Institutions for the Mentally Ill; Mental Health Generally

Passed

P HB774

Community services boards and behavioral health authorities; joint agreements. Allows for joint agreements between two or more community services boards or behavioral health authorities for the purpose of (i) providing treatment, habilitation, or support services for consumers with specialized and complex service needs and associated managerial, operational, and administrative services and support, and (ii) promoting clinical, programmatic, or administrative effectiveness. The bill also allows for an administrator or management body to coordinate the activities of the joint agreement, and gives this administrator or body various powers and duties, including accepting funds from various public and private sources, hiring staff, and entering into service contracts on behalf of the community services boards and behavioral health authorities subject to the agreement.
Patron - Nixon

P HB1037

Sexually violent predators. Establishes within the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, the Office of Sexually Violent Predator Services to administer provisions relating to the civil commitment of sexually violent predators.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB1038

Civil commitment of sexually violent predators. Adds to the list of offenses that qualify as sexually violent offenses: abduction with intent to defile, abduction of a child under 16 years of age for the purpose of prostitution, carnal knowledge of a child between 13 and 15 years of age, and carnal knowledge of minors in custody of the court or state. The requirement that the complaining witness be under 13 years of age for aggravated sexual battery to qualify is removed. A felony conviction for conspiracy to commit or attempt to commit any of the qualified offenses is added as a qualifying offense. Incompetent defendants will be reviewed by the Commitment Review Committee. The bill provides that the Static-99 will be used to identify prisoners who will be forwarded to the Commitment Review Committee (CRC) for assessment and that if the Director of the Department of Corrections and the Commissioner of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services agree that no specific scientifically validated instrument exists to measure the risk assessment of a prisoner, the prisoner may be evaluated by a psychiatrist or psychologist to determine if he should be forwarded to the CRC. The bill provides factors for a court to consider in deciding whether to release a person on conditional release, such as living arrangements, availability of supervision, and access to treatment. A person on conditional release will be subject to mandatory GPS monitoring. The bill also adds abduction with intent to extort money or for immoral purposes to the felonies for which a presentence report is required. The provisions regarding qualifying offenses will be effective January 1, 2007, the remainder of the bill will be effective July 1, 2006.
Patron - Griffith

P HB1359

Sexually violent predators. Authorizes the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to contract with the Department of Corrections to provide services for the monitoring and supervision of civilly committed sexually violent predators who are on conditional release. The bill also states that if the judge places a civilly committed sexually violent predator on conditional release, the person shall be subject to electronic monitoring of his location by a GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking device. This bill has an emergency clause and is identical to SB 318.
Patron - Bell

P HB1583

Protecting incapacitated people from identity theft. Protects the identity of incapacitated individuals from identity theft by requiring the sealed filing of the social security number in any petition to a Circuit Court for the appointment of a guardian and conservator.
Patron - Eisenberg

P SB318

P SB353

Mental health; appeal of an involuntary admission or certification order. Grants the circuit court discretion to rely on the existing psychological evaluation from the commitment hearing which is being appealed, or to request a new evaluation.
Patron - Howell

P SB400

Economic Development for Virginians with Disabilities Grant Program. Creates a grant fund to be distributed to nonprofit organizations that sell donated goods and spend at least 75 percent of their revenues employing or training people with disabilities or people with a workplace disadvantage. The term "people with a workplace disadvantage" is defined as people who have had felony convictions or past alcohol or substance abuse problems.

The grant funds are to assist with capital costs associated with construction of retail stores and other employment facilities. The program shall be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. This bill is contingent upon the appropriation of funds.
Patron - Hanger

Failed

F HB43

Mental health; outpatient treatment orders. Changes the criteria for ordering outpatient mental health treatment rather than involuntary inpatient treatment. Strikes the requirement that a person be found to be a danger to himself or others and instead requires a finding that assisted outpatient treatment will be sufficient to prevent him from harming himself or others.
Patron - Albo

F HB352

Mental health; emergency custody and temporary detention orders. Extends the maximum emergency custody period to six hours and allows the community services board to determine the facility for temporary detention after the order has been issued.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB353

Mental health; transportation of individuals to be admitted. Requires that any individual certified for admission to a mental health facility, or being transported due to an emergency custody order or a temporary detention order, be transported by the sheriff's office of the appropriate jurisdiction. Repeals section allowing any judge or special justice to order a person admitted to a mental health facility to be placed in the custody of any responsible person, including a representative of the facility in which the person is temporarily placed during the temporary detention period, for the sole purpose of transporting the person to the proper facility.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB899

Temporary detention process; transportation by sheriffs. Specifies that temporary detention orders shall require the sheriff of the appropriate jurisdiction to execute the order and transport the person subject to the order. However, the order may request the assistance of other law-enforcement agencies if the sheriff is unable to execute the order or provide transportation.
Patron - Gear

F SB319

F SB352

Psychiatric Inpatient Commitment of Minors Act; special justices. Makes it clear that retired judges, substitute judges, and special justices are authorized to perform hearings under the Act and to receive compensation therefor. This bill was incorporated into SB 290.
Patron - Howell

F SB602

Background checks; providers licensed by DMHMRSAS. Allows a provider licensed by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services to hire for compensation a person who has been convicted of not more than one offense of assault and battery of a police officer under § 18.2-57, or an equivalent offense in another state, if (i) more than five years have elapsed since the conviction and (ii) the hiring provider determines, based upon a screening assessment, that the criminal behavior was substantially related to the applicant's substance abuse and that the person has been successfully rehabilitated and is not a risk to consumers based on his criminal history background and his substance abuse history.
Patron - Reynolds

Carried Over

C SB18

Mental health; mandatory outpatient treatment. Establishes a program of mandatory outpatient treatment in those jurisdictions served by a community services board that the Commissioner designates as having adequate and appropriate resources for the provision of mandatory outpatient treatment. The bill authorizes mandatory outpatient treatment only for persons previously hospitalized due to noncompliance with prescribed psychiatric treatment. The bill requires that a specific written treatment plan be prepared by the community services board that gives consideration to the treatment preferences of the individual and explicitly bars the forcible administration of medication. The bill also authorizes law-enforcement personnel to transport the individual to a treatment facility for persuasion and evaluation by a treatment provider only when the individual has substantially failed to comply with the treatment plan without good cause, and only for a three-hour period, including transportation time. The bill limits the duration of the court order to 180 days or less, and provides the person with procedural protections, including the right to an adversary hearing, the right to counsel, the right to an appeal, and the right to a jury trial on appeal.
Patron - Marsh

C SB309

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2006>Institutions for the Mentally Ill; Mental Health Generally

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