Involuntary commitment.

Assembly Member Krell, with principal coauthor Gipson, advances a measure that would broaden the pool of county-designated professionals who participate in involuntary commitment procedures by adding hospital-based emergency physicians to the eligible disciplines. The core changes would authorize counties to designate emergency physicians to participate in detainment and related processes under the state mental health crisis framework and would extend civil and criminal liability protections to these designated professionals when acting within that framework.

Key mechanics center on how counties establish designation procedures. The measure requires counties to include emergency physicians as an eligible designation discipline alongside existing categories, and it preserves the standard designation, renewal, training, and monitoring processes that apply to all professionals designated under the program. An emergency physician is defined as a physician and surgeon who provides medical screening and treatment in the emergency department of a general acute care hospital licensed under state health care regulations. The liability protections in the existing statute would continue to apply to designated professionals who detain or release individuals under the detainment framework, with the protections tied to the designation and to the overarching statutory limitations and exceptions.

Implementation and fiscal considerations are framed around county responsibility rather than state appropriations. The bill does not provide new state funding, so counties would bear costs associated with updating designation procedures, conducting training and testing for emergency physicians, and maintaining oversight and renewal processes. While the Sacramento County provision regarding a local policy for mobile crisis team involvement remains part of the statute, there is no new deadline introduced in the measure; implementation timelines would flow through standard county processes and existing designation timelines.

In the broader policy context, the measure operates within the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act framework governing involuntary commitment, clarifying who may participate in detention decisions and how liability protections apply. By incorporating emergency physicians into the designation framework, counties could influence who is involved in evaluation and transport during crisis detentions and early releases, subject to the standard designation procedures and oversight. Stakeholders include county behavioral health departments, emergency departments, mobile crisis teams, peace officers, hospitals, and individuals who may be detained under involuntary commitment procedures.