Mayors of some of California’s largest cities on Friday endorsed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to push more people with severe mental health and addiction issues into court-ordered treatment, or at least a framework of the idea.
So far, Newsom has unveiled general details of his plan, which he’s calling the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court. The goal of CARE Court is to leverage judicial power to compel thousands of people struggling with serious addiction, mental and behavioral health issues and chronic homelessness into treatment and housing.
The bipartisan group of mayors expressed hope, however vague, that the plan could finally get their most desperate residents into much-needed treatment. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he wanted to “wholeheartedly embrace” the CARE Court framework. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he was “very, very pleased” about what he characterized as a “fundamental shift in the law.”
