Welfare and Institutions Code § 7359
ARTICLE 7. Leave of Absence, Discharge, and Restoration to Capacity of Persons Other Than the Mentally Disordered Criminals
The superintendent of a state hospital, on filing his or her written certificate with the Director of State Hospitals, may discharge as improved, or may discharge as unimproved, as the case may be, any judicially committed patient who is not recovered, but whose discharge, in the judgment of the superintendent, will not be detrimental to the public welfare, or injurious to the patient.