The Overview

The next time someone in your community is in a mental health crisis, the people who can take them into custody and hold them for up to 72 hours will be working under a new California law. California's Senate Bill 16, "Mental health: involuntary commitment," was approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 18, and it requires each county's behavioral health director, the official who oversees local mental health services, to set up and carry out procedures for choosing and training the professionals who perform involuntary holds, which are legal detentions of people in crisis. The bill changes the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, the state's existing law on detaining and treating people with mental health disorders without their consent. ​

California faces a shortage of mental health workers, which KQED reported contributes to long waits for people seeking care. RAND, a research organization, estimated in 2022 that the state was short about 1,971 psychiatric beds for adults.

What the Law Does

Under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a person who is a danger to themselves or others, or is gravely disabled (unable to provide for basic needs) due to a mental health disorder, can be taken into custody and held for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Previously, county behavioral health directors were allowed but not required to set up procedures for training and choosing the professionals who carry out those holds.

The law makes that optional step mandatory: county behavioral health directors must now set up and carry out those training and selection procedures. Because the requirement falls on county governments, the state must reimburse counties for costs that the Commission on State Mandates, a state panel that decides whether a requirement is a state-imposed cost, finds qualify.

That repayment rule matters because counties vary widely in how they staff and fund behavioral health services. A rural county with a small workforce faces different costs to comply than a large urban one, and the reimbursement process gives counties a formal path to recover expenses they can document.

Legislative Status

Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-CA-38) sponsored the bill, with Asm. Diane Dixon (R-CA-72) as coauthor.

The Senate voted 10 to 0 on April 22, 2025, to pass the bill with changes and send it back to the Health committee for review. On May 12, 2025, a 7-0 vote moved the bill to the suspense file, a holding list for bills with costs, and on May 23, 2025, a 5-0 vote to advance it followed. The full Senate passed it 29 to 2 on June 3, 2025. On June 23, 2026, the Assembly voted 14 to 0 to pass the bill with changes and send it to the Judiciary Committee. The full Assembly passed it 72 to 0 on Aug. 31, 2026, and the Senate approved the Assembly's changes 30 to 1 the same day.

The California State Association of Counties said it joined county organizations in opposing SB 16 after changes were added late in the legislative session, and Orange County's Office of Legislative Affairs reported that the Urban Counties of California and the Rural County Representatives of California also opposed the bill.

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