February 9, 2018 – Legislative Highlights

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February 9, 2018February 9, 2018
by Colleen Millerin Legislative Highlights

2018 Virginia General Assembly
Legislative Highlights
February 9, 2018

The legislature is quickly approaching its official halfway point, known as “crossover.”  Every bill must be fully dealt with in its house of origin by Tuesday, February 13th, or it is considered to be dead.  Although this does mean that many bills are no longer in play, there are still many of interest that are active.  We continue to monitor developments that may impact people with disabilities.  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.

The legislature did consider several bills that sought to keep more of Virginia’s training centers for people with intellectual disabilities open.  Most of those bills are now dead.

HB 324 (Campbell) would have prevented the closure of Southwestern Virginia Training Center.  HB 1421 (Garrett) would have prevented the closure of Central Virginia Training Center.   HB 325 (Campbell) and HB 806 (O’Quinn) would have kept both Southwestern Virginia Training Center and Central Virginia Training Center open.  All four bills were tabled in a subcommittee of House Appropriations today.

SB 835 (Peake) would have kept Central Virginia Training Center open.  It was carried over until 2019 in Senate Committee on Finance.

SB 977 (Peake) changes the definition of “training center” so that Hiram Davis Medical Center could not be considered to be a training center.  The intention of the bill is to prevent the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services from transferring residents from a training center to Hiram Davis.  The bill passed the Senate and is assigned to the House Committee on Appropriations.

The mission of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia 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.