HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPPROVED HRC 10.10.2023 MINUTESCare Court:
It’s Arrived
Carlotta Rinke, MD, MBA
October 10, 2023
GOVERNOR NEWSOM’S PLAN TO GET
CALIFORNIANS IN CRISIS
OFF THE STREETS AND INTO HOUSING,
TREATMENT, AND CARE
•CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness – and often also substance use challenges – with a court-ordered Care Plan for up to 24 months.
•Each plan is managed by a care team in the community and can include:
•clinically prescribed, individualized interventions
•with several supportive services, medication, and a housing plan.
•The client-centered approach also includes a public defender and supporter to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team
Care Court—the details
CARE Court is designed on the evidence that many people can stabilize, begin healing, and exit
homelessness in less restrictive, community-based care settings.
•Focuses on people with schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, who may also have
substance use challenges, and who lack medical decision-making capacity. It diverts from more
restrictive conservatorships or incarceration.
•The court-ordered response can be initiated by family, county and community-based social services,
behavioral health providers, or first responders.
•Individuals exiting a short-term involuntary hospital hold or an arrest are good candidates for CARE
Court. The Care Plan can be ordered for up to 12 months, with periodic review hearings and subsequent
renewal for up to another 12 months.
•Participants who do not successfully complete Care Plans may, under current law, be hospitalized or
referred to conservatorship, if not other options are available.
•All counties across the state will participate in CARE Court under the proposal. If local governments do
not meet their specified duties under court-ordered Care Plans, the court will have the ability to order
sanctions and, in extreme cases, appoint an agent to ensure services are provided.
CARE Court builds on Governor Newsom’s $14 billion multi-year investment to provide 55,000
new housing units and treatment slots as well as a more than $10 billion annual investment in
community behavioral health services.
•Focus on bridge housing to quickly rehouse unsheltered individuals with behavioral health
issues, while more new units come online,
•Transform Medi-Cal to provide more behavioral health services to people struggling the
most.
Many Resources to Implement
https://www.chhs.ca.gov/care-act/
Family members, 1st
responders, BH
providers
Court assesses
mental competency,
orders clinical eval,
assess if meets CARE
criteria
CARE plan: R. CO.
BH dept., legal
counsel and
supporter plus BH
treatment, med
stabilization,
housing
Person begins
treatment with
periodic updates from
the Court
Person completes
program & graduates,
is eligible for ongoing
treatment, supportive
services and housing;
to support long-term
recovery.
The Road Map
Referral
Family members, behavioral health providers and first responders with a history of engagement with the
individual, or other parties specified in the CARE Act may refer an individual with untreated schizophrenia
spectrum or other psychotic disorder who meets specific criteria in order to prevent institutionalization and
ensure appropriate care.Clinical Evaluation
After outreach by the county, if the individual is unable, the court reviews the petition for evidence as to
whether the individual meets the CARE criteria and appoints legal counsel and a voluntary supporter
selected by the individual if desired. The court may also order a clinical evaluation to help determine the
individual’s eligibility for CARE. If the individual is determined to meet the CARE criteria, the court orders
the development of a CARE plan.Care Plan
An individualized CARE plan is developed by the county behavioral health agency, participant,
participant’s legal counsel, and supporter. The CARE plan may include behavioral health treatment,
stabilization medication, and a housing plan. The court reviews and adopts the CARE plan with both the
participant and county behavioral health as party to the court order for up to 12 months.Support
County behavioral health agency begins treatment to support the recovery and stability of the participant,
and the court will review and update the CARE plan and associated progress during regular status
hearings. The court may approve the participant to remain in the CARE plan for up to one additional year.Success
Successful completion and graduation by the Court. Participant remains eligible for ongoing treatment,
supportive services, and housing in the community to support long term recovery. The participant may
elect to execute a Psychiatric Advance Directive, allowing them to document their preferences for
treatment in advance of potential future mental health crisis.
Care Court—it’s a project
•Questions?
•Mental Health and Support Resources
•Short-term beds/shelters and transition to longer term housing during
•Staff
•Technology
•How will Palm Springs and Coachella Valley implement?
•How will Riverside County assist?
•What is the City Council’s role?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM’S NEW PLAN TO GET CALIFORNIANS IN CRISISOFF THE STREETS AND INTO HOUSING, TREATMENT, AND CARE
●Community Assistance,Recovery and Empowerment (CARE)Court is a new framework to get
people with mental health and substance use disorders the support and care they need.
●CARE Court is aimed at helping the thousands of Californians who are suffering from untreated
mental health and substance use disorders leading to homelessness, incarceration or worse.
●California is taking a new approach to act early and get people the support they need and address
underlying needs - and we’re going to do it without taking away people’s rights.
●CARE Court includes accountability for everyone –on the individual and on local governments –
with court orders for services.
