1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Vote yes on SB 1016 and SB 989. CARE Court was supposed to help thousands of Californians in psychotic crisis — instead, courts have approved just 893 treatment agreements out of 3,817 petitions filed. The program's fatal flaw is that it can't reach the people who are too sick to consent to help. That's not a minor gap. That's the whole point of the program failing. SB 1016 creates a direct bridge from voluntary CARE Court into conservatorship for people who are gravely disabled or a danger to themselves. That pathway should have existed from day one. Families like Jennifer Farrell's watched their loved ones deteriorate on the street for months because no formal escalation route existed. Involuntary care isn't the first answer — but when someone cannot engage with voluntary treatment, it has to be an option, and it has to be pursued with clear legal standards and real oversight. SB 989 tackles the other side of the problem by letting first responders refer people directly to county behavioral health, removing the paperwork burden that keeps firefighters and EMTs from ever filing a petition. These bills won't fix everything, but they close two concrete gaps that are leaving the sickest Californians behind. Pass them both.