To: Board of Supervisors
From: DHHS: Behavioral Health
Agenda Section: Consent
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
SUBJECT:
title
Resolution Rescinding Resolution No. 19-122 Authorizing the Application of California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5151 to Interpret the 72-Hour Clock to Start Upon Admittance to Designated Inpatient Psychiatric Facility, Sempervirens (4/5th Vote Required)
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Adopt the attached resolution rescinding Resolution No. 19-122. (4/5th Vote Required)
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Behavioral Health Fund (1170)
DISCUSSION:
The Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, Chapter 2, Article 1, as codified at California Welfare and Institutions Code sections 5150-5155, sets forth a process permitting the detention of mentally disordered persons for evaluation and treatment.
The County of Humboldt's previous resolution regarding the application of California Welfare and Institutions Code section 5151 interpreted the initial 72-hour clock per Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150 to start upon admittance to the designated inpatient psychiatric facility, Sempervirens. This resolution must now be rescinded due to amendments to the applicable laws.
Assembly Bill (AB) 2275 was passed into law on September 30, 2022, and implemented on January 1, 2023. This bill eliminated conflicting language previously found in Welfare and Institutions Code sections 5150 and 5151, to specify that the 72-hour period of detention begins at the time when the person is first detained. With this change, the Legislature has acknowledged, for the first time, that California counties have an insufficient number of inpatient psychiatric facilities to immediately evaluate and treat individuals detained, and that individuals are therefore being detained in non-designated Emergency Departments while waiting for a psychiatric treatment bed to be available. AB 2275 was meant to unify how California counties...
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