Cal. WIC § 5985 — California Code / Code wic / Division 5 / Part 8 / Chapter 6 / Section 5985
Section 5985
Status: in_force

(a) (1) The department shall develop, in consultation with county behavioral health agencies, other relevant state or local government entities, disability rights groups, individuals with lived experience, families, counsel, racial justice experts, and other appropriate stakeholders, an annual CARE Act report. The department shall post the annual report on its internet website.

(2) The department, in consultation with county behavioral health agencies and courts, shall specify the length of time that data on former participants shall be reported pursuant to subdivision (e), which shall be a minimum of 12 months after completion of and a maximum of 36 months following engagement in CARE Act elective services, a CARE agreement, or CARE plan.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(A) “Former participant” means an individual who enters into CARE Act elective services, a CARE agreement, or a CARE plan, but who has either graduated from CARE, or for whom CARE Act proceedings were dismissed or terminated. Counties shall not be responsible for reporting on any individual who is privately insured or who no longer resides in California.

(B) “Active participants” means an individual who is an elective client, or who has a CARE plan or CARE agreement.

(b) County behavioral health agencies and any other state or local governmental entity, as identified by the department, shall provide data related to the CARE Act participants, services, and supports to the department. The department shall determine the data measures and specifications, and shall publish them via guidance issues pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 5984.

(c) Each county behavioral health department and any other state and local governmental entity, as identified by the department, shall provide the required data to the department, in a format and frequency as directed by the department.

(d) (1) In consultation with the Judicial Council, the department shall develop an annual reporting schedule for the submission of CARE Act data from the trial courts.

(2) Data from the trial courts shall be submitted to the Judicial Council, which shall aggregate the data and submit it to the department consistent with the reporting schedule developed pursuant to paragraph (1).

(3) On an annual basis to be determined by the Judicial Council and consistent with the annual reporting schedule developed pursuant to paragraph (1), the trial courts shall report to the Judicial Council the following data related to CARE Act petitions:

(A) The number of petitions submitted pursuant to Section 5975.

(B) The number of initial appearance hearings on the petition held pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 5977.

(C) The total number of hearings held pursuant to this part.

(D) The total number of CARE plans ordered and CARE agreements approved.

(E) The total number of court petitions dismissed, as reported by the Judicial Council.

(e) The annual report shall include process measures to examine the scope of impact and monitor the performance of CARE Act model implementation. The measures and reporting requirements shall be developed by the department in consultation with county behavioral health agencies. The report shall include trial court petition data pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) and, to the extent administrative data is available, all of the following information compiled from county behavioral health departments and courts:

(1) The demographics of all participants, including, but not limited to, the age, sex, race, ethnicity, disability, languages spoken, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, veteran status, immigration status, health coverage status, including Medi-Cal enrollment status, information related to CARE criteria outlined in Section 5972, and county of residence.

(2) The petitioner’s relationship to the CARE Act respondent as defined in Section 5974.

(3) The services and supports ordered, the services and supports provided, and the services and supports ordered but not provided to all active and former participants.

(4) The housing placements of all active and former participants. Placements include, but are not limited to, transition to a higher level of care, independent living in the person’s own house or apartment, community-based housing, community-based housing with services, shelter, and no housing.

(5) Treatments continued and terminated of all active and former participants.

(6) Substance use disorder rates and rates of treatment among all active and former participants.

(7) Detentions and other Lanterman-Petris-Short Act involvement for all active and former participants.

(8) Criminal justice involvement of all active and former participants.

(9) Deaths among all active and former participants, along with the cause of death.

(10) Type, format, and frequency of outreach and engagement activities provided by a county behavioral health agency to engage an individual who is the subject of a referral or petition, including interactions about the individuals eligible or likely to be eligible and outcomes of these efforts.

(11) In consultation with the department and county behavioral health departments, the number, rates, and trends of contacts made to the county behavioral health agency about individuals eligible or likely to be eligible for the CARE process, including outcomes of those contacts.

(12) The number, rates, and source of referrals to county behavioral health departments, including, but not limited to, referrals resulting in a petition or reason for not filing a petition, length of time from referral to outcome, and services provided for those engaged voluntarily without a petition.

