§ 5975. — 5975. (Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 528, Sec. 4.)

The Judicial Council shall develop a mandatory form for use to file a CARE process petition with the court and any other forms necessary for the CARE process. The petition shall be signed under the penalty of perjury and contain all of the following:
(a)
The name of the respondent and, if known, the respondent’s address.
(b)
The petitioner’s relationship to the respondent.
(c)
Facts that support the petitioner’s assertion that the respondent meets the CARE criteria in Section 5972.
(d)
Either of the following:
(1)
An affidavit of a licensed behavioral health professional, including, for purposes of this section only, nurse practitioners as defined in Section 2835 of the Business and Professions Code and physician assistants as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 3501 of the Business and Professions Code, stating that the licensed behavioral health professional or their designee has examined the respondent within 60 days of the submission of the petition, or has made multiple attempts to examine, but has not been successful in eliciting the cooperation of the respondent to submit to an examination, within 60 days of the petition, and that the licensed behavioral health professional had determined that the respondent meets, or has reason to believe, explained with specificity in the affidavit, that the respondent meets the diagnostic criteria for CARE
proceedings.
(2)
Evidence that the respondent was detained for a minimum of two intensive treatments pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 5250) of Chapter 2 of Part 1, the most recent one within the previous 60 days. Evidence may include, but is not limited to, documentary evidence from the facility where the respondent was detained, or a signed declaration from the petitioner if the petitioner had personal knowledge of the detentions.

Legislative History

Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 528, Sec. 4. (SB 27) Effective January 1, 2026. Section conditionally operative as provided in Section 5970.5.