# Gov. Newsom signs bill giving judges more discretion to deny mental health diversions > Source: > Published: 2026-07-01 12:52:26+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...[Gov. Gavin Newsom](/tag/Gavinp-Newsom/) this week signed a controversial Assembly bill that makes it easier for judges to deny mental health diversion to criminal defendants who may pose a safety risk to the community. Prosecutors statewide backed [Assembly Bill 46](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/04/12/prosecutors-seek-reforms-to-californias-broken-mental-health-diversion-program/), saying it removed a loophole that forced judges to order outpatient psychological treatment instead of incarceration for potentially dangerous defendants. “California believes treatment and accountability go hand in hand,” Newsom said in a news release. “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.” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who co-sponsored the bill, applauded the governor’s signing. “This is a significant step toward curing California’s broken mental health system, and ensuring mental illness is not being allowed to be used as an escape from accountability for criminal behavior,” Spitzer said. Defense attorneys throughout California countered that more defendants now will be locked away rather than receiving the treatment they need. Opponents say the bill by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, will damage a largely successful diversion system based on a few “horror stories” of defendants violently reoffending while on the program. “This is a solution in search of a problem,” said Kate Chatfield, executive director of the California Public Defenders Association. “There’s been a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering about how mental health diversion works.” Defendants who go on to commit violent crimes make up a very small portion of people receiving diversion, defense attorneys say. California’s mental health diversion program was enacted in 2018 under the argument that jailing the mentally ill only makes their conditions worse and does not prevent them from committing more crimes upon their release. Under the diversion program, instead of going through the trial process, criminal defendants whose offenses are significantly tied to their mental disorder can be given community-based treatment. Felony defendants are required to receive treatment for two years and misdemeanor defendants receive one year. Once defendants complete the program, the charges are dismissed. Certain crimes, such as murder and rape, are not eligible for diversion. Defendants who do not complete the program go back to jail and the trial process restarts. The program was adopted based on the idea that it would remove the need for costly trials while assuring court-ordered treatment for mentally ill defendants who receive little, if any, psychological care in jail. Without diversion, their mental health would only deteriorate while incarcerated, making them a greater risk to reoffend upon their release. However, prosecutors contended that the program became a get-out-of-jail-free card for offenders because judges were not given enough discretion to deny diversion. Prosecutors point to the case of Gamaliel Camarena, 36, who attacked a man in Orange County with a machete in 2022 before he was granted diversion. While on the program, Camarena went on to stab a drinking buddy 34 times outside a 7-Eleven store in Venice in May 2024. Then there is Grant Park, 34, who fatally stabbed a man outside a hotel in San Diego County in February while on diversion for threatening to kill his mother with a knife, carjacking and attacking a cellmate. The bill changed the language so judges now can reject diversion for defendants they believe pose a “substantial and undue risk” to the community. Judges also have greater latitude to consider other factors in making the determination, such as the opinion of prosecutors as well as the rights of the victim. Under the former law, defendants were eligible for diversion if they had been diagnosed — before or after their crime — with certain mental disorders that played a part in their alleged offense. The new law requires that the illness be diagnosed within five years prior to the offense. That change alone would block many defendants from the program, opponents said. It would have kept Grammy-winning rapper Lil Nas X from receiving mental health diversion after he was caught in August 2025 wearing only his underwear and cowboy boots while walking along Ventura Boulevard at 5:40 a.m. Responding officers said he attacked them. [Lil Nas X](https://www.dailynews.com/2026/04/07/lil-nas-x-enters-a-mental-health-program-intended-to-lead-to-dropped-charges-of-attacking-police/), whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was charged with four felonies and faced up to five years in prison. After his arrest, he was diagnosed with a bipolar condition, making him eligible under the old law to be released on a two-year diversion plan. His case is touted by defense attorneys as a success story for the former program. “The overwhelming evidence is that it’s been a very successful program,” Chatfield said.