Legislation Tracking
2015
As of 12/15/15
These bills can be viewed in their entirety at:
1
Bill Number
Author/Title/
Subject
Subject Matter
AB 59
Waldron
Mental health
services: assisted
outpatient
treatment
Existing law, the Assisted Outpatient
Treatment Demonstration Project Act of
2002, known as Laura’s Law, until January 1,
2017, grants each county the authority to
offer certain assisted outpatient treatment
services for residents by adoption of a
resolution or through the county budget
process and by making a finding that no
mental health program, as specified, may be
reduced as a result of implementation.
This bill would delete the January 1, 2017,
repeal date of those provisions, thereby
extending the indefinitely, and would also
delete the finding requirement described. The
bill would also authorize the court to order a
person to obtain assisted outpatient treatment
for an initial period not to exceed 12 months
if requisite criteria are met.
Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short
Act, authorizes the involuntary detention for a
period of 72 hours for evaluation of persons
who are dangerous to self or others, or
gravely disabled, as defined. Existing law
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html
Status
Introduced 12/9/2014
Amended 3/9/2015
Amended 4/6/2015
4/7/15- re-referred to Com on
Health. In committee: set 1st
hearing – hearing cancelled @
request of the author
Position
Watch
provides that if a person is detained for 72
hours or is under court order for evaluation
and has received an evaluation, he or she may
be certified for not more than 14 days of
intensive treatment related to the mental
disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism
if certain conditions are met, as specified.
Under existing law, a person may be certified
for intensive treatment for an additional
period of time if he or she remains gravely
disabled or unwilling or unable to accept
voluntary treatment or if he or she is suicidal,
as specified, or may be confined for
postcertification treatment for up to 180 days
if he or she has, among other things,
attempted or inflicted physical harm upon
another person, as specified.
This bill would, upon the release of a
person from intensive treatment or
postcertification treatment described above,
authorize the professional staff of the agency
or facility that provided the treatment to
evaluate whether the person meets the criteria
for assisted outpatient treatment. The bill
would authorize the professional staff to
request the county mental health director to
file a petition in the superior court for assisted
outpatient treatment if that person meets that
criteria.
2
AB 139
Gatto
Nonprobate
(1) Existing law provides that a person
may pass real property to a beneficiary at
death by various methods including by will,
Introduced 1/9/2015
Amended 3/5/2015
Support
transfers:
revocable
transfer upon
death deeds
intestate succession, trust, and titling the
property in joint tenancy, among others.
This bill would, until January 1, 2021,
create the revocable transfer on death deed
(revocable TOD deed), as defined, which
would transfer real property on the death of
its owner without a probate proceeding. The
bill would require that a person have
testamentary capacity to make or revoke the
deed and would require that the deed be in a
statutory form provided for this purpose.
The revocable TOD deed must be signed,
dated, acknowledged, and recorded, as
specified, to be effective. The bill would
provide, among other things, that the deed,
during the owner’s life, does not affect his
or her ownership rights and, specifically, is
part of the owner’s estate for the purpose of
Medi-Cal eligibility and reimbursement.
The bill would void a revocable TOD deed
if, at the time of the owner’s death, the
property is titled in joint tenancy or as
community property with right of
survivorship. The bill would establish
priorities for creditor claims against the
owner and the beneficiary of the deed in
connection with the property transferred
and limits on the liability of the beneficiary.
The bill would establish a process for
contesting the transfer of real property by a
revocable TOD deed. The bill would also
make conforming and technical changes.
4/9/15- In Senate. Read for 1st
time. To COM on RLS for
assignment
Chaptered 9/21/15
The bill would require the California Law
Revision Commission to study and make
recommendations regarding the revocable
TOD deed to the Legislature by January 1,
2020.
(2) Existing law provides that a person
who feloniously and intentionally kills a
decedent is not entitled to specified
property, interests, or benefits, including
any gifts of personal property made in view
of impending death.
This bill would specify that a person who
feloniously and intentionally kills a
decedent is not entitled generally to
property and interests that are transferred
outside of probate, including real property
transferred by a revocable TOD deed.
(3) Existing law establishes simplified
procedures for dealing with a decedent’s
estate valued under $150,000, including
authorizing the successor of the decedent to
collect and distribute property due the
decedent without letters of administration
or awaiting probate of a will. Existing law
provides that a beneficiary who receives
real or personal property under these
circumstances, as specified, may be liable
to the estate if probate proceedings are
subsequently commenced. Existing law
provides, in this context, that a spouse has
liability for the debts of a deceased spouse
if the decedent’s property is in the control
of the surviving spouse. Existing law
permits a court judgment to enforce liability
in these instances only to the extent
necessary to protect the heirs, devisees, and
creditors of the decedent.
