Newsom Signs Limited CARE Court Fixes, Bigger Overhaul Bills Die
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills making incremental changes to CARE Court, the state's mental health court program launched in 2023 to connect severely mentally ill residents with treatment. One law lets more first responders refer people into the program; another allows family members to share treatment-relevant information with care teams. Two more sweeping bills that would have created pathways from CARE Court into involuntary conservatorship died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in August over cost concerns and insufficient data on program performance. State data through June 2025 show CARE Court has reached far fewer people than projected, with only 517 of 2,216 petitions resulting in care agreements.
County behavioral health agencies administering CARE Court get modest referral and information-sharing changes but no resolution to the program's core low-utilization problem, meaning states watching California's model still lack evidence on how to connect involuntary-treatment gaps to Medicaid-funded behavioral health systems.
Behavioral Health
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