When Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his CARE Court proposal almost three years ago, he suggested it would force thousands of people with serious untreated psychotic conditions to accept treatment – and counties to deliver that treatment.
The law he signed in 2022 and the rollout in San Diego County hasn’t quite matched the rhetoric. San Diego County officials decided the law held counties accountable to provide treatment, but that it could only be voluntary for participants.
In other words, treatment wouldn’t be mandatory after all.
As our Lisa Halverstadt reports, that’s meant San Diego’s CARE Court isn’t enrolling people into the program unless they agree to participate. The county has also opted to only pursue voluntary treatment agreements with enrollees rather than the court-ordered CARE plans that were the hallmark of the state legislation.
San Diego officials say the law itself and its experience starting to implement it in October 2023 dictated this approach. But some stakeholders – including families of people with serious mental illnesses and San Diego police – argue the county’s stance means that some people in crisis are continuing to languish.
North County Report: New Detox Beds in Escondido
More badly-needed detox beds are coming to Escondido, reports our Tigist Layne in her North County Report newsletter.
Escondido has the highest rates of overdose in North County for methamphetamines and fentanyl.
A divided City Council voted 3-2 to expand the number of beds to help people come off those drugs and other substances. Interfaith Community Services will raise the number of detox beds it offers from 10 to 32 with the help of a $12-million grant from San Diego County.
Read the North County Report here.
20 Years in the Future: More Public Transit
As part of our 20th anniversary, we asked San Diegans to imagine how San Diego might look 20 years in the future.
In our first opinion piece, Colin Parent argues that San Diego County must invest in public transit. If not, he writes, it will enter the dreaded death spiral. A public transit death spiral is when decreased services lead to lower ridership, which lead to further cuts to services.
“Positioning transit for the future requires a virtuous cycle of investing in higher service, and attracting more riders and revenue,” writes Parent.
In Other News
- Thousands of University of California workers, including those at UC San Diego, began a two-day strike represented by AFSCME Local 3299. The union alleges unfair labor practices amid ongoing contract negotiations. (NBC 7)
- San Diego Unified’s new employees will no longer need to show proof that they received the Covid vaccine to work at the district. (Union-Tribune)
- Law enforcement officials continue to search for a woman suspected of killing her wife. The Union-Tribune reports that an arrest warrant reveals that the couple’s doorbell camera captured some events that led up to the attack.
- The Department of Government Efficiency posted on its website that the Carlsbad Social Security Office has been closed. There’s one problem: there is no such office in Carlsbad. The Social Security Office in North County is in Oceanside. (KPBS)
- Don’t forget! On Saturday, March 1, the city of San Diego will begin issuing citations to drivers who park within 20 feet of any crosswalk.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Will Huntsberry and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
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