This bill would delete the reference to court
judgment and provide instead that the
personal representative of the estate is
permitted to enforce liability only to the
extent necessary to protect the heirs,
devisees, and creditors of the decedent.
3
AB 193
Maienschien
Mental health:
conservatorship
hearings
Existing law provides a procedure for the
appointment of a conservator for a person
who is determined to be gravely disabled as a
result of a mental disorder or an impairment
by chronic alcoholism and requires an officer,
including a county public guardian or a
county mental health program, to conduct a
conservatorship investigation and render a
written report to the court of his or her
investigation. Under existing law, a
professional person in charge of an agency
providing comprehensive evaluation or a
facility providing intensive treatment for a
gravely disabled person may recommend a
conservatorship for that person, and the
agency is required to disclose any records or
information that may facilitate an
investigation. Existing law requires the
officer providing conservatorship
investigation, when he or she concurs with
the recommendation of the professional
Introduced 1/28/2015
Amended 4/14/2015
4/14/15 – re-referred to COM on
Judiciary
Amended: 4/14/15, 5/28/15,
6/22/15, 7/6/15, 9/2/15
Enrolled: 9/11/15
Governor refused to sign
legislation
Oppose
Letter
Written
person or facility, to petition the superior
court in the patient’s county of residence for a
conservatorship.
This bill would authorize the court, after a
hearing attended by the proposed conservatee
or the proposed conservatee’s counsel, or
both, to recommend a conservatorship to the
officer providing conservatorship
investigation if the court, in consultation with
a physician providing comprehensive
evaluation or intensive treatment, in a
conservatorship proceeding determines, based
on the evidence presented to the court,
including medical evidence, that a person for
whom a conservatorship has been established
may be gravely disabled as a result of a
mental disorder or impairment by chronic
alcoholism and is unwilling to accept, or is
incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily.
The bill would also require the court to
appoint counsel to a proposed conservatee if
he or she cannot afford counsel. The bill
would require the officer providing
conservatorship investigation to petition the
superior court in the patient’s county of
residence to establish conservatorship if he or
she concurs with the recommendation of the
court, and to file a copy of his or her report
with the court within 30 days of the court’s
recommendation. The bill would require an
existing probate conservator, if
conservatorship is recommended by the court,
to disclose any records or information that
may facilitate the investigation. The bill
would also make conforming changes.
By expanding the duties of the county
officer providing conservatorship
investigation, this bill would impose a statemandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the
state to reimburse local agencies and school
districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish
procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the
Commission on State Mandates determines
that the bill contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement for those costs shall be
made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
4
AB 314
Waldron
Limited Probate
Conservatorship
Reform Process
AB 314, as amended, Waldron. Limited
conservatorship: developmentally disabled
persons. end insert
begin insert
Existing law establishes a procedure for
creating a limited conservatorship for a
person with developmental disabilities. Under
existing law, that procedure requires, among
other things, that a court investigator conduct
interviews of a proposed conservatee and
others, review allegations in the petition to
create the conservatorship, determine whether
the proposed conservatee is incapable of
completing an affidavit of voter registration,
and report the results of the investigation to
the court.
This bill would provide that these
Introduced 2/12/2015
Amended 3/16/15
3/17/15 – re-referred to COM on
Judiciary
No further action taken on
legislation
Watch
requirements do not apply to a procedure to
establish a limited conservatorship for a
person with developmental disabilities when
the proposed conservator is a parent of the
proposed conservatee.
Existing law requires that within 30 days
after the filing of a petition for limited
conservatorship of a person with
developmental disabilities, the proposed
limited conservatee, with his or her consent,
be assessed at a regional center. Existing law
requires the regional center to submit a
written report of its findings and
recommendations resulting from that
assessment to the court.
This bill would instead authorize, rather
than require, the proposed limited
conservatee, with his or her consent, to be
assessed at a regional center for those
purposes. The bill would require the regional
center, with the consent of the proposed
limited conservatee, to submit a written report
containing findings and recommendations to
the court without an assessment of the
proposed conservatee if the proposed
conservatee has been a client of the regional
center for a period of time sufficient for the
center to provide those findings and
recommendations without the need for an
additional assessment, and if the proposed
conservator is a parent of the proposed
conservatee.
