California bill could mean more mentally ill people detained

More people in California could be detained against their will because of a mental illness under a new bill backed Wednesday by the mayors of some of the nation's largest cities, who say they are struggling to care for the bulk of the country's homeless population.

Federal data shows nearly one-third of the country's homeless population lives in California, crowding the densely populated coastal cities of the nation's most populous state. California lawmakers have given local governments billions of dollars in recent years to address this, but often with mixed results that recently prompted a public scolding from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Local leaders say their hands are tied in many cases because the people who need the most help refuse to take it. A state law allows courts to order people into treatment, but only if they are “a danger to themselves or others.” This new proposal would expand that definition to include people who, because of a mental illness or an addiction to illegal drugs, are not capable of caring for themselves or protecting their own safety.

“I'm often asked as mayor, `Why aren't you doing something about this person who is screaming at the top of their lungs on the street corner'? And I say, `Well, they're not a threat to themselves or to others' — and that rings hollow,” said Todd Gloria, Democratic mayor of San Diego, the nation's eighth largest city, with nearly 1.4 million people.

Lawmakers have tried for years to expand the definition of gravely disabled — including a proposal last year that passed the Senate but never made it out of the state Assembly.