(13) The number, rates, and trends of petitions resulting in dismissal and hearings.

(14) Information on petition dispositions, including, but not limited to, disposition recommendations and the number of days from petition to disposition.

(15) The number, rates, and trends of supporters.

(16) The number, rates, and trends of approved CARE agreements.

(17) The number, rates, and trends of ordered and completed CARE plans.

(18) Statistics on the services and supports, including court orders for stabilizing medications.

(19) The rates of adherence to medication.

(20) The number, rates, and trends of psychiatric advance directives created for active participants.

(21) The number, rates, and trends of developed graduation plans.

(22) Outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of the CARE Act model, such as improvement in housing status, including gaining and maintaining housing, reductions in emergency department visits and inpatient hospitalizations, reductions in law enforcement encounters and incarceration, reductions in involuntary treatment and conservatorship, and reductions in substance use.

(23) A health equity assessment of the CARE Act to identify demographic disparities based on demographic data in paragraph (1), and to inform disparity reduction efforts.

(24) Data regarding referrals made pursuant to Section 5978.1, as part of the CARE Act.

(f) (1) The report shall include, at a minimum, information on the effectiveness of the CARE Act model in improving outcomes and reducing disparities, homelessness, criminal justice involvement, conservatorships, and hospitalization of participants. The annual report shall include process measures to examine the scope of impact and monitor the performance of CARE Act model implementation, such as the number and source of petitions filed for CARE Court; the number, rates, and trends of petitions resulting in dismissal and hearings; the number, rates, and trends of supporters; the number, rates, and trends of voluntary CARE agreements; the number, rates, and trends of ordered and completed CARE plans; the services and supports included in CARE plans, including court orders for stabilizing medications; the rates of adherence to medication; the number, rates, and trends of psychiatric advance directives; and the number, rates, and trends of developed graduation plans. The report shall include outcome measures to assess the effectiveness of the CARE Act model, such as improvement in housing status, including gaining and maintaining housing; reductions in emergency department visits and inpatient hospitalizations; reductions in law enforcement encounters and incarceration; reductions in involuntary treatment and conservatorship; and reductions in substance use. The annual report shall examine these data through the lens of health equity to identify racial, ethnic, and other demographic disparities and inform disparity reduction efforts.

(2) Data shall be stratified by age, sex, race, ethnicity, languages spoken, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, veteran status, immigration status, health coverage source, and county, to the extent statistically relevant data is available.

(g) The outcomes shall be presented to relevant state oversight bodies, including, but not limited to, the California Interagency Council on Homelessness.

(h) (1) Beginning in 2026, the department shall include in its annual CARE Act report quantitative, deidentified information concerning the operation of this part.

(2) Based on information provided to the department in a form and manner specified by the department, in consultation with the Judicial Council and county behavioral health departments, in accordance with subdivision (b) of Section 5984, the report shall include all of the following information, aggregated by county, compiled from county behavioral health departments, courts, and the department, depending on the source:

(A) The number of contacts to the county behavioral health department about individuals eligible or likely to be eligible for the CARE process, including outcome of contacts.

(B) The number of CARE petitions filed with the superior court.

(C) The petitioner type for each petition filed with the superior court.

(D) Disposition of each petition filed with the superior court.

(E) The number of days between filing each petition and the petition’s disposition.

(F) Demographic information of each CARE Act participant or potentially eligible CARE Act participant, including, but not limited to, age, sex, race, ethnicity, disability, languages spoken, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, veteran status, immigration status, health coverage status, including Medi-Cal enrollment status, information related to CARE criteria outlined in Section 5972, and county of residence, to the extent administrative data is available and statistically relevant.

(G) The number of referrals of individuals in conservatorship proceedings made pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 5978, including the disposition of each referral.

(H) The number of referrals made pursuant to Section 5978.1, including the disposition of each referral.

(i) Information publicly released or published pursuant to this part shall not contain data that may lead to the identification of participants or petitioners or information that would otherwise allow an individual to link the published information to a specific person. Data published by the department shall be deidentified in compliance with Section 164.514(a) and (b) of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations.