By Manuela Tobias

WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO

CARE Court is a proposal put forth by Gov. Gavin Newsom and pushed through the Legislature in SB 1338 by Sens. Tom Umberg of Garden Grove and Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton. It creates a court framework in every county to compel people with serious mental illness, many of whom are homeless, into housing and medical treatment. Participants would be ushered to the front of the line for supportive services during the year-long program, after which they could either graduate or be referred to another year of treatment. If a person refuses to comply, or “fails out,” they could be considered by the court for conservatorship — just as if a county fails to provide the necessary services, they could face fines of up to $1,000 per day. The counties of Glenn, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne will have to start the program by Oct. 1, 2023, while the rest of the state will have until Dec. 1, 2024.

WHO SUPPORTS IT

Newsom and dozens of cities and mayors desperate to deal with the worsening mental health crisis on the streets. The California State Association of Counties, which initially opposed the measure, dropped their opposition after slowing down the timeline and receiving an additional $57 million to put it in place.

WHO IS OPPOSED

At least 140 organizations and more than 400 individuals registered their opposition to the bill because they say it “sets up a system of coerced, involuntary outpatient civil commitment that deprives people with mental health disabilities of the right to make self-determined decisions about their own lives.” Instead of building up the critical housing and mental health infrastructure people need, the costly new court process will simply re-traumatize people struggling with mental illness, they say. Disability rights groups from across the country worry the model sets a dangerous national precedent.

WHY IT MATTERS

California has struggled for years to keep up with the very real and visible issue of increasing numbers of seriously mentally ill people living on the street. In poll after poll, voters say they are fed up. While the state has finally started to backfill the critical demand for more housing and mental health services, lawmakers believe more is necessary to ensure that the state’s neediest population now languishing on the streets gets the help they need.

GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅

Newsom signed the bill on Sept. 14. “This is one of the things I think we’ll look back on with tremendous pride, when we’re done,” Newsom said during the signing ceremony in San Jose, where he first announced the proposal in March. “We get a moment in time, but this might live on, if we make it real. And that’s the hard work of the next year.”