2019 Virginia General Assembly
Legislative Highlights
January 30, 2019
Committees are now finishing up the first half of their workloads as crossover approaches on Tuesday, February 5th. By that date, any bill that has not been passed out of their original house is officially defeated. To pass out of a house, it must be approved by a committee and read in that full house for three days, so most bills need to be completed by Friday.
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. We are available to educate policy makers about the potential impact of legislative proposals.
Here are some mental health bills we are watching:
HB 1933 (Hope)
HB 1933 (Hope) concerns the process for forced mental health treatment of a jail inmate over the objection of the inmate. At our request, the bill now includes a requirement to defer to an advanced directive or substitute decision maker first. The bill was approved by the House and has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Courts of Justice.
HB 1942 (Bell)
HB 1942 (Bell) does a number of things, including requiring the Board of Corrections to develop regulations allowing community services boards to share information with corrections, and to create a process for forensic discharge from jails. This bill is a recommendation of the SJ 47 workgroup (the “Deeds Commission”). The bill was approved by Health Welfare and Institutions but is now being considered by a subcommittee of Appropriations.
HB 2017 (Peace)
HB 2017 (Peace) removes the requirement that an individual must first live in an Assisted Living Facility for a year before qualifying for a permanent supportive housing auxiliary grant. The original bill also increased from 60 to 120 the number of auxiliary grants that can be used in supportive housing. The bill was approved by Health Welfare and Institutions, but the House Appropriations subcommittee reduced the number of available grants to 60. The bill now goes to the full Appropriations Committee.
SB 1286 (Barker)
SB 1286 (Barker) removes the requirement that an individual must first live in an Assisted Living Facility for a year before qualifying for a permanent supportive housing grant. The bill also increases from 60 to 120 the number of auxiliary grants that can be used in permanent supportive housing. The bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services and by Senate Finance.
SB 1598 (Dunnavant)
SB 1598 (Dunnavant) requires the Board of Corrections to develop minimum standards of mental health care and medical care in jails and local correction facilities. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. It was approved by the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services but sent to the Senate Committee on Finance.
SB 1644 (Boysko)
SB 1644 (Boysko) directs the Department of Behavioral Health to convene a workgroup to improve information sharing regarding jail inmates. The bill is was approved by the Senate and is now assigned to the House Committee on Rules.