Los Angeles is one of several counties in the state that delayed implementation of a new law that would open up treatment to more people living with serious mental illness and substance use issues.
Last month, the Board of Supervisors voted to postpone enacting the law, noting that the county was not yet ready to provide the facilities and services to make it work.
“Our health care facilities are not prepared for the magnitude of what this response could look like,” Board Chair Lindsey Horvath said before the vote to delay until January 2026.
But some mental health advocates and family members of people struggling with mental illness argue that waiting years to move forward with the new law would continue to keep those who are sickest out of lifesaving treatment.
“We can’t accept the status quo any longer,” said Teresa Pasquini, a longtime mental health advocate whose son lives with a serious mental illness.
“It’s killing our loved ones.”
The delay highlights the ongoing debate about what the new law, when in effect, will likely accomplish. Will it pave the way for counties to provide consistent, “last resort” behavioral health care for people who can’t provide it on their own? Or will it strip people of their individual rights, leading to people being warehoused under the guise of treatment?
What the new law does
Senate Bill 43, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, changed state law to allow people living with a serious mental illness or severe substance use disorder — who are also unable to provide for their personal safety or medical care — to be deemed “gravely disabled” and held against their…
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