5
6
AB 436
Jones
Guardian or
conservator:
powers and
duties
AB 468
Jones
Wards and
conservatees:
mental health
Existing law provides that, upon a court’s
findings that a conservatee has dementia, as
defined, and a functional impairment, a
conservator may place the conservatee in a
prescribed secured residential or nursing
facility and authorize the administration of
prescribed medications appropriate for the
care and treatment of dementia. A petition
for authority to act under these provisions
requires, among other things, that the
conservatee be represented by an attorney,
as provided.
This bill would require the court, upon
granting or denial of that authority to a
conservator, to either discharge the attorney
or order continuation of the representation.
Introduced 2/19/2015
Amended 3/9/2015
Existing law generally prescribes the extent
of the powers and duties of guardians and
conservators and limits those powers by
prohibiting the involuntary commitment of
a ward or conservatee to a mental health
treatment facility, except as specified.
Existing law requires the Director of State
Hospitals to adopt and issue regulations
defining “mental health treatment facility”
for those purposes.
This bill would delete the requirement that
the director adopt and issue regulations
defining “mental health treatment facility”
for those purposes.
Introduced 2/23/2015
Watch
4/9/15 – In Senate. To COM on RLS
for assignment
Enrolled 7/8/15
Chaptered 8/13/15
4/13/15 – In Senate. Read 1st
time. To COM on RLS for
assignment
Enrolled 7/7/15
Chaptered 7/16/15
Watch
7
8
AB 506
Maienschein
Limited liability
companies
AB 548
Garcia
Estates:
administrators
Existing law, the California Revised
Uniform Limited Liability Company Act,
authorizes one or more persons to form a
limited liability company by, among other
things, signing and delivering articles of
organization with the Secretary of State.
The act authorizes a person, as defined, to
dissociate as a member of a limited liability
company at any time by withdrawing as a
member by express will.
The bill would authorize, if a member dies
or a guardian or general conservator is
appointed for the member, the member’s
executor, administrator, guardian,
conservator, or other legal representative to
exercise all of the member’s rights for the
purpose of settling the member’s estate or
administering the member’s property,
including any power the member had under
the articles of organization or an operating
agreement to give a transferee the right to
become a member.
Introduced 2/23/2015
Existing law authorizes the court to appoint
an administrator who is nominated by a
person who is not a United States resident if
the nominator would otherwise be entitled
to appointment as an administrator of the
decedent’s estate, after meeting specified
conditions. Under existing law, the
provisions on administrators who are
nominated by a person who is not a United
Introduced 2/23/15
Watch
3/5/15 – Referred to COM on B&F
(Banking and Finance)
Amended 4/23/15, 6/10/15,
6/29/15, 7/15/15, 8/17/15
Enrolled 9/3/15
Chaptered 10/11/15
Enrolled 6/26/15
Chaptered 7/6/15
Watch
9
AB 691
Calderon
The Privacy
Expectation
Afterlife and
Choices Act
(PEAC)
States resident are to be repealed on
January 1, 2016.
This bill would delete the January 1, 2016
date of repeal, and thereby extend
indefinitely the authorization of the court to
appoint an administrator who is nominated
by a person who is not a United States
resident.
Existing law provides for the disposition of a
testator’s property by will. Existing law also
provides for the disposition of that portion of
a decedent’s estate not disposed of by will.
Existing law provides that the decedent’s
property, including property devised by a
will, is generally subject to probate
administration, except as specified.
This bill would establish the Privacy
Expectation Afterlife and Choices Act, which
would authorize a probate court to order an
electronic communication service or remote
computing service provider, as defined, to
disclose to the executor or administrator of
the estate a record or other information
pertaining to the deceased user.
The bill would require the probate court to
make specified findings in order to require
this disclosure, including that the executor or
administrator demonstrates a good faith belief
thatthe information requested is relevant to
resolve issues regarding assets of the estate.
The bill would additionally require the court
to find that the decedent expressed consent to
the disclosure of the contents of
Introduced 2/25/2015
Seek
Amended 3/23/15, 4/14/15,
4/20/15, 4/30/15, 7/1/15, 9/4/15
Amendment
Inactive File 9/11/15
communications or stored contents, as
specified, in order to require the disclosure of
those documents.
The bill would exempt the provider from
disclosure if the deceased user expressed an
intent to disallow disclosure by either deleting
the records or contents during the user’s
lifetime, or affirmatively indicating, through a
setting within the product or service, how the
user’s records or the content of
communications can be treated after a set
period of inactivity or othert event. The bill
would also exempt the provider from civil
liability for compliance in good faith with a
court order issued pursuant to this act.
