number of additional detentions that would qualify the person for conservatorship pursuant to this chapter.
(B) For any person who has been detained pursuant to Section 5150 more than five times in a 12-month period as of the effective date of the act that added this paragraph, the notice requirement described in subparagraph (A) shall apply only to those detentions that occur after the effective date of the act that added this paragraph.
(3) (A) Before each detention after the third detention in the 12-month period, provided the person with the opportunity to engage in voluntary treatment appropriate for their serious mental illness and substance use disorders. This opportunity shall be provided at the earliest time possible to prevent the worsening of the person’s condition, and there shall be documented attempts to elicit the cooperation of the person and that these attempts have not been successful.
(B) An affidavit of the county health director, or the county health director’s designee, attesting that the opportunity to engage in voluntary treatment was provided to the person shall be considered sufficient evidence, in lieu of contemporaneous records, that the requirement described in subparagraph (A) was fulfilled for detentions that occurred prior to the effective date of the act that added this paragraph.
(b) All temporary conservatorships established pursuant to this section shall expire automatically at the conclusion of 28 days, except as provided in subdivision (c).
(c) If the proposed conservatee demands a court or jury trial on the issue of whether the proposed conservatee is incapable of caring for their own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, the court may extend the temporary conservatorship until the date of the disposition of the issue by the court or jury trial. However, the extension shall not exceed a period of seven days, unless the court finds that the trial is ongoing when the temporary conservatorship is set to expire pursuant to subdivision (b) and, if the temporary conservatorship is not extended, the proposed conservatee will be released from the temporary conservatorship. Upon such a finding, the further extension may last no more than seven additional days.
(d) Any person detained on a temporary conservatorship under this section shall have the same right to judicial review as set forth in Article 5 (commencing with Section 5275) of Chapter 2. In lieu of the standard described in Section 5276, if the court finds that the person is not presently incapable of caring for the person’s own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, that a conservatorship is not necessary, or that the county has not met the requirements of subdivision (a), the person shall be released immediately.
(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 467, Sec. 7. (SB 40) Effective October 2, 2019. Repealed as of January 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 5466.)
