Our Priorities

Our #1 Legislative Priority: Establishing Clinical Accountability

Senate Bill 1016 (The Continuum of Care Act) represents the National Shattering Silence Coalition’s highest legislative priority this year. While our broader mandate targets the systemic Standard of Neglect across all 58 California counties, SB 1016 is our primary legislative vehicle to intercept and dismantle a specific, deadly failure point: the CARE Court Dismissal Void. It mandates that if a CARE Court participant is unsuccessful due to the absolute severity of their neurobiological illness, the court cannot simply drop the case and abandon them—it must refer them for a clinical LPS evaluation. We are turning Dismissal into Direction, legally engineering a critical "Safety Net for the Safety Net."

By moving the bar from "waiting for danger" to "responding to medical necessity," we are building a California where life-saving psychiatric treatment is delivered early in a clinical setting, not at the end of a police encounter.

~75%

Petitions Stalled

2,900+

In the "Dismissal Void"

0

Mandatory Referrals

California’s CARE Court is failing the Gravely Disabled population. When a petition is dismissed because an individual is "too sick to realize they need treatment," the system simply walks away. SB 1016 changes the mandate, ensuring that a court dismissal is a referral for a clinical LPS evaluation, not a death sentence on the street.

Weaponize Your Lived Experience: Mobilize for SB 1016

TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION

California’s mental health system is currently defined by a "Standard of Neglect." We are shifting the landscape from clinical abandonment to a system of Medical Accountability. Our priorities are the architectural blueprints for a more humane California where treatment is a right, not a gamble.

The California Mandate: Strategic Priorities

1. Family Collaboration as a Standard of Care

The Problem: HIPAA is frequently weaponized by providers to exclude families. This creates a dangerous data silo where the people who know the patient’s history best are silenced, leading to misdiagnosis and carceral outcomes.

The Mandate:

  • Formal Recognition: Standardizing family inclusion as an essential clinical standard for SMI care.
  • "Information In": Protecting the legal right of families to provide clinical history regardless of patient consent during psychosis.

💡 NSSC Forensic Tip: When a provider refuses to listen due to HIPAA, don't argue. Hand them our SMI Caregiver’s Guide pointing to HIPAA section. Explicitly state: "I am not asking for a disclosure; I am providing vital clinical history. Under federal law, you have a duty to include this in the medical record to ensure an accurate diagnosis."

Active Legislative Pipeline (Pillar 1)

Bill & Sponsor Core Focus & Summary 2026 Status & Action
SB 1242
(Choi)		 CARE Court Family Presence: Stops the isolation of family petitioners inside the courtroom during key proceedings. Assembly Judiciary committee (June 30)
[Suggestion: Call Committee Chairs to Support]
AB 1437
(Irwin)		 Information Sharing Protocols: Directs uniform state mandates to strip away weaponized privacy walls against caregivers. Appropriations Suspense
Family Coord. Act
(Marin Model)		 Statewide Scaling: Enforces structural integration of family-provided clinical metrics across all 58 county health layouts. Local Grassroots Push

2. Prop 1 & BHSA Implementation Oversight

The Problem: Billions in reform funds are at risk of being lost to "aspirational" programs that do not serve the Gravely Disabled. Without strict guardrails, the funding will not reach the people living in the "Void."

The Mandate:

  • Operationalizing Engagement: Moving family engagement from an optional suggestion to a core, county-funded structural requirement.
  • Upstream Prevention: Directly allocating BHSA capital assets to stabilize high-acuity individuals before they enter carceral loops.

💡 NSSC Forensic Tip: Attend your local County Behavioral Health Commission meetings. Ask this specific question during public comment: "What percentage of Prop 1/BHSA funds in this county are specifically earmarked for clinical family navigators to assist the Gravely Disabled population?" Force them to put a number on the record.

Active Legislative Pipeline (Pillar 2)

Bill / Initiative Core Focus & Summary 2026 Status & Action
AB 2138
(Krell)		 Workforce Integration: Forces state-funded outreach and community management grids to integrate certified peers with true SMI ground-truth. Assembly Floor (3rd Reading)
[Suggestion: Email Rep to Support]
County BHSA Allocation Expenditure Guardrails: Demanding structural allocations isolate funding specifically for sub-acute housing instead of decorative wellness projects. 3-Yr Plan Formulations
[Suggestion: Track County Budgets]

3. Guardrails on Care & Discharge Accountability

The Problem: California routinely "discharges to the sidewalk." Whether from an emergency room or a dismissed CARE Court petition, individuals are abandoned back into the void without a stabilized medical home base.

The Mandate:

  • Mandatory Clinical Pathways: Ensuring "too sick for court" outcomes result in an automatic, clinical evaluation track rather than standard systemic dismissal.
  • Outcome-Based Discharge Metrics: Mandating medical success profiles require strict clinical stabilization over arbitrary length-of-stay parameters.

💡 NSSC Forensic Tip: Before a loved one is discharged, demand the "Written Discharge Plan." Check for a "Warm Handoff" to an active clinical provider. If it doesn't exist, inform them that "discharging to homelessness" is a failure of medical accountability and a violation of the Standard of Care.

Active Legislative Pipeline (Pillar 3)

Bill & Sponsor Core Focus & Summary 2026 Status & Action
SB 1016
(Blakespear)		 CARE Court Reform: Seals the "dismissal void" by redirecting individuals too symptomatic to comply with court contracts straight into a WIC 5200 LPS evaluation track. PASSED SENATE
Assembly Heatlh Committee June 30
[Suggestion: Make 30 Second Call]
SB 1400
(Wiener)		 IST Misdemeanor Fix: Routes dismissed misdemeanor Incompetent to Stand Trial cases cleanly out of the jail-shuttle loop and directly into clinical intervention frameworks. Senate Floor
[Suggestion: Track Floor Vote]
SB 989
(Blakespear)		 First Responder Accountability: Demands localized county operations systematically evaluate and act on emergency crisis requests inside a 30-day index. Judiciary Committee Passed June 23
AB 46
(Nguyen)		 Judicial Diversion Rules: Equips local judiciaries with clear public safety guardrails on alternative community diversion pathways. Assembly Floor
[Suggestion: Submit Floor Support]