SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Governor Gavin Newsom, home to more than 100,000 people living on the streets, signed a new law on Wednesday that will allow some people to pay more as part of a program the first term describes as “care.” of people were able to coerce treatment. Opponents, however, argue that it is cruel.
Newsom signed the Community Support, Recovery and Empowerment Act on Wednesday. Families, first responders and others will be able to ask judges to create treatment plans for people diagnosed with certain disorders, including schizophrenia. Those who refused could be placed under guardianship and ordered to comply.
Homeless people with severe mental illness are now rushing off the streets into prisons and hospitals. They can be held against their will for up to three days in a mental hospital. However, if they take their medication and promise to follow up with other services, they must be released.
The law, which Newsom signed into law Wednesday, allows courts to order treatment plans of up to one year, with the ability to extend for two years.
For decades, California has treated homelessness primarily as a community problem, funneling billions of dollars into city and county governments each year for various treatment programs. And despite all that spending, including $4.8 billion this year, homelessness remains one of the state’s most pressing and visible problems.
“If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll get what you got. And look what we’ve got. It’s unacceptable,” Newsom said Wednesday before signing the law into law. said to “This[law]is designed completely differently than we’ve probably seen in California in the last century.”
The American Civil Liberties Union in California, Human Rights Watch, Disability Rights California, and many organizations that work with homeless people, minority communities, and people with disabilities say the new program violates civil rights.
They say the courtroom is a frightening place for many people with severe mental illness, and coercion is the exact opposite of the peer-based model that is essential to recovery. I have to want to, and that can take months or years.
In a message posted on its Twitter account, the ACLU of Southern California said, “This outdated and coercive model of putting people with disabilities in court has traumatized and harmed Californians in vulnerable situations, and forced them into the system. It will encourage racism,” he said. “We will continue to fight back, but hope to see legal challenges to stop this misguided plan from harming our community.”
This program is not just for homeless people. This is only for people who have a severe mental illness (mainly a psychotic disorder) and are unable to survive safely in the community without supervision or who may endanger themselves or others. Applies.
This means that people suffering from alcohol or opioid addiction are not eligible unless they have been diagnosed with a mental disorder.
The Newsom administration estimates that about 12,000 people will be able to receive assistance under this program. State Senate Republican leader James Gallagher said that wasn’t enough.
“It’s better than nothing, but the[community support, recovery, empowerment]courts are essentially new bureaucratic half-measures,” said the state legislature, like most of his Republican colleagues. Gallagher, who voted for the bill on “This is not the game-changing policy change we need. you can’t.”
The program won’t start until next year, and only seven counties – Glenn, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Stanislaus and Tuolumne – will have to establish programs by October 1, 2023. 2024.
Each of California’s 58 counties must establish a special court to handle these cases. Counties that do not participate can be fined up to $1,000 per day.
Newsom said the biggest challenge is finding and retaining enough healthcare workers to treat everyone in need. This year’s state budget includes his $200 million for the Healthy California Workforce Program for All, which aims to recruit 25,000 community health workers by 2025. $96.5 million included.
The California National Alliance on Mental Illness supports the proposal, as do business organizations and dozens of cities, including the mayors of Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego.
They say treatment models and antipsychotics have changed significantly since people were institutionalized. says.
Newsom said he was “exhausted” by arguments from civil liberties groups that the program had gone too far.
“Their perspective is expressed by what they see on the streets and sidewalks across the state,” he said.
___
Beam reported from Sacramento, California.
