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AB 1421 Passes Senate, Goes to Governor

Latest AB 1421 update

Additional info on AB 1421

On Wednesday July 31, 2002, the California Senate Judiciary not only passed AB 1421 and also approved amendments that again made it viable, returning the bill to more or less its original form. AB 1421 is still alive.   Thursday, August 29, 2002, the full Senate voted on the bill and passed it on to the Governor for signing. 

S.F. Chronical Editorial

More news articles on AB 1421.

Voting record in Senate.

History

AB 1421 is near and dear to many NAMI members'  hearts and would provide extraordinary personalized services to the people who are too ill to make treatment decisions.  Assemblywoman, Helen Thomson wrote this bill. This is her last legislative session as term limits will force her out of the Assembly and redistricting, for now, has stopped her from running for the Senate. Most NAMI members support this legislation  and believe that this bill is the best chance to pass effective mental health legislation which give courts and doctors authority to treat those on the streets and unable to request treatment or even recognize their illness.

However, those that stand for disabled rights, homeless rights and the anti-psychiatry movement oppose this legislation on the grounds that it takes away a persons right to refuse treatment.  In fact, if that treatment involves powerful antipsychotic drugs that are known to cause changes to the structure of the brain, many may be refusing treatment for good reason.  Also, client organizations feel that a person's right to make their own decisions is crucial to their recovery.   What is needed are better options for services, housing and peer to peer and volunteer based clubs and support organizations.  

On June 19, AB 1421 was was passed unanimously by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee but with seven amendments not consented to by  Assemblywoman Thomson.  Six of the amendments are sensible, for example, requiring public defenders to be present at any commitment hearing and requiring county mental health directors to review each petition to ensure that severely mentally ill people aren't sent to court frivolously.

The seventh amendment essentially negates the entire purpose of the proposed legislation by restricting eligibility for the new program to people who meet California's current 5150 standard (someone in imminent danger of harming themselves or others).  A  system for 5150 hospitalization already exists. The pending legislation attempts to provide treatment to people in the community before they get so ill they must be hospitalized. 

Neutralizing this bill is a victory for the disability rights movement.   People should always have the option of choosing their services, forced treatment legislation opens the door for abuse. The question is a tough one though, as there are many who really can benefit from services and help, and yet due to the nature of their illness, they may refuse treatment and suffer.  Yet, too often we allow the illness to define individuals, robbing them of their humanity. We convey no hope of recovery.  For an intelligent commentary on forced out-patient commitment, read an essay written by Massachusetts’s state Mental Health Commissioner, Marylou Sudders.

San Jose Mercury Opinion on AB 1421

NAMI Yolo County Action Alert

Some arguments against AB 1421

1. The Senate-sponsored RAND study on involuntary outpatient psychiatric drugging stated, "The question left unanswered by the research to date is whether involuntary outpatient treatment and voluntary alternatives produce equally good outcomes." In other words, is a court order necessary. The approach of force-drugging people in their own homes is unneeded and unwanted in California.

2. AB 1421 would add a new reason to lock someone up in a psychiatric hospital against their will -- a refusal to be examined in the absence of any compelling public safety justification. This puts the civil rights of all Californians at risk.

3. AB 1421 would institute a quasi-governmental group that has complete control over people’s lives, and no one controls IT. There is no oversight whatsoever contemplated in this bill. I don’t want an unregulated group of people in my community driving around in a car drugging people, controlling their money, and running their lives.

4. Psychiatric drugs are not harmless. They can cause permanent brain damage or death. Studies show permanent brain damage resulting from these drugs in a very high percentage of cases. In a 1998 study, the frontal lobes of people on psychiatric drugs actually SHRANK. People on psychiatric drugs get neurologic damage and have movement disorders created by the drugs. You can see these people, twitching and rolling their tongues and smacking their lips, on any bus in California. These are not symptoms of mental illness. These people have been damaged by psychiatric drugs. No one should be forced to take these drugs against their will.

5. AB 1421 is an unnecessary, expensive piece of legislation that burdens the State with an endless future financial commitment, because people turned over to outpatient involuntary treatment teams don’t get well. They stay a financial burden for the rest of their lives shot lived lives (stated in medical journals approximately 20 years less than someone UnDrugged with Neuroleptics). Outpatient involuntary treatment teams are expensive!

6. California already has many ways in place to accomplish these same ends: Conservatorships (Including the Public Guardians Office that allows each Public Guardian to control at least 40 heads), mentally ill offender commitment orders, and the involuntary commitment procedures. Already, over 100,000 Californians a year are involuntarily treated. This bill is overly expensive, unneeded, and unwanted.

7. Mental health is full of costly fraud, coercion and deaths due to Toxic Poisonings by Neuroleptics, Anti-Psychotics and Anti-Depressants. According to the 2001 report of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Office of the Inspector General, between 33% and 50% of billings for services in 1998 were incorrect, resulting in $185 million in added costs to the taxpayers. We can’t afford this type of abuse.

CONTACT INFORMATION

All letters (except for Chair's) should be addressed to:
The Honorable (Name of Member)
State Capitol, Room ____
Sacramento, CA 95814

(Start "Dear Senator...")

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations.  We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

Copyright 2004, 2005 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Santa Cruz County, All Rights Reserved.

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