Morning Brief: CARE Court, Increasing Apprenticeships, Wrapping Up ‘The Forgotten Revolutionary’

Good morning, L.A. It’s Wednesday, July 20.

What do you know about conservatorships?

To be honest with you, I just learned about conservatorships a little over a year ago when our beloved, troubled pop star Britney Spears went to L.A. Superior Court to address her own court-dictated legal arrangement. Spears spent 13 years under the care of her father Jamie Spears, who controlled her financial, medical and physical well-being after she experienced a mental health crisis. As I’m sure you know, Britney is a free woman now and has been since November.

Well, a bill moving through the state legislature could help up to 12,000 Californians avoid falling into conservatorships. The Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act would create a new framework, dubbed CARE Court, to help people with severe, untreated mental illnesses obtain referrals for an up to two-year, court-ordered plan. State lawmakers claim that this is to ensure adults with severe mental illnesses receive the treatment they need to live a quality life. Nearly 40% of adults with severe mental illnesses did not receive treatment from 2018 to 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

If the court-ordered plan fails, the individual could be hospitalized or referred to a conservatorship.

My colleague Robert Garrova reports that while this bill has received a hefty amount of support, criminal justice reform advocates see it as a faulty mission.

Why? According to advocates like Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson, they want care infrastructure, over court infrastructure. They want preventative services to help people avoid going to jail. And they specifically want 3,600 mental health treatment beds to help keep people from going to jail with a mental illness.

There are about 40 groups who oppose the CARE Court bill.

Of course, this debate over how the state handles the mental health of its citizens is not a new one.

Stay tuned to see if the governor decides to give the greenlight on this bill in the fall.

As always, stay happy and healthy, folks. There’s more news below the fold.

What Else You Need To Know Today

• Apprenticeships, especially those in construction, can help many people start successful careers free of student loan debt, but women are falling behind.
• If you sign up to be a boxer, you expect to take a few hits in the ring. But outside of it, non-white boxers in California are more likely to be exploited, according to new research from UCLA.
• The House passed legislation to protect same-sex marriage in light of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The bill now faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where it will need at least 10 Republican votes in favor.
• It took more than hard work for wildland firefighters to save the ancient sequoias. Foresters and ecologists say the 50-year-old “prescribed fire” practices in the area helped provide a great outcome for the trees.  
• Comic-Con is back for the first time in three years. Cosplayers will be able to show off those outfits they had stored (or made) during the pandemic at the beloved celebration of comics and pop art.

Before You Go...Don't Miss Our Podcast of the Week

Have you had a chance to listen to the Oscar Gomez story? Well, if not, this is your chance.

The producers of Imperfect Paradise have just wrapped up their second season. Listen to Episode 8 of "The Forgotten Revolutionary" to find out what LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez learned about the night the Chicano civil rights activist died. You don’t want to miss this.

Are there any L.A.-centric podcast series that you think we should feature in this newsletter? Let us know what has grabbed your attention this summer.