HOW CARE COURT WORKS
CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness –and often also substance use
challenges –with a court-ordered Care Plan for up to 24 months.Each plan is managed by a care team in the
community and can include clinically prescribed,individualized interventions with several supportive services,
medication,and a housing plan.The client-centered approach also includes a public defender and supporter
to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team
CARE Court is designed on the evidence that many people can stabilize,begin healing,and exit homelessness
in less restrictive,community-based care settings.It's a long-term strategy to positively impact the individual in
care and the community around them.The plan focuses on people with schizophrenia spectrum and other
psychotic disorders,who may also have substance use challenges,and who lack medical decision-making
capacity and advances an upstream diversion from more restrictive conservatorships or incarceration.
The court-ordered response can be initiated by family,county and community-based social services,
behavioral health providers,or first responders.Individuals exiting a short-term involuntary hospital hold or an
arrest may be especially good candidates for CARE Court.The Care Plan can be ordered for up to 12 months,
with periodic review hearings and subsequent renewal for up to another 12 months.Participants who do not
successfully complete Care Plans may,under current law,be hospitalized or referred to conservatorship -with a
new presumption that no suitable alternatives to conservatorship are available.
All counties across the state will participate in CARE Court under the proposal.If local governments do not
meet their specified duties under court-ordered Care Plans,the court will have the ability to order sanctions
and, in extreme cases, appoint an agent to ensure services are provided.
CARE Court builds on Governor Newsom’s $14 billion multi-year investment to provide 55,000 new housing units
and treatment slots as well as a more than $10 billion annual investment in community behavioral health
services.The Governor’s comprehensive approach combines a focus on bridge housing to quickly rehouse
unsheltered individuals with behavioral health issues,all while more new units come online,while also
transforming Medi-Cal to provide more behavioral health services to people struggling the most.
Good a�ernoon, Chair and Members of the HRC- 10/10/23
I here today to thank you for vo�ng twice to add the falacious HRC
Monument Report to your agenda. Someone kept you from doing your
duty to inves�gate human rights issues pursuant to your stated goals
printed on your agenda today.
Facts mater in human rights issues and government. Some�mes facts
support our interests and some�mes they make us uncomfortable.
The falacious HRC report atacks Mayor Bogert and is loaded with false
informa�on. I encourage you to go to the City Council website and look
at materials posted regarding Sec�on 14. The City posted real factual
documents and informa�on that undermines the core of the HRC
report. The new informa�on goes back to 1933 and includes BIA
documents, Sec�on 14 abatement documenta�on, Sec�on 14 updates
in 1967, a lawsuit against the city for aba�ng a property that shows city
followed the law, and numerous resolu�ons from 1951-1967.
All of this informa�on was available for years at City Hall and the
atorney general was invited to come back to review the documents
before issuing the controversial State Atorney General Report.
Atached is a copy of the index so you all can see how many documents
have been ignored over the years.
Sec�on 14 Survivors have posted that the author of the HRC Report is
Councilmember DeHart. FFB and numerous others have asked that the
authors of the report be iden�fied. Looks like we know.
Facts mater and the facts show the HRC Report is fatality flawed and
needs to be rescinded or redacted to take false informa�on and
unsubstan�ated allega�ons out of it. Thank you, Doug Evans
City of Palm Springs Human Rights Commission
Proclamation
Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15th - October 15th, 2023
WHEREAS, National Hispanic Heritage1 Month is an opportunity
to celebrate the rich cultural traditions and honor the heritage,
contributions, and significant achievements of people with roots
from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America
including indigenous, Brazilian, and other non-Spanish speaking
people; and
WHEREAS, the City of Palm Springs recognizes the unique
diversity, and rich histories of the Palm Springs’ Hispanic and
Latino2 culture. We acknowledge the countless contributions that
Hispanic Americans make every day to our culture and to our city;
and
WHEREAS, The day of September 15th is significant because it
is the anniversary of the 1821 declaration of independence from
Spain for five Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and
Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th and
September 18th, respectively; and
WHEREAS, The day of October 10th is significant because it is a
day to honer Native Americans, their resilience, and their
contributions to American society throughout history, even as they
faced assimilation, discrimination and genocide spanning
generations. Indigenous People’s Day was first proposed at a
United Nations conference in 1977 to address discrimination
against Natives. South Dakota became the first state to replace
Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day in 1989, officially
celebrating it the following year.
