Gavin Newsom gets his court

Latino Los Angeles09/19/2022

1 minute read

Now the hard work begins.

So said Gov. Gavin Newsom at a Wednesday bill signing ceremony in San Jose about legislation he says is key to addressing one of California’s most glaring failures: The sheer number of people suffering from untreated mental illness living on our streets .

Newsom’s office first rolled out his Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court proposal in March. This new court system would make it easier for loved ones, first responders and mental health workers to force severely mentally ill Californians into psychiatric treatment and housing. Newsom : “We get a moment in time, but this might live on, if we make it real. And that’s the hard work of the next year.”

The hard work that the governor was alluding to is the fact that California’s 58 counties now have to actually set up these new systems before 2025 — with seven counties rolling out the programs within the next year.

But alongside implementation and application, there’s almost certain to be litigation. Though the CARE […]