Stop Expansion of Conservatorship
Mayor London Breed
SF Office Number: (415) 554-6141
Call Script
For Mayor Breed
I am concerned that the City is expanding the use of conservatorship before providing adequate supportive housing and services for homeless people who have mental illness and substance use disorders. Senator Scott Wiener has recently introduced SB 40, a bill that will further erode rights of people with mental illness and addiction.
Please withdraw your support for the ordinance to implement SB 1045 in San Francisco.
For Supervisors Mandelman, Brown and Stefani (sponsors of the ordinance):
I am concerned that the City is expanding the use of conservatorship before providing adequate supportive housing and services for homeless people who have mental illness and substance use disorders. Senator Scott Wiener has recently introduced SB 40, a bill that will further erode rights of people with mental illness and addiction.
Please withdraw your support for the ordinance to implement SB 1045 in San Francisco.
For Supervisors Ronen, Walton and Mar (members of the Rules Committee):
I am concerned that the City is expanding the use of conservatorship before providing adequate supportive housing and services for homeless people who have mental illness and substance use disorders. State Senator Scott Wiener has recently introduced SB 40, a bill that will further erode rights of people with mental illness and addiction, and he needs to hear from city lawmakers that this is unacceptable for San Francisco.
Please vote against the ordinance to implement SB 1045 in San Francisco when it is heard in the Rules Committee.
For Supervisors Fewer, Haney, Mar, Peskin and Safai:
I am concerned that the City is expanding the use of conservatorship before providing adequate supportive housing and services for homeless people who have mental illness and substance use disorders. State Senator Scott Wiener has recently introduced SB 40, a bill that will further erode rights of people with mental illness and addiction, and he needs to hear from city lawmakers that this is unacceptable for San Francisco.
Please vote against the ordinance to implement SB 1045 in San Francisco when it is presented to the full Board of Supervisors.
Context
Despite opposition from a growing coalition that includes the ACLU, Senior and Disability Action, and the Coalition on Homelessness, Mayor Breed and Supervisors Mandelman, Brown, and Stefani plan to implement an expanded conservatorship program in San Francisco. Their legislation is dangerous and their rhetoric is misleading, as SB 1045 provides no additional funding or services for those who most need it, but would place undue power into the hands of the police.
Background
Last year’s legislation expanding conservatorship (SB 1045) was opposed by a number of civil rights groups and organizations that advocate for homeless people, for people with mental illness and for people with substance use disorders. Those organizations lobbied the state legislature to remove some of the more egregious elements of the bill and add protections for people who may be conserved under the law.
This year, CA Senator Scott Wiener has introduced new legislation that would remove many of the protections added last year, expand the number of people who could be conserved under the law, and separate the requirement that people who could be conserved have to have both mental illness and substance use disorders.
An ordinance has been introduced by Mayor Breed and Supervisors Mandelman, Brown, and Stefani that would implement SB 1045 in San Francisco. It will be heard in the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee, likely sometime in late March or early April, before heading to the full Board of Supervisors.
References
Critics gather in the Mission to question upcoming vote on conservatorship, Mission Local, Feb 25, 2019
Does Conservatorship Help or Harm California’s Homeless Population? Nonprofit Quarterly, Feb 18, 2019