SB 87: Mental health: involuntary commitment.

Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders for the protection of the persons committed. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to themselves, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides that a conservator of the person, of the estate, or of the person and the estate may be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled due to a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism. Existing law authorizes that a person for whom conservatorship is sought has a right to demand a court or jury trial on the issue of whether the individual is gravely disabled. Existing law requires that such a demand must be made within 5 days following the hearing on the conservatorship petition. Existing law requires that the court or jury trial must commence within 10 days of the date of the demand, except the court may continue the trial date for a period not to exceed 15 days upon request of counsel for the proposed conservatee.

This bill would extend the period for which a court or jury trial may be continued at the request of counsel for the proposed conservatee from 15 days to 20 days.