Santa Clara Co. Supes Push Laura's Law Discussion To Next Year

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County lawmakers are taking Laura's Law discussions into the new year, asking Tuesday for staff to come back in January with another report on possible implementation plans.

If adopted and implemented by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Laura's Law - a state law passed in 2002 with the option for local governments to implement it on their own - may allow local judges to mandate mental health care for a severely mentally ill county resident.

The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley wrote in to the board against implementing the law, with the organization's CEO Alison Brunner writing that implementing the law would offer a "false hope" for treating mental illness and chronic homelessness.

"The County can best achieve the goal of facilitating stability and recovery not by "leveraging" individuals into treatment through the scare-tactic of a court order, but by transforming the currently fragmented system into one that holistically approaches the multi-faceted needs of this vulnerable population," Brunner wrote.

Several other opponents to implementing the law, and fewer supporters, spoke Tuesday during public comment.

Chloe Shipp, operations manager for the San Jose Downtown Association, spoke for her organization in support of implementing the law.

"We know that this is realistically only going to apply to a small number of individuals," Shipp said. "The hope is all of those touch points, all of those services that have been expanded and could be here in the future will get folks before it gets to that point - to the point where they can no longer care for themselves."

But Sherice Lane, a Santa Clara County resident who on Monday ended a 23-month-long bout with homelessness, spoke to convince the board against implementation, having met those with severe mental illness in shelters in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.

"There are nowhere near enough psychiatric beds, doctors and clinics to treat all the people who want treatment in Santa Clara County," Lane, 52, said.

Formerly a Palo Alto resident before becoming homeless nearly two years ago, Lane now has a Section 8 housing voucher for a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Clara, which she got the keys for on Monday.

"Before forcing people to accept mental health treatment, we should first make sure there is enough available to all who need it, especially those who are homeless," Lane said.

"This issue is a complex, misunderstood issue in the public because often times there's a presumption that everyone who is homeless is mentally ill, and everyone who's mentally ill, if they were treated with anti-psychotics would suddenly be not homeless or not troublesome or not desirous of living on the street," Dr. Jeff Smith, the county executive, said Tuesday. "That's not true."

He said that services meant to aid homeless people in the county "do not always translate into eliminating homelessness."

Supervisor Cindy Chavez directed county staff to bring a list back next month detailing each treatment service currently available for the severely mentally ill, saying "I honestly can't say I know what is fully online and what isn't fully online."

"Because without understanding that, it is difficult to understand how the investments are being made," Chavez added.

"We have to have temporary housing or shelter linked to this program, and that's what we don't have for the mentally ill, or for the houseless who don't have a mental health diagnosis," Supervisor Dave Cortese said. "There's not even a fraction of that population that we have mental health beds for now, mandate or not. If you have a conservatorship, where would you put them?"

Similarly, board president Joe Simitian, who voted in favor of Laura's Law in 2002, wanted to know from county staff in the next report how a person who wants to get help for a friend or family member who needs mental health care can get help for someone without calling the police.

Staff will report back to the board on Jan. 28 during its regular meeting.

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