Cal. WIC § 5261
This is the official text of Cal. WIC § 5261, part of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code — governs public social services, juvenile justice, and mental health/developmental disability services.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
(a) For a person to be certified under this article, a second notice of certification shall be signed by the professional person in charge of the facility providing the 14-day intensive treatment under Article 4 (commencing with Section 5250) to the person and by a physician, if possible a board-qualified psychiatrist, or a licensed psychologist who has a doctoral degree in psychology and at least five years of postgraduate experience in the diagnosis and treatment of emotional and mental disorders. The physician or psychologist who signs shall have participated in the evaluation and finding referred to in subdivision (a) of Section 5260.
(b) If the professional person in charge is the physician who performed the medical evaluation and finding, or a psychologist, the second person to sign may be another physician or psychologist unless one is not available, in which case a social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed professional clinical counselor, or registered nurse who participated in the evaluation and finding shall sign the notice of certification.
(b) If the professional person in charge is the physician who performed the medical evaluation and finding, or a psychologist, the second person to sign may be another physician or psychologist unless one is not available, in which case a social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed professional clinical counselor, or registered nurse who participated in the evaluation and finding shall sign the notice of certification.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in California?
Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.