California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5366.1

CA Welf & Inst Code § 5366.1 (2017)  

(a) Any person detained as of June 30, 1969, under court commitment, in a private institution, a county psychiatric hospital, facility of the Veterans Administration, or other agency of the United States government, community mental health service, or detained in a state hospital or facility of the Veterans Administration upon application of a local health officer, pursuant to former Section 5567 or Sections 6000 to 6019, inclusive, as they read immediately preceding July 1, 1969, may be detained, after January 1, 1972, for a period no longer than 180 days, except as provided in this section.

(b) Any person detained pursuant to this section on the effective date of this section shall be evaluated by the facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services pursuant to Section 5150 as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. The evaluation shall be made at the request of the person in charge of the institution in which the person is detained. If in the opinion of the professional person in charge of the evaluation and treatment facility or his or her designee, the evaluation of the person can be made by the professional person or his or her designee at the institution in which the person is detained, the person shall not be required to be evaluated at the evaluation and treatment facility, but shall be evaluated at the institution where he or she is detained, or other place to determine if the person is a danger to others, himself or herself, or gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder.

(c) Any person evaluated under this section shall be released from the institution in which he or she is detained immediately upon completion of the evaluation if in the opinion of the professional person in charge of the evaluation and treatment facility, or his or her designee, the person evaluated is not a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder, unless the person agrees voluntarily to remain in the institution in which he or she has been detained.

(d) If in the opinion of the professional person in charge of the facility or his or her designee, the person evaluated requires intensive treatment or recommendation for conservatorship, the professional person or his or her designee shall proceed under Article 4 (commencing with Section 5250) of Chapter 2, or under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350), of Part 1 of Division 5.

(e) If it is determined from the evaluation that the person is gravely disabled and a recommendation for conservatorship is made, and if the petition for conservatorship for the person is not filed by June 30, 1972, the court commitment or detention under a local health officer application for the person shall terminate and the patient shall be released unless he or she agrees to accept treatment on a voluntary basis.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 23, Sec. 37. (AB 82) Effective June 27, 2013.)

Last modified: October 25, 2018