The disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) is available to educate policymakers about the impact of their decisions on the lives of people with disabilities. If you know of proposed legislation that you think we should track and follow, please let us know. Contact us at info@dlcv.org or by calling 1-800-552-3962 or 804-225-2042.
Forced Treatment bills
The legislature has many bills before it that would make it easier for the state to force someone into mental health treatment through a process called mandatory outpatient treatment (MOT). The dLCV is especially concerned that consumer voices were not included in the work group that developed some of these proposals. These bills will be heard in the House Courts of Justice committee, and will probably be sent to a subcommittee. Some examples of the proposals are:
HB 699 (Hope) revises the process for rescission of a forced treatment order. Includes language of “in determining the appropriateness of OT, the court may consider the person’s material non-compliance,” and that MOT remains in effect until the date specified in the order or until the order is rescinded.
HB 700 (Hope) eliminates the requirement that a person, 14 years-of-age or older, must agree to cooperate in the treatment.
HB 702 (Hope) requires a Community Services Board to demonstrate that it made efforts to assist an individual to comply with a forced treatment order.
HB 1026 (Adams) removes the requirement that a person must have a history of noncompliance before a mandatory order may be issued (this bill is currently assigned to House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions, but we expect it to get re-referred to Courts.)
HB 713 (Hope) extends the maximum time period for a forced treatment order, for 90 to 180 days and creates a process for judicial review of a person’s compliance with the forced treatment order.
Other Mental Health bills
We work closely with mental health consumer advocacy groups to understand how various proposals might work in real life. We are closely following a number of other bills relating to mental health issues, including:
HB 280 (Hope), HB 1386 (Leftwich) and SB 116 (Favola) would eliminate the possibility of the death penalty in cases of serious mental illness. The bills will be heard in the House Courts of Justice and Senate Judiciary committees. dLCV supports this legislation.
HB 362 (Rasoul) extends to physicians assistants as health professionals the ability to make a determination that an individual lacks decision making capacity.
HB 74 (Kory) requires schools to develop Mental Health First Aid training programs for all relevant school personnel. Assigned to the House Committee on Education, pre-K subcommittee.
HB 918 (Convirs-Fowler) Allows for additional time to execute an emergency custody order if the delay was due to the need to seek medical attention.
HB 1351 (Watts) Expands the categories of medical professionals who can evaluate for a Temporary Detention Order.
HB 1036 (Rasoul) Requires health insurance to provide mental health therapy or counseling outpatient screenings as part of preventive services for early detection or prevention of mental illness.
HB 1452 (Hope) Includes “intoxication” within the definition of “mental and physical condition” that may be subject to a temporary detention order for intoxication.
HB 1453 (Hope) and SB 739 (Deeds) establish additional information that should be collected for the Acute Psychiatric Bed Registry. The Registry was created in 2014, in an effort to make private mental health beds more available to those in need of hospitalization.
HB 1118 (Bell) states that if an alternative transportation provider is unable to continue transporting a person subject to involuntary admission, then local law enforcement shall transport the person.
SB 619 (Deeds) requires that Mental Health First Aid be included in teacher licensing.
The mission of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation.