CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

Institutions for the Mentally Ill; Mental Health Generally

P Passed

P HB1578

Service upon guardian ad litem in guardianship cases. Provides that a respondent in a guardianship proceeding may be served by the guardian ad litem, as well as by ordinary personal service, with the notice, a copy of the petition and a copy of the order appointing a guardian ad litem and that such service constitutes valid personal service.
Patron - Howell

P HB1898

Persons with mental illness, mental retardation or substance abuse problems; state and local human rights committees. Clarifies that the two consumers that must serve on state or local human rights committees may be individuals who are receiving (as in current law) or individuals who have received, within five years of their initial appointment, public or private mental health, mental retardation, or substance abuse treatment or habilitation services.
Patron - Johnson

P HB1904

Mental health; Alzheimer's Commission. Changes the duties of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Commission to better reflect its advisory capacity to the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. This bill authorizes the Commission to recommend funding initiatives, statutory and regulatory changes, and such other issues that the Commission feels would assist people with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders and their caregivers. Currently, the Commission is charged with developing a plan for funding local initiatives. An annual report is still required by September 1 of each year. This bill is identical to SB 1332.
Patron - Plum

P HB1981

Guardians and conservators. Requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to provide instructions regarding the duties, powers and liabilities of guardians and conservators to each clerk of court; the clerk must then provide such information to each guardian and conservator upon notice of appointment.
Patron - Orrock

P HB2491

Involuntary commitment hearing. Eliminates the 72- or 96-hour maximum extension periods for a commitment hearing to conform to the duration of a temporary detention order, which was changed in 1998. The bill provides that when the maximum 48-hour period of temporary detention would expire on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the person may be detained until the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
Patron - Brink

P HB2595

Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services; licensing. Clarifies and updates the statutory provisions for licensing operations of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services (DMHMRSAS). The bill defines providers that are licensed and the services that they provide. The Commissioner of DMHMRSAS is granted access at all reasonable times to all services and records, including medical records. Records that are confidential under federal or state law shall be maintained as confidential by the Department; however, there shall be no right of access to peer review communications that are privileged. The bill clarifies inspections shall be focused on preventing specific risks to consumers, including an evaluation of the physical facilities in which the services are provided. Further, the bill states the Commissioner shall promptly investigate all complaints. The bill clarifies the maximum term of provisional and conditional licenses shall be six months. Such licenses may be renewed for a total period of provisional or conditional licensing of 12 successive months. Finally, the bill provides that the State Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Board may promulgate regulations specifying the maximum number of residents to be served by any intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded. This bill is identical to SB 1159.
Patron - McDonnell

P HB2610

Authority for release of mental health information for concealed handgun permit. Assures that the State Police and issuing localities have access to mental health information on those seeking a concealed handgun permit. This bill is identical to SB 1337.
Patron - Abbitt

P HB2836

Criminal background checks; adult substance abuse treatment programs. Permits community services boards, behavioral health authorities, and agencies licensed by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to hire for adult substance abuse treatment programs persons who were convicted of a felony for distribution of drugs or burglary where the building was not occupied at the time of the incident resulting in the conviction upon a determination, by the hiring agency, based upon a screening assessment, that such criminal behavior was substantially related to the applicant's use of substances, and that the person has been successfully rehabilitated and is not a risk to consumers based on his criminal history background and substance use, abuse or addiction histories. The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services will designate the screening contractor. To be eligible for such screening, the applicant must have completed all prison or jail terms; not be under probation or parole supervision, or any suspended sentence; have no pending charges in any locality; have paid all fines, restitution, and court costs for any prior convictions; and have been free of any suspended sentence, parole or probation for at least seven years for drug convictions and five years for all other convictions. In addition to any such additional information as the hiring agency or the screening contractor may require or the prospective applicant wishes to present, the prospective applicant must provide to the state screening contractor a statement from his most recent probation or parole officer, if any, outlining his period of supervision, together with a copy of any pre-sentencing or post-sentencing report in connection with each felony conviction. The prospective applicant must pay the cost of such screening, unless the board, authority, local department or licensed agency decides, at its option, to pay such cost.

