Gov. Gavin Newsom was joined by Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman and mental health advocates and clinicians on Oct. 10 as he signed Senate Bill 43. (photo courtesy of the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office)

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 43, which will modernize the state’s conservatorship laws for the first time in more than 50 years.

The law updates the definition for those eligible for conservatorship to include people who are unable to provide for their personal safety or necessary medical care, in addition to food, clothing and shelter, due to severe substance use disorder or serious mental health illnesses. SB 43 was authored by Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton).

“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. 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,” Eggman said. “SB 43 maintains the strong due process protections provided in the LPS Act, while expanding the criteria for making a ‘gravely disabled’ determination so that the most severely ill can get the help they need and the dignity they deserve. Over the last couple of years, we have made critical investments and instituted important changes in our behavioral health laws, including the adoption of better data gathering requirements and, of course, the adoption of the CARE Act. Changing the LPS Act has been a glaring missing piece of the puzzle.”

Updating conservatorship laws and increasing transparency will provide county mental health departments, courts, family members, clinicians and people with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders a more effective approach for delivering last-resort behavioral health care.

Under existing law, people may be eligible for a conservatorship if they have a serious mental illness that leaves them unable to secure food, clothing or shelter. SB 43 broadens eligibility to people who are unable to provide for their personal safety or necessary medical care, including people living on the streets. SB 43 also encompasses people with a severe substance use disorder, such as chronic alcoholism, and no longer requires a co-occurring mental health disorder. The new law will update the situations when this intervention can be considered and create the first meaningful transparency into data and equity on mental health conservatorships.

Conservatorship is a last resort to help connect people with severe behavioral health care needs with the resources and support to protect them and others. The process begins with a county mental health department petitioning a court to appoint a third party – often a family member – to direct the person’s care for a limited time. Conservatorship can help break the cycle of repeated crises including arrest and imprisonment, psychiatric hospitalization and homelessness – providing care that can restore mental health and end the conservatorship.