CALIFORNIA TREATMENT ADVOCACY COALITION
The California Treatment Advocacy Coalition (CTAC) is dedicated to helping those lost to the symptoms of severe mental illness. The Coalition is working to change California's laws so that they promote the care of those rendered incapable of making informed medical decisions by mental illness. CTAC has worked to support a reform of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS), the hopelessly outdated legislation that governed when and how Californians who are overcome by mental illness can be placed in needed treatment. Their efforts have been a huge success, as Laura's Law was signed by the governor Sept. 2002. More about CTAC ... |
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Supporters
Guide
to Laura's Law
About CTAC
UPDATED MAY 2003
Laura's Law implementation
Los Angeles County is the first to
implement Laura's Law (AB 1421), California's new legislation (effective
January 1, 2003) that allows court-ordered, intensive outpatient treatment for people
with severe mental illnesses who refuse medication because their illness impairs their
ability to make rational decisions. Los Angeles County plans to expand this first program
in upcoming months. If successful - which we are positive it will be - more assisted
outpatient treatment programs in L.A. will follow.
Governor Davis signed the law on September 28, 2002.
The California Treatment Advocacy Coalition and Treatment Advocacy Center have released a guide detailing how the assisted outpatient treatment programs created by AB 1421 will work and guidance on how each Californian can help secure such a program for his or her county. A Guide to Lauras Law is in available in both HTML and PDF.
SUPPORTERS Passage of AB 1421 brings hope to tens of thousands of people. The coalition supporting its passage over these past few years was extraordinary and included ... FAMILY MEMBERS "My
mother has been showing signs of the illness schizophrenia for seven years or more. It
tears me up inside everyday that when I look into my mother's eyes, they aren't hers
anymore. She is removed from all that she once knew about the world. She has turned into a
recluse and produces accusations of espionage everyday. ... My life would be so completely
wonderful if that bill becomes a reality. I could have my mother back in some form or
another." JUDGES "These
persons wander the streets hungry, homeless, and without hope. They cycle through our
hospitals and are released with no assured after-care or plan to meet their human needs --
and, all too often in my experience, wind up in our jails and prisons, not because they
are criminals but because there simply is no place for them in our society." LAW ENFORCEMENT
"It is society's job to help those who cannot help
themselves. Nobody knows this better than law enforcement officers. And nobody knows more
than we do the dangers of facing down a person who has had a psychotic break, who is not
rational, who may believe we are aliens or that we mean them harm." LEGISLATORS "I
hated this bill when it was first introduced four years ago," said local state Sen.
Martha Escutia, D-Norwalk, chairwoman of the powerful [judiciary] committee [that passed
the bill]. "But, now I am confident that the due process protections are there at
every step of the way to protect their rights." EDITORIAL BOARDS "Based on New York's "Kendra's Law," AB 1421 achieves
a delicate balance between a society's responsibility to protect the safety of its
citizens and an individual's right to absolute freedom." EDITORIAL BOARDS Imagine a train wreck that scatters passengers across the landscape.
Paramedics arrive and begin loading the injured onto stretchers. But when anyone screams
out in pain, "No! Don't touch me!" the medics nod compassionately and leave that
person sprawled amid the rocks and cactuses. A similar scene has been unfolding on the
urban landscape for the last 40 years. People with severe mental illness, tossed from
state hospitals, have landed on public sidewalks and in wretched urban encampments. And no
one helps them because they say they don't want help. RESEARCHERS
"We concluded that outpatient commitment can help
an individual adhere to a beneficial regimen of psychiatric treatment, and may also
influence the mental health service system by getting case managers more invested in
outreach, in mobilizing resources and in leveraging more services on behalf of a
patient." PARENTS "If people overwhelmed by severe mental illness, like Abrams
[who killed the author's 4-year-old daughter], were instead placed in mandated community
treatment, they could get well enough to knowingly exercise and enjoy their civil rights.
Meanwhile, our right to live in a safe and secure society would be protected." SIBLINGS
"My parents lived in sorrow and fear for their
youngest child. They died without being able to get her the help she needs. Even the late
Assemblyman Frank Lanterman realized, after observing the unintended effects of the
legislation he sponsored, that this law had come to 'prevent those who need care from
receiving it.'" ACTIVISTS
"Had my sister-in-law been provided treatment
under the criteria and structure proposed in AB 1800, the cost to the state might have
been $20,000. Instead, expenses for her trial and restricted hospitalization are close to
$2 million." |
supporters | why reform? | guide
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Before Laura's Law was signed, California law forbade the provision of care to thousands overcome by mental illness, ignoring what has been learned about and the vastly improved medications developed for mental illnesses in the three decades since the original law was passed. The old law - which compared poorly to standards in many other states - championed the right to be sick over the right to be well. People rendered incapable of making rational decisions had to be an immediate danger to themselves or others before the law would permit any type of intervention - nothing could be done if a person overwhelmed by mental illness was not actively dangerous. Interventions were essentially limited to short inpatient stays. You no doubt have seen the results on our streets and in our headlines. Until Laura's Law was signed, California did not have the less intrusive mandated community treatment programs available in most states.
