Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5171 · Article 1.5. Detention of Individuals Under the Influence of Alcohol for Evaluation and Treatment
Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5171
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) If the facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation of individuals under the influence of alcohol admits the person, it may detain the individual for evaluation and detoxification treatment, and such other treatment as may be indicated, for a period not to exceed 72 hours. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays shall be included for the purpose of calculating the 72-hour period. However, an individual may voluntarily remain in the facility for more than 72 hours if the professional person in charge of the facility determines the individual is in need of and may benefit from further treatment and care, provided any individual who is taken or caused to be taken to the facility shall have priority for available treatment and care over an individual who has voluntarily remained in a facility for more than 72 hours.
(b) If in the judgment of the professional person in charge of the facility providing evaluation and treatment, the person can be properly served without being detained, the individual shall be provided evaluation, detoxification treatment or other treatment, crisis intervention, or other inpatient or outpatient services on a voluntary basis.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 847, Sec. 88. (AB 2995) Effective January 1, 2025.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=5171.
- Text hash
- sha256 a674e9d666255896e1dd7e237ccb100edbb145bd2ef410eac1385d0cf7175853
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.