By Sofia Williams
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a measure Monday that will expand judicial discretion over the state’s mental health diversion program.
Assembly Bill 46, carried by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, D- Elk Grove, removes a legal standard that restricted courts’ ability to deny diversion. Newsom’s signature on the bill will allow courts to prevent the diversion of violent criminals with greater ease.
“California believes treatment and accountability go hand in hand,” Newsom said in a statement. “We are proud to preserve mental health diversion for people who can benefit from it while ensuring judges have the discretion they need to protect victims, safeguard communities, and make decisions based on the full picture before them.”
Those in favor of the bill say it helps prevent violent crime perpetrated by those released from prison through mental health diversions.
“Today marks an important step forward for California’s mental health diversion program. AB 46 is the result of more than three years of collaboration and hard work,” Nguyen said. “I am proud of where we landed, and I believe this law strengthens public safety while preserving mental health diversion as an important pathway to treatment.”
Supporters of the diversion program say that the program has had reasonable levels of success in California. According to the California Public Defenders’ Association, one of many criminal justice organizations that has opposed the bill, people who pass through diversion programs are 30% less likely to commit a new crime than people who have served a prison sentence.
“The failure to understand that mental health diversion is the option with the best chances of success for the community and the individual is exactly what is wrong with (the bill),” the public defender’s association wrote in its opposition to the measure.
AB 46 has been the subject of legislative debate since April 2025, when the Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety voted to pass an amended version of the bill. The bill passed 56-7 on the Assembly floor in May 2025, and the Senate floor by a 34-6 vote in May 2026.
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