California Governor Gavin Newsom’s CARE Act, which has sought to better connect mentally-ill people with court-ordered treatment, has failed to make a meaningful dent in the problem. In October, Newsom signed an enhancement to the legislation that is set to take effect in 2026.
The new legislation expands eligibility under the CARE Act for individuals diagnosed as bipolar I with psychotic features, connecting them with psychiatric services. It received near-unanimous support in the California state legislature, though given the current trajectory of the program, it remains to be seen if it will make a meaningful impact.
Newsom had pledged the CARE Act as a way to force severely mentally-ill people into treatment. This put him at odds with powerful leftist advocacy groups such as the ACLU, who consistently fight for the rights of the homeless to destroy themselves. Since Newsom signed the program into law, though, it has not lived up to expectations.
The original bill went through different amendments, which resulted in it favoring voluntary treatment over court-ordered plans. Of course, depending on voluntary treatment is placing an unrealistic faith in mentally-ill people’s judgment capabilities. As a consequence, far fewer people have enrolled in the program than Newsom projected.
Newsom’s office also repeated questionable talking points about the importance of voluntary mental health treatment over compelled treatment. His spokesman, Tara Gallegos, dubiously claimed, “Coercion rarely works with those who need care.” Of course, if a severely mentally-ill person is forced into treatment, that both benefits them and prevents them from being a disturbance to the public. Leaving the choice to them gives them the opportunity to spiral further.
Expanding the law’s scope to cover bipolar disorder is one thing, but without a meaningful enforcement mechanism, it is unclear if it will reach many additional people. As anyone with even cursory experience with bipolar mania knows, such individuals aren’t necessarily in a mind state to take psychiatric medication on their own.
Certain families who supported the CARE Act have expressed disappointment at its lack of results. Some parents saw their kids dropped from court treatment plans after they failed to participate. The common thread is the lack of mandatory treatment, something California moved away from in the 1960s and has experienced problems with since.
Unlike Governor Newsom’s preening on other issues, anything that improves the mentally-ill homeless situation in California would go a long way toward benefiting the state. Without helping people who won’t help themselves, though, his CARE Act risks fizzling as just another piece of feel-good legislation.
