SF supervisors pass Laura's Law

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to enact Laura’s Law, a controversial state measure that will allow the county to compel mentally ill people to enter outpatient psychiatric treatment.

San Francisco, which is both a city and a county, is the second major county in California to pass the law, a move that came after contentious discussion. The law will allow judges to order outpatient treatment for people with a record of failed mental health hospitalizations and of violence.  

Supporters see the measure as a way to help people who won't, or can’t, help themselves and to ensure they take medication. Critics have warned that enforcing the law will create a system ready-made for civil rights abuses and suggest that expanding community mental health services would be more appropriate.

The 9 to 2 vote included an amendment from Supervisor Jane Kim requiring an assessment of Laura’s Law by an outside group after three years.

Supervisor Eric Mar, who voted against the measure, said he worried that it would further stigmatize the mentally ill and might not offer people of different ethnic backgrounds "culturally competent" care. Supervisor John Avalos cast the other vote against Laura’s Law.

The law is named for 19-year-old Laura Wilcox who was killed by a psychiatric patient in 2001 at a behavioral health clinic where she worked. The shooter, Scott Thorpe, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but he refused to his medication, and his family hadn’t been able to get him committed to treatment despite his behavior. 

The California state legislature passed Laura’s Law in 2002, saying it “would operate in counties that choose to provide the services.” For Laura’s Law to go into effect, a county’s board of supervisors must to pass a resolution.

There are 58 counties in the state and they have been slow to opt-in.

The first county to do so was Nevada County (PDF) in 2008 where Wilcox was shot. Yolo County adopted it in June, after a yearlong pilot program. In May, Orange County became the first large California county to fully implement the law.

Al Jazeera and wire services