10
AB 1193
Eggman
Mental health
services: assisted
outpatient
treatment
Existing law, the Assisted Outpatient
Treatment, known as Laura’s Law, authorizes
each county to elect to offer certain assisted
outpatient treatment services for their
residents. Existing law authorizes
participating counties to pay for the services
provided from moneys distributed to the
counties from various continuously
appropriated funds, including the Mental
Health Services Fund when included in a
county plan, as specified.
This bill would delete the provisions that
authorize a county to elect to participate in
the program, and instead would require each
county to implement the provisions of
Laura’s Law unless the county elects not to
participate in the program by enacting a
resolution passed by the county board of
Introduced 2/25/2015
Amended 4/30/15
Held in Committee – No further
action on this legislation
Watch
supervisors. The bill would extend the
January 1, 2017, repeal date of those
provisions until January 1, 2022.
Existing law authorizes various persons to
request the county mental health director to
file a petition in the superior court for an
order for assisted outpatient treatment for a
person who meets specified criteria. Existing
law requires the county mental health director
to investigate the appropriateness of filing a
petition.
This bill would additionally authorize a judge
in a superior court to request a petition for
that order to be filed for a person who appears
before the judge. By imposing additional
duties on county mental health directors, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local
program. The bill would make additional
conforming changes.
This bill would provide that, if the
Commission on State Mandates determines
that the bill contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement for those costs shall be
made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
11
AB 1194
Eggman
Mental health:
involuntary
commitment
Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act,
provides for the involuntary commitment and
treatment of persons with specified mental
disorders for the protection of the persons so
committed. Under the act, when a person, as a
result of mental health disorder, is a danger to
others, or to himself or herself, or gravely
disabled, he or she may, upon probable cause,
be taken into custody by a peace officer,
Introduced 2/27/15
Amended 5/6/15, 7/6/15, 9/2/15
Enrolled 9/11/15
Chaptered 10/7/15
Watch
member of the attending staff of an evaluation
facility, designated members of a mobile
crisis team, or other designated professional
person, and placed in a facility designated by
the county and approved by the State
Department of Social Services as a facility for
72-hour treatment and evaluation. Existing
law requires, when determining if probable
cause exists to take a person into custody, or
cause a person to be taken into custody
pursuant to the provisions described above,
any person who is authorized to take or cause
that person to be taken into custody to
consider available relevant information about
the historical course of the person’s mental
disorder, as specified, if the authorized person
determines that information has a reasonable
bearing on the determination described above.
This bill would provide that for purposes of
determining whether a person, as a result of a
mental health disorder, is a danger to others,
or to himself or herself, danger constitutes a
present risk of harm that requires
consideration of the historical course of a
person’s mental health disorder and shall not
be limited to imminent or immediate risk of
harm to others or to himself or herself.
Existing law requires the admitting facility to
require an application in writing stating the
circumstances under which the person’s
condition was called to the attention of those
persons authorized to make the determination
of probable cause, and stating that he or she
has probable cause, as specified.
The bill would also require the application to
record whether the historical course of a
person’s mental disorder was considered in
the determination of probable cause.
By imposing additional duties on local
officials, the bill would impose a statemandated local program.
This bill would provide that, if the
Commission on State Mandates determines
that the bill contains costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement for those costs shall be
made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
12
AB 1300
Ridley-Thomas
Mental health:
Involuntary
commitment
Under existing law, when a person, as a result
of mental disorder, is a danger to others, or to
himself or herself, or gravely disabled, he or
she may, upon probable cause, be taken into
custody by a peace officer, member of the
attending staff of an evaluation facility,
designated members of a mobile crisis team,
or other designated professional person, and
placed in a facility designated by the county
and approved by the State Department of
Health Care Services as a facility for 72-hour
treatment and evaluation.
This bill would authorize counties to
designate one or more persons to act as a
local or regional liaison to assist a person who
is a patient in an emergency department of a
defined nondesignated hospital and who has
been detained, or who may require detention,
for evaluation and treatment, as specified.
The bill would reorganize and make changes
to the provisions relating to the detention for
Introduced 2/27/2015
Amended 4/13/2015, 4/23/15,
4/30/15, 5/20/15
Suspense File – No further action
on this legislation
Watch
evaluation and treatment of a person who may
be subject to the above provisions, including
specifying procedures for delivery of those
individuals to various facilities; evaluation of
the person for probable cause for detention
for evaluation and treatment; terms and length
of detention, where appropriate, in various
types of facilities; and criteria for release
from defined designated facilities and
nondesignated hospitals.
The bill would authorize a provider of
ambulance services to transfer a person who
is voluntarily transferring to a designated
facility for evaluation and treatment. The bill
would also make changes to the methods by
which law enforcement is notified of the
release of a person detained for evaluation
and treatment.
