California Code of Regulations
Title 9 - Rehabilitative and Developmental Services
Division 1 - Department of Mental Health
Chapter 16 - State Hospital Operations
Article 7 - Admissions
Section 4716 - Placement of Individuals Found Incompetent to Stand Trial upon Completion of Commitment Packet

(a) Except as provided for in subdivision (b), the Department of State Hospitals shall admit an individual judicially committed to the Department as Incompetent to Stand Trial only when a completed commitment packet as specified in section 4711 has been received, reviewed, and approved by the Department.

(b) In cases wherein the Department, upon review, discovers that a commitment packet is incomplete, it shall advise the committing county of any missing documentation within 14 calendar days of such discovery.

(c) The Department at its sole discretion may admit an individual whose commitment packet is incomplete only if the Department determines pursuant to section 4717 that the individual exhibits psychiatric acuity which may indicate the need for admission to a state hospital notwithstanding the date the court committed the individual to the Department.

(d) Upon review of the commitment packet, the Medical Director or designee of each state hospital under consideration for the individual's placement has the final authority to determine whether the individual shall be placed at that particular state hospital. If the Medical Director or designee determines that the individual is not appropriate for placement at that particular state hospital, the Department's Director or designee shall determine the appropriate facility for the individual's placement.

(e) The medical director of the Department of State Hospitals, or designee, will make a decision on whether to expedite admission of an individual due to his or her psychiatric acuity within 72 hours of contact by the committing county's clinician and when the department receives sufficient documentation.