DATE:
December 5, 2023
06
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
ADOPT RESOLUTION TO GUIDE IMPLEMENTATION OF SENATE BILL (SB) 43 AND ESTABLISH A MULTISECTORAL PLANNING PROCESS TO GUIDE IMPLEMENTATION (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
On October 10, 2023, Governor Newson signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 43, amending the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS Act), for the first time in over 50 years. Under the LPS Act, "gravely disabled" was narrowly defined as a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, is unable to provide for basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter. SB 43 significantly expands the definition of gravely disabled by including severe substance use disorder (SUD) as an allowable category for someone to be compelled into treatment or placed under conservatorship.
The adoption of SB 43 is one of several recent actions taken by Governor Newson to overhaul the State's behavioral health system. Other recent statewide initiatives include SB 326, the "Behavioral Health Services Program and Bond Measure," which will go to California voters as Proposition 1 on March 5, 2024, as well as the establishment of the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment program (CARE Act), which provides a new pathway to deliver mental health services for those living with untreated schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders through a new civil court process.
On October 1, 2023, the County of San Diego was one of seven pilot counties in the State to implement the CARE Act to address the behavioral health needs of eligible individuals for whom other treatment options are not working. The CARE Act required over a year of rigorous planning and coordination across multiple County departments and with external stakeholders to implement and has now been operational for two months. One of the key lessons learned of the planning process of the CARE Act was the convening of the stakeholde...
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