13
SB 155
Hertzberg
Decedent estates
Introduced 2/2/2015
Existing law provides for the disposition of
a testator’s property by will. Existing law
establishes the Uniform Testamentary
Additions to Trusts Act, under which a
valid devise of property may be made by
will to the trustee or trustees of a trust
established or to be established by the
testator or by the testator and some other
person, commonly referred to as a pourover will.
This bill would establish simplified
procedures for the distribution of property,
Amended 9/4/15
Withdrawn by the author
Watch
14
SB 196
Hancock
Elder abuse:
protective orders
real or personal property of any amount or
value, devised by a will to the trustee or
trustees of a recipient trust, as defined,
without procuring letters of administration.
The bill would authorize the trustee or
trustees of a recipient trust to file a verified
petition setting forth specified facts in the
superior court of the county in which the
estate of the decedent may be administered,
and would authorize the court to issue an
order that a particular item or items of
property pass without administration and
are transferred to the petitioner as trustee or
trustees of the recipient trust
Existing law authorizes a court to issue a
protective order to restrain any person for the
purpose of preventing the abuse of an elder or
dependent adult, including financial abuse.
Under existing law, certain persons are
authorized to file a petition for these
protective orders on behalf of the elder or
dependent adult, including a conservator or
trustee, an attorney-in-fact, a person
appointed as a guardian ad litem, or other
person legally authorized to seek the order.
This bill would, commencing July 1, 2016,
additionally authorize a county adult
protective services agency to file a petition
for a protective order on behalf of an elder or
dependent adult if the elder or dependent
adult has been identified as lacking capacity
and a conservatorship is being sought.
The bill would also recast and clarify the
Introduced 2/10/2015
Seek
Amended 3/19/15, 4/23/15,
5/19/15, 6/15/15, 6/25/15,
8/17/15,
Amendment
Enrolled 8/27/15
Chaptered 9/9/15
to remove PG
definition of “abuse.”
15
16
SB 269
Vidak
Conservator
appointments:
compensation
SB 589
Block
Conservatorships
Existing law permits a conservator of the
estate to petition the probate court for an
order fixing and allowing compensation to the
conservator for services rendered and to the
attorney for services rendered. Existing law
also permits a person who unsuccessfully
petitioned for the appointment of a
conservator to petition the probate court for
an order fixing and allowing compensation to
the person and the person’s attorney for
services rendered in connection with the
appointment of a conservator.
This bill would permit a person who
successfully petitioned for the appointment of
a conservator, as specified, to petition the
probate court for an order fixing and allowing
compensation to the person and the person’s
attorney for services rendered in connection
with the appointment of a conservator.
1) Existing law requires that a person be
registered as a voter by affidavit of
registration and provides that a properly
executed registration is deemed effective if it
is received on or before the 15th day before
an election to be held in the registrant’s
precinct. Existing law requires the affidavit of
registration to show certain information of the
affiant and requires the affiant to certify the
content of the affidavit as to its truth and
correctness, under penalty of perjury, with the
signature of the affiant’s name and the date of
signing, except that if the affiant is unable to
Introduced 2/19/2015
Support
Amended 4/6/2015
No further action on this
legislation
Introduced 2/26/15
Amended 4/6/2015
Enrolled 6/23/15
Chaptered 7/2/15
Watch
write, a mark or cross must be used to sign
the affidavit.
This bill would authorize an individual with a
disability who is otherwise qualified to vote
to complete an affidavit of registration with
reasonable accommodations as needed. The
bill would also authorize an individual with a
disability who is under a conservatorship to
be registered to vote if he or she has not been
disqualified from voting. The bill would
authorize an affiant who is an individual with
a disability to complete the affidavit of
registration with reasonable accommodations
as needed. The bill would find and declare
that by explicitly adding the concept of
reasonable accommodation to state laws on
voter qualification, the bill brings the state
into compliance with federal standards.
17
SB 785
Morrell
Estates and
trusts: creditor’s
claims
Existing law permits property to be titled in a
trust, and provides that, upon the death of a
settlor of a trust, the property of the deceased
settlor that was subject to the power of
revocation at the time of the settlor’s death is
subject to the claims of creditors of the
deceased settlor’s estate. Existing law defines
specified terms for the purposes of these
provisions.
This bill would definethe terms “probate
estate” and “trust estate” for the purposes of
these provisions and clarify that certain uses
of the term “estate” in existing law refer to a
probate estate.
Introduced 2/27/2015
Amended 4/6/2015
Enrolled 6/23/15
Chaptered 7/2/15
Watch