Report 2013-103 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2013-103: Armed Persons With Mental Illness: Insufficient Outreach From the Department of Justice and Poor Reporting From Superior Courts Limit the Identification of Armed Persons With Mental Illness (Release Date: October 2013)

Recommendation #3 To: Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco

To ensure that it is properly reporting to Justice individuals posing a danger to themselves or others, San Francisco Court should work with the district attorney and the Office of Conservatorship Services to ensure that the court is sufficiently considering whether individuals should be prohibited from possessing a firearm. Where appropriate, the court should include prohibitive language in orders relating to those cases and promptly report these individuals to Justice.

1-Year Agency Response

The Court met with the Office of the District Attorney, the Office of the Public Defender, and the Office of Conservatorship Services to discuss, revise, and update the District Attorney's petitions and orders to request findings on conservatee's disabilities pursuant to Welf.& Inst. C. 5357 and 8103 as warranted. As previously reported, as of October 31, 2013, the District Attorney began to orally amend its petitions to request these findings. Thereafter, all orders have addressed the findings regarding the firearms prohibition and all weapons prohibitions have been reported to Justice. The District Attorney's new petitions and orders for temporary, general, and Murphy conservatoships, which address the firearms prohibition, have been in use since July 1, 2014. The District Attorney's new petitions for reappointment of conservator in general and Murphy cases have been in use since September 1, 2014. The petitions and orders in use will be emailed to bobh@auditor.ca.gov and MichelleO@ auditor.ca.gov.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

The Court continues to meet with the Office of the District Attorney, the Office of the Public Defender, and the Office of Conservatorship Services to further discuss, revise, and update the District Attorneys petitions and proposed orders to request findings on conservatees disabilities pursuant to Welf. & Inst. C. 5357 and 8103 as warranted. As previously reported, as of October 31, 2013, the District Attorney began to orally amend its petitions to request these findings. Thereafter, all orders have addressed the findings regarding the firearms prohibition and all weapons prohibitions have been reported to Justice. The proposed draft petitions and orders will be emailed to [the California State Auditor]. The court has set an implementation date of July 1, 2014 for the use of revised forms.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

On 10/4/2013, the Court met with the Office of the District Attorney, the Office of the Public Defender, and the Office of Conservatorship Services, to discuss updating and amending the District Attorney's petitions to request findings on conservatees' disabilities pursuant to W&IC 5357 and 8103 as warranted. Effective October 31, 2013, the District Attorney began to orally amend its petitions to request these findings. Thereafter, all orders have addressed the findings regarding the firearms prohibition and all weapons prohibitions have been reported to Justice. The Court continues to meet with the parties who are drafting changes to the petitions to request the findings pursuant to 5357 and 8103. The Court has future meetings scheduled with the parties to review the proposed language of the petitions.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

San Francisco Court has demonstrated it has considered whether individuals should be prohibited from possessing a firearm since October 31, 2013. While the court has made good progress towards ensuring that this consideration is a part of its review of conservatorship cases, it acknowledges that the court is still meeting with multiple parties to review proposed language of new petition forms. While the petition forms remain in draft form, we assess this recommendation as partially implemented.

All Recommendations in 2013-103

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.