supporters | why reform? | guide
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ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA TREATMENT ADVOCACY COALITION
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
about CTAC | fact sheets
| action alerts | how CTAC began
editorials | op-eds
| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
The California Treatment Advocacy Coalition (CTAC) is dedicated to helping those lost to the symptoms of severe mental illness. The Coalition is working to change California's laws so that they promote the care of those rendered incapable of making informed medical decisions by mental illness. CTAC has worked to support a reform of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS), the hopelessly outdated legislation that governed when and how Californians who are overcome by mental illness can be placed in needed treatment. Their efforts have been a huge success, as Laura's Law was signed by the governor Sept. 28. More about CTAC ... |
From 2000's campaign for AB 1800
Key reforms of AB
1800
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CTAC ACTION ALERTS AND STATEMENTS
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
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| action alerts | how CTAC began
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| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
"The
sort of court-ordered treatment programs Laura's law would permit, far from confining
people to oppressive hospitals, actually cut hospital admissions by more than half, reduce
the number of people living on streets and in parks and help seriously mentally ill people
stay on new medications. ... civil libertarians have fought fiercely to kill it in the
committee. In fact, since its introduction more than two years ago, AB 1421 has been
amended numerous times to provide comprehensive civil rights protections" |
Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2004
True help on mental illness
The San Francisco
Chronicle, Oct. 2, 2002
Followup: Laura's Law
The Times-Herald, Oct. 2, 2002
Laura's Law
The Los Angeles
Times, Sept. 28, 2002
Governor, sign
Laura's Law
Oakland Tribune, Sept. 2
The Los Angeles Times, Aug. 26, 2002
Honoring Laura's
legacy
The Los Angeles Times, Aug. 2, 2002
For the ill - For
all of us
The San Francisco Chronicle, J
The San Jose
Mercury News, July 8, 2002
Say yes to help:
Mentally ill don't have to sink deeper into delusion; State Senate should restore AB 1421
and pass it
The Los Angeles
Times, June 26, 2002
Helping people off the
streets: A tiny, and huge, change
The Los Angeles
Times, June 12, 2002
Helping people off the
streets: Last boost on Laura's Law
The San
Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 2002
A vote to save
lives
The Los Angeles
Times, May 28, 2002
Helping people off the
streets: Shield the sick, and society
The San Francisco
Chronicle, May 1, 2002
Why it's called
'Laura's Law'
The Los Angeles
Times, April 14, 2002
Helping
people off the street: An Rx against violence
The Los Angeles
Times, January 2, 2001
Wishes for an uneasy
world
The Los Angeles
Times, October 6, 2001
Mind the mentally ill
The Los Angeles
Times, June 8, 2001
Suspect priorities
The San Francisco
Chronicle, May 31, 2001
State of neglect; Money well spent
The Los Angeles
Times, May 7, 2001
A case against liberty
The San Francisco
Chronicle, May 7, 2001
State of neglect; An ounce
of prevention
The Los Angeles
Times, April 30, 2001
Make Chris take his 'meds'
The Los Angeles
Times, April 23, 2001
A law to reclaim lives
The San Francisco
Chronicle, February 18, 2001
State of neglect; California's 30-year failure
to confront mental illness
The Los Angeles
Times, June 30, 2000
Sometimes 'coercion' is a virtue
The San Francisco
Chronicle, June 11, 2000
Neglect on mental illness
The Los Angeles
Times, June 1, 2000
For mentally ill and society too
The San Francisco
Chronicle, March 10, 2000
Hope for the mentally ill
in assembly legislation
Ventura County Star,
January 2, 2000
Making it easier to help the sick
The San Francisco
Chronicle, December 21, 1999
Mental health system not working for anybody
Los Angeles Times,
December 20, 1999
Redefining mental illness; A bill broadening
the criteria would enable more
Californians to qualify for state aid
The Long Beach
Press-Telegram, December 17, 1999
Reforming mental treatment bill: Deciding who needs help -
Against their will
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
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| action alerts | how CTAC began
editorials | op-eds
| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
"In
California, you have the right to act crazy and destroy your life, and Marie Elise
exercised that right
Unfortunately, she killed someone at the same time." |
Orange
County Register, February 15, 2004
'Laura's Law' fills gap for mentally ill
who need help most
And see the letter that one prominent Los Angeles judge sent to his senator supporting passage.
San
Gabriel Valley Tribune, June 13, 2002
Pass AB 1421:
Promote treatment, don't mandate tragedy
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
about CTAC | fact sheets
| action alerts | how CTAC began
editorials | op-eds
| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
about CTAC | fact sheets
| action alerts | how CTAC began
editorials | op-eds
| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
See technical information on the bill from the CA legislature. Bill text, status, voting records, and analyses are available on the California Assembly website.
Governor Davis signed the law on September 28, 2002.
supporters | why reform? | guide
to laura's law
about CTAC | fact sheets
| action alerts | how CTAC began
editorials | op-eds
| articles & columns | state legislature
documents
A grassroots task force comprising mental illness advocates, physicians, constitutional lawyers, social workers and law enforcement officials unveiled a landmark white paper on February 16, 1999, on the need for reform in California's involuntary treatment laws. LPS Reform: A New Vision for Mental Health Treatment Laws takes sharp aim at the inadequacies of the state's antiquated Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS).
WHITE PAPER
LPS Reform: A New Vision for Mental
Health Treatment Laws
LPS Reform Task Force, February 16, 1999
STATEMENT
The Treatment Advocacy Center outlines its position on LPS reform in "California Must
Strengthen LPS Act for Mentally Ill"
Treatment Advocacy Center, February 16, 1999
STATEMENT The California Treatment Advocacy Coalition outlines specific
reform initiatives in their statement "California Must Care For, Not Criminalize the
Severely Mentally Ill"
California Treatment Advocacy Coalition, February 16,
1999
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