P SB1159

P SB1332

P SB1337

Mental health; possession of firearms. Expands the requirement that the clerk of the appropriate court send a record of adjudication of incapacity, commitment or order of restoration of capacity to the Central Criminal Records Exchange for the purpose determining a person's eligibility to possess, purchase or transfer a firearm. This bill is identical to HB 2701 (Armstrong).
Patron - Stolle

F Failed

F HB1626

Mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services. Requires community services boards (CSBs) and behavioral health authorities (BHAs) to submit to their local governing bodies performance contracts for mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services in accordance with the schedule determined by the governing body or at least 15 days before the meeting at which the governing body is scheduled to consider approval of that contract. The bill clarifies that the submission of the performance contract to the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services shall include the approval by formal vote of operating or administrative policy CSBs and BHAs.
Patron - Tate

F HB1702

Appointment of a guardian ad litem for an incapacitated person. Provides that on the filing of every petition for guardianship or conservatorship, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of the respondent and, if the value of the respondent's estate is more than $5,000, shall appoint a guardian ad litem. Currently, a guardian ad litem must be appointed in every case, regardless of the value of the estate.
Patron - Howell

F HB1779

Mental health; licensure. Expands the definition of "facility" or "institution" to include organizations, agencies, or programs that provide treatment or care for mentally ill, mentally retarded, or substance addicted or abusing persons. Also defines the term "care" or "treatment."
Patron - Hamilton

F HB1919

Names of mental health facilities. Updates the authority of the Board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to change the names of mental health facilities operated by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. Notwithstanding the Board's discretion to change the names of such facilities, the second enactment clause requires the Board to change the name of the DeJarnette Center to the Carrie Buck Center, effective on July 1, 2001.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB2192

DMHMRSAS; caregiver training. Requires the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to develop a voluntary training program for unlicensed caregivers of persons with mental illness or mental retardation who have been discharged from a publicly funded mental health or mental retardation institutional placement. The program, which shall be administered through the local community services boards and behavioral health authorities, is to include training, supervision, assistance and other services to assist the caregiver and the individual in dealing with the challenges of living in the community and to ensure that the individual is receiving adequate and responsible care. DMHMRSAS will be responsible for funding this program, participation in which is voluntary for unlicensed caregivers.
Patron - Crittenden

F HB2258

Involuntary temporary detention. Requires that each petition for involuntary temporary detention be accompanied by a clinical certificate executed by an independent psychiatrist or physician who personally examined within the previous 72 hours the person who is the subject of such petition, in addition to the current statutory requirement of a prescreening report recommending involuntary detention prepared by an employee or designee of a local community services board who performed an in-person evaluation of the person within the previous 72 hours. A clinical certificate shall be signed by the examining psychiatrist or physician, shall be dated the day of the personal examination, shall contain the results of the medical examination including any significant or life-threatening medical conditions that require immediate treatment, and shall contain the facts and circumstances upon which the psychiatrist or physician bases his judgment that the person examined is mentally ill and in need of involuntary detention. An employee or designee of the local community services board shall determine the facility of temporary detention for all individuals detained in accordance with the admission criteria of that facility or obtain the oral or written approval by the director of the facility prior to designating such facility on the prescreening report. Each community services board shall provide to each general district court and magistrate's office within its jurisdiction a list of psychiatrists or physicians available on a 24-hour basis in state hospitals or private hospital emergency facilities who are available to perform the requisite evaluations.
Patron - Watts

F HB2596

Restructuring of mental health care system. Provides for targeted facility restructuring of the mental health care system, giving the Commissioner the authority to close Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute by July 1, 2002, Piedmont Geriatric Hospital by July 1, 2006, Catawba Hospital by July 1, 2006, and the inpatient geriatric services at Eastern State Hospital by July 1, 2004. The Commissioner is authorized to relocate rehabilitation services from Eastern State Hospital to a site more central to the current geographical regions served by the hospital, provided that there is not a reduction in the services for extended rehabilitation to consumers. The Commissioner is also authorized to operate DeJarnette Center as a public facility for youth requiring services under the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA). The bill gives the Commissioner the authority, with the approval of the Governor and Secretary of Health and Human Resources, to make any necessary decisions and enter into any necessary contracts and other agreements relative to mental health care system restructuring and state mental health facility closures that may have the effect of closing state facilities or programs or beds within state facilities; converting the use of facilities; changing the nature of the services currently provided in state mental health facilities; selling state facility land and buildings; or otherwise providing for the maximum protection, safety and appropriate care and treatment of consumers and the well-being of state facility employees. The Commissioner shall authorize the delivery of acute care inpatient psychiatric services in local community hospitals and provide for the transfer of consumers from geriatric inpatient mental health services in state mental health facilities to community gero-psychiatric residential placements under certain conditions. The bill calls for an amendment to the State Medical Assistance Plan for community gero-psychiatric residential services. The bill also calls for the Commissioner to create a Gero-Psychiatric Behavioral Health Institute. Finally, the Commissioner shall develop an operational model, in collaboration with representatives of the CSA program, local governments and other key stakeholders, to convert Dejarnette Center to a CSA residential facility and shall report the results to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees on or before September 30, 2001.This bill is identical to HB 1158.
Patron - McDonnell

F SB1158

F SB1311

Community services boards and behavioral health authorities. Provides that a consumer's refusal of case management services shall not affect his receipt of other services.
Patron - Newman

CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

2001 SUMMARY HOME | DLS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY