Senator Stern’s Bill to Enhance Conservatorships for Chronically Homeless with Severe Mental Health & Substance Abuse Issues Passes Senate

SACRAMENTO – Yesterday, Senator Henry Stern’s bill to enhance conservatorships for Californians experiencing chronic homelessness and severe mental health and substance abuse issues (SB 40) passed the California State Senate.

“Some people don’t have the capacity to accept help, and they die because of it. That’s where government has a moral obligation to step in,” said Senator Stern. “I applaud my colleagues for supporting these enhancements to our conservatorship programs so that we can save California’s most vulnerable.”

Last year, Senator Stern and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) authored SB 1045, which once enacted will establish a five-year pilot program that gives Los Angeles and San Francisco counties the option to create a new kind of conservatorship focused on chronically homeless individuals who suffer from mental health and substance abuse issues, and who cannot care for themselves.

SB 40, also jointly authored with Senator Wiener, makes improvements to the pilot program by compressing conservatorship timeframes, establishing effective trigger points, empowering county behavioral directors and creating additional protections to ensure that conservatorships are narrowly utilized. The bill is supported by mental health professionals and public safety officers.

SB 1045 passed the legislature last year and was signed into law by Governor Brown in September 2018. SB 40 now heads to the Assembly, where policy committees will hear it in the coming months.

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