WHEREAS, By the 1920s, in Palm Springs, the original Mexican
American pioneer families came to work in agriculture, the
railroad, and construction. Their arrival was the beginning of a
new life in a new country and they were instrumental in supporting
the growing Palm Springs Village resort destination; and
WHEREAS, Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority group in the
country, the largest and fastest-growing minority community in
Palm Springs, and represent 26.8% of our entire population with
over 12,800 residents.3 Since 1910 as families left Mexico during
the Mexican Revolution,4 many generations of Hispanic
Americans have consistently helped make our city and our
community strong and prosperous. They contribute to our
community in countless ways including having positive economic,
social, and political impacts; and
WHEREAS, Hispanic Americans embody the best of our
American values, including a commitment to faith, family, and to
our country. Brave Hispanic Americans protect us and have
served proudly and bravely in all branches of our nation’s military
since 1861.5
Hispanic Americans work in industries that are essential to the
continuous growth and prosperity of our economy including
construction and manufacturing, retail, food and hospitality,
healthcare and social services, transportation and warehousing,
and residential and commercial services among many others; and
WHEREAS, Most students graduating from college in Palm
Springs are Hispanic or Latino with a large number of degrees
awarded to licensed practical and vocational nurse training, nurse
assistant and patient care assistant, medical assistant, and home
health aide; and
WHEREAS, We are proud of the Mexican heritage that includes
Indian and Spanish blood and centuries of hope and sacrifice.
Diverse Mexican-American, Chicano, Latino, Spanish, Latinx, or
Hispanic cultures are essential to defining the unique culture
represented by community members residing within the City of
Palm Springs.
NOW, THEREFORE, Be it resolved we, the undersigned
members of the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission, do
hereby proclaim September 15th to October 15th, 2023, as
Hispanic Heritage Month in Palm Springs and encourage all
residents to celebrate the rich culture, heritage, diversity, and
achievements of Hispanic and Latino Americans, and go forward
every day recognizing their contributions in the great City of Palm
Springs.
BE IT RESOLVED, this celebration serves as an opportunity to
dispel ignorance, prejudice, and fear through education about
multiculturalism and the resilience and history of the countless
contributions of Hispanic and Latino-identified communities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, The City of Palm Springs Human
Rights Commission encourages and promotes strong and
inclusive communities and is committed to recognizing and
celebrating efforts to bring people together for the greater good.
October 10th, 2023 Special Meeting of the Human Rights
Commission
Chair Hugo Loyola
Vice-Chair (vacant)
Glenn Flood
Edwin Ramoran
Michael MJ Horn
David Vignolo
Carlotta Rinke
Beverly Greer
Oliver Cleary
Bobby T. Rimas
Student Representative Lilly Hanner
Footnotes
1 inclusive of gender-expansive and gender non-conforming individuals
2 Many Latino Americans trace their roots to the cultures of the indigenous peoples of
the Americas - including the Arawaks, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Maya, and the Tainos,
some trace their roots to the Spanish explorers, or to the Africans who were brought as
slaves to the New World.
3 According to recent data from the Census Bureau. (total population counts 47,897)
4 1910-1920
5 https://www.army.mil/hispanics/history.html
Resources
EBSCO
https://www.ebsco.com/blogs/ebscopost/top-resources-national-hispanic-heritage-
month
National Hispanic Heritage Month (.gov)
https://hispanicheritagemonth.gov
U.S. Census Bureau
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/palmspringscitycalifornia,US/
RHI725219#RHI725219
Email communication from Paul Bradley, owner of the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs.
Email #1, Wed 10/4/2023 8:00 AM
"The other day, Paul was scanning the shelves to restock things and fill holes as we do most hours
of most days. He noticed a book turned around, so that the spine was inside and the pages were
out. He shrugged and made it right again. Then he noticed the same thing on another shelf. And
another. Wait a minute: Michele Obama, Stacey Abrams... He realized all the books that had
been flipped were written by Black women. About the same time, two men came in looking for
Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" along with some other banned books. We had one in the system
and just did a full inventory days before. But it was nowhere to be found. (We still can't find it.) In
looking in every section it might have been put in, I went to the Black non-fiction section. I found
another flipped one, and quite literally a chill went down my spine. I turned it around to see a book
on George Floyd. And then I found another one: A book on critical race theory. I felt so violated.
Someone had come into our space, our store that stands for inclusion, and did the most petty, stupid,
racist protest imaginable. We have NEVER experienced stuff like this in Palm Springs and that is an
ENORMOUS PRIVILEGE compared to every other bookseller in America right now. The closest
we've come was a woman who came in and scowled and asked if we "had" to listen to Oscar's drag
brunch every weekend. To which Paul said, "No we get to listen to it every weekend." We don't
mince words when it comes to our values and if we ever see this again that customer will be asked
to leave. Meantime, we've put the books they were childishly trying to silence on the Sarah table.
We will never tolerate hate In our store."
Email #2, dated Wed 10/4/2023 11:00 PM
First of all, thank you very much for all the important work you and the Human Rights Commission
do here in the city - and thank you for reaching out about the recent incident in the store. As you
say, it is not something that any of us would expect to happen in Palm Springs and definitely not
representative of our wonderful city/community.
Both Sarah and I are incredibly grateful for the invitation to speak at the next public meeting.
Unfortunately we are scheduled to be at a conference in Hawaii at the time so will not be able to
attend. But of course we would be very glad for you to enter the email into the public record.
And if there is anything else at all we can do to support your work and that of the commission,
please don't hesitate to let us know.