CA overhauled a key conservatorship law. Has anything changed?
By Marisa Kendall, CalMatters ·
Today we honor all of you who served in the armed forces and give our sincere thanks for answering your country’s call. 🇺🇸
We had a breaking story last night on a lawsuit against Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara that alleges his office illegally approved rate hikes. Check it out here.
Today we’re publishing a special report on changes to a California mental health law that determines when someone can be forced into involuntary treatment. It’s among several laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed to overhaul the state’s mental health system.
But that’s not all. We also have a breakdown on veterans and military kids in the California State University system, and a look at how school bonds fared on the ballot last week.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the holiday.
It can be incredibly difficult in California to secure treatment for people who have severe mental illnesses. New legislation, signed three years ago, was supposed to help.
The idea of Senate Bill 43 was to make more people eligible for involuntary, one-year mental health conservatorships. But a CalMatters analysis found that so far, it doesn’t seem to be getting many more people into long-term treatment.
- Toni Navarro, director of behavioral health for Santa Barbara County: “It was not at all as big an impact as we thought it could be.”
CalMatters requested data from the state’s 25 most populous counties. Of those that provided information, the majority showed no significant increase in the number of conservatorships after the new law took effect.
Behavioral health officials in multiple counties said the law still has done some good. For one thing, it forced mental health and substance abuse professionals to work closer together, which is key when helping the many Californians who have both a mental illness and an addiction.
But some families of people with severe mental illnesses hoped the legislation would do more. Joaquin Anthony “Tony” Pereyra was shot by Walnut Creek police during a mental health crisis in February. His mother, Annis Pereyra, believes the new law could have saved his life, if the county had used it to compel him to take an antipsychotic medication.
- Pereyra: “His needs were ignored at every turn that happened. Every single turn.”
Read more from CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall and Jocelyn Wiener.
Focus on Inland Empire: Each Wednesday, CalMatters Inland Empire reporter Aidan McGloin surveys the big stories from that part of California. Read his newsletter and sign up to receive the next one.
Other Stories You Should Know
More veterans enrolled at Cal State
From CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn:
Nearly 22,000 veterans or their children attend the California State University — a growth of 17% since 2022. That uptick far exceeds the system’s overall student growth of around 3%.
Most of those students are the dependents of veterans, and Cal State — the nation’s largest public four-year university system — provides a veterans’ center on each of its 22 campuses. Children of veterans can use their educational benefits if their parents transferred the perks to them, have a service-related disability or died in service.
Helping to fuel that growth is taxpayer aid. “Since fall 2022, the number of students using federal veterans’ education benefits has increased 36 percent and the number using the California Department of Veterans Affairs College Fee Waiver has increased 18 percent,” according to an agenda item for next week’s Cal State Board of Trustees meeting that aims to highlight the myriad academic and social benefits to veterans and their families. Those include dedicated counselors and outreach on military bases.
There are eight federal veterans’ education aid programs and one state-run program. While most make use of these, not all do, for reasons related to their discharge status or whether they’ve exhausted their benefits in other education settings. Many students also receive general state financial aid.
Statewide, some 84,000 veterans are enrolled in a college or university, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Voters soured on school repairs
Nearly half of the 86 bond proposals California school districts placed on the November ballot to repair facilities are on track to fail, writes Calmatters’ Carolyn Jones.
The bonds totaled more than $12.4 billion of debt that taxpayers would have to pay down over time. Compared to other big election years this is a relatively low amount: Two years ago, school bonds totaled almost four times as much and most of them passed.
Their failure could be a sign that voters are wary of the economy, although three big statewide bond proposals for housing and medical research passed.
Visalia Unified, near Fresno, has a $158 million bond that voters are poised to reject. More than 70% of the district’s buildings are 50 years old or older and need repair, said Superintendent Kirk Shrum. Without the bond money, the district will have to shift money around to pay for repairs, but “we’ll never be able to get ahead of it,” Shrum said.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Jane Kim’s successful bid for California insurance commissioner sets the stage for another legislative struggle as she pushes for the state to create its own fire insurance system.
CalMatters contributor Robert Greene: President Donald Trump’s campaign to undermine public confidence in fundamental institutions of American democracy has resulted in turning “election integrity” into a prize that political parties wrestle from one another.
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This story was originally published by CalMatters and is republished under its terms.