2017 Virginia General Assembly
Legislative Highlights
January 27, 2017
This afternoon, the Mental Health subcommittee for the House Committee on Courts of Justice will hear several bills of interest to us, including:
HB 1480 (Helsel) requires mental health training for first responders
HB 1782 (Bell, Rob) gives the State Board of Corrections the authority to investigate deaths in jails
HB 1782 (Bell, Rob) and 2184 (Yost) requires a uniform standard for mental health screening on admission to jail.
HB 1784 (Bell, Rob) requires a comprehensive plan establishing discharge planning duties for jails
HB 1910 (Yost) establishes a “duty to warn” for physicians assistants
HB 1918 (Robinson) adds to the emergency bed registry de-indentified information about individuals who have been in need of involuntary admission
HB 1975 (Yost) states that a person being held on a temporary detention order must be held for a minimum of 23 hours before commitment hearing
HB 1996 (Hope) requires a person to be transferred from jail within 10 days of being found in need of treatment
HB 1997 (Hope) authorizes local law enforcement to take a person to a local crisis stabilization unit instead of jail where appropriate
HB 2330 (Herretick) and HB 2462 (Bell, Rob) allows an inmate to be transferred for inpatient mental health treatment even if already receiving treatment on an outpatient basis, in jail
Some of the other mental health bills of interest include
HB 1483 (Bell, Richard)—defines a qualified mental health professional. Approved by the subcommittee for Health Welfare and Institutions
SB 933 (Favola) – requires mental health training for jail personnel. Approved by the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation but referred to Finance because of fiscal implications
SB 940 (Cosgrove) — requires mental health screening in jails. Approved by the Committee on Rehabilitation
Please let us know of any legislative proposals or budget issues that you think we should be following. Contact us at info@dlcv.org or by calling 1-800-552-3962 or 804-225-2042.