California Governor Gavin Newsom is urging California counties to implement a new law that makes it easier to appoint a conservator to direct the care of people with mental illness or substance abuse to prevent further crises, Such as incarceration, homelessness, or death.
County health departments have until January 2026 to implement the changes outlined in Senate Bill 43, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Newsom last October. Since then, only San Francisco and San Luis Obispo counties have taken advantage of the new law.
Los Angeles County, the state’s largest county, has yet to do so.
Newsom sent letters to all 58 county board of supervisors chairs in the state on Saturday urging them to immediately expand regulatory laws in their jurisdictions.
“I am disappointed that only two counties in California have implemented this important life-saving effort to date, and only a handful plan to do so in 2025,” the governor wrote.
“While you have unprecedented tools to start helping our state’s most vulnerable Nowyou are still waiting until the absolute deadline to implement this part of the work to improve our regulatory regime.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, is a decades-long effort to amend the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short The Lanterman-Petris-Short Act.
In recent years, lawmakers have been working to amend the landmark law passed when Ronald Reagan was governor to address a global epidemic exacerbated by homelessness and illegal drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. State mental illness crisis.
Newsom said the new law updates the definition of “severe disability” to include people who are unable to provide physical safety, health care, food, clothing or shelter.
Critics, including human rights and disability rights advocates, argue that SB 43 could undermine the civil liberties of Black, Indigenous and other communities of color given the state’s homeless demographics.
Others say the measure could overwhelm an already overstretched mental health system.
Deb Ross, senior legislative advocate at Disability Rights California, said the bill “will lead to increased use of regulations that take away people’s rights.” Ross testified against the bill before the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
In his letter, Newsom described the bill as a broader approach to providing last-resort behavioral health care to people in crisis.
“Every day, I hear that our behavioral health crisis is a matter of life and death. I see people struggling on our streets, often forgotten by their own communities,” Newsom said.
“This is completely unacceptable and the state has updated our laws to ensure that people with serious mental illness or serious substance use disorders and who are most at risk of harm can designate an administrator to direct their care – and provide Continue to protect individual rights and increase transparency of data, equity and outcomes.
Times staff writer Tom Curwen contributed to this report.
