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Researcher says recent California bills widen routes into Care Court and could expand involuntary treatment

Oakland Mayors Commission on Disability · April 15, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Catherine Wolf, a doctoral candidate and disability advocate, told Oakland's commission that a string of 2023——25 bills has broadened Care Court eligibility and eased evidentiary rules, potentially increasing involuntary holds and treatment; she highlighted local impacts and advocacy responses.

Catherine Wolf, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, told the commission on April 20 that a series of recent state bills has broadened pathways into California's Care Court system and could expand the number of people subject to involuntary holds and court-ordered care.

Wolf, who said she works with All People's Health Collective and collaborates with Disability Rights California, reviewed decades of policy that set the modern rules for involuntary holds and medication hearings, then detailed a wave of legislative changes. "Senate Bill 1338 was the year that the Care Court bill passed," she said, adding later that recent updates "expanded the definition of gravely disabled to include severe substance use disorders" and other criteria that make more…

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