It was a somber and at times tearful gathering Monday as lawmakers and advocates promoted a bill to make behavioral treatment centers more accountable for teens.
Most of the attention was focused on one (some might say unexpected) speaker: hotel heiress, socialite and media personality Paris Hilton.
Hilton is the latest celebrity to use her fame (or as she put it, “shine my spotlight”) to convince the Legislature to change state policy. In Hilton’s case, the physical and emotional abuse she says she experienced at youth treatment centers in California, Utah and Montana led her to a personal crusade against institutional abuse in the “troubled teen industry.”
“I was subjected to abuse disguised as therapy, cut off from the outside world and denied even the most basic rights,” Hilton told about two dozen reporters and others in the audience. “… The sounds of my peers screaming as they were restrained and injected with sedatives will never leave me… If these facilities fear a simple measure of transparency, then I think we should ask them, “What do they have to hide? “
Senate Bill 1043 would require the California Department of Human Services to detail the use of “seclusion rooms” and restraints at the center through a publicly available online dashboard by January 1, 2026. The information would include descriptions of the incident, the duration of the incident and which staff members were involved in the incident, among other things. Facilities will also be mandated to provide a report to the individual who has been detained or restrained, and to the individual’s parent or guardian if the individual is a minor.
Hilton’s nonprofit, 11:11 Media Impact, is a co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill led by Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, and co-authored by Democratic Sens. Angelique Ashby of Sacramento and Aisha Wahab of Fremont. Disability Rights California and the California Children’s Law Center also support the proposal.
Acknowledging the diverse political affiliations, socioeconomic levels and traumatic experiences of the (mostly female) speakers at the press conference, Grove said lawmakers behind the bill are coming together to protect children.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re worth a billion dollars or you’re worth $20. The word trauma is still there,” she said. “…We are all here as women protecting those children who deserve to be protected in this state.”
In 2021, following reports of widespread abuse, California passed a law banning the practice of sending troubled youth, including foster children, to for-profit treatment centers outside the state. Alternatively, youth may be sent to “short-term therapeutic residential programs” that are licensed by the state’s Department of Human Services. Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a measure to fund Medi-Cal children’s crisis treatment centers.
While Wahab argues that these programs are “sometimes what is needed” for youth, they must still “serve the needs of these children” and vulnerable individuals must be protected from further harm.
During Hilton’s time in these youth facilities, including the 11 months she spent at Provo Canyon School in Utah when she was 17, Hilton said she lived in constant fear: “If I tried to tell my parents about the abuse, the staff would immediately rip the phone out of my hand, hang up and subject me to violent physical restraints and seclusion.”
Hilton also issued a not-so-veiled threat at the end of his remarks: “If you’re abusing children, I’m going to find you and I’m going to come with my huge spotlight and shine it wherever you are.”
She joins a long parade of celebrities who use their influence to partner with lawmakers and promote policies. A few notable examples include Jane Fonda’s ongoing fight against the oil industry’s referendum to stop a 2022 drilling freeze law; Jeff Goldblum’s 2020 support of two failed bills requiring companies to reduce single-use packaging; and Common’s successful advocacy of two youth justice bills in 2017.
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