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- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2009 SESSION
Edwards (Chairman), Howell, Saslaw, Lucas, Quayle, Cuccinelli
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: February 2, 2009
Time and Place: 6:00 PM, Senate Room B
Patron: Hamilton
Mental health law revisions. Amends mental health statutes to address issues resulting from the overhaul of mental health laws during the 2008 Session. This bill clarifies requirements that law-enforcement initiated emergency custody remains subject to the four hour limit and two hour extension provisions; clarifies that the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing need not be the person who prepared the prescreening report, and that neither the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing nor the independent examiner who attends the commitment hearing shall be excluded pursuant to an order of sequestration of the witnesses; clarifies that the prescreening report shall be admitted into evidence and made part of the record of the case; and extends the CCRE reporting requirement to close of business on the next business day following the hearing resulting in involuntary commitment. This bill has an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Cuccinelli
Transportation of person under emergency custody, temporary detention, or involuntary commitment order. Allows a person under an emergency custody order, temporary detention order, or involuntary commitment order to be transported by a family member; friend; representative of the community services board; health care provider; representative of the facility at which the person will be examined, detained, or admitted; or other transportation provider with personnel trained to provide transportation in a safe manner, upon a finding that such transportation is appropriate. This bill provides that, when making a decision regarding the appropriate transportation of a person under an emergency custody order, temporary detention order, or involuntary commitment order, the magistrate, judge, or special justice shall consider information provided by the community services board or its designee; the local law-enforcement agency, if involved; the petitioner; the person's treating physician; and others with knowledge of the person to be transported.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Involuntary commitment hearings; law students. Provides that it is not the unauthorized practice of law for a third-year law student enrolled at any law school in the Commonwealth to represent a petitioner in a commitment hearing for involuntary admission without the presence of a practicing attorney. The student must have completed coursework in evidence and trial advocacy and received training on involuntary commitment law. The student must inform the petitioner that he is not a licensed attorney, that he may not be compensated for his services, and that he can be held liable only for intentional malfeasance.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Mandatory outpatient treatment following inpatient treatment. Allows a court to enter an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission, which orders a person who has been involuntarily admitted to mandatory outpatient treatment. The criteria for such an order differ from the criteria used for a mandatory outpatient treatment order entered where the person was not first involuntarily admitted. The criteria for an order for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission are that the person (i) has mental illness; (ii) no longer needs inpatient hospitalization but requires mandatory outpatient treatment to prevent rapid deterioration of his condition that would likely result in his meeting the criteria for inpatient treatment; (iii) is not likely to obtain outpatient treatment unless the court enters the order; and (iv) is likely to comply with the order. Additionally, services must actually be available in the community and providers of services must have actually agreed to deliver the services. The bill also sets forth how orders for mandatory outpatient treatment following involuntary admission will be enforced, reviewed, continued, and rescinded.
Patron: Edwards
Mental health courts; pilot program. Directs the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to establish by January 1, 2010, no less than two and no more than five mental health courts in Virginia for nonviolent offenders with serious mental illnesses.
Patron: Howell
Special justices; expenses. Provides that special justices, retired judges, or district court substitute judges presiding over involuntary commitment hearings shall receive a fee for each hearing that includes mileage, parking, tolls, and postage.
Patron: Howell
Emergency custody; authority of law-enforcement officer. Authorizes a law-enforcement officer who is transporting a person who has voluntarily consented to being transported to a facility for assessment or evaluation and who subsequently revokes consent to be transported to take such person into emergency custody when the law-enforcement officer determines that consent has been revoked and the person meets the criteria for emergency custody, even if the law-enforcement officer is beyond the territorial limits of the jurisdiction in which he serves. This bill also clarifies that a law-enforcement officer who takes a person into emergency custody based upon his own observations or reliable reports of others may transport such person beyond the territorial boundaries of the jurisdiction in which he serves in order to obtain the required assessment.
Patron: Howell
Involuntary commitment; place of hearing. Provides that, upon the request of the respondent or his attorney, a district court judge or special justice may restrict attendance at an involuntary commitment hearing to persons whose participation is required for proper conduct of the hearing and those whose presence is requested by the respondent upon a finding that (i) such restriction is necessary to protect the respondent's health, safety, or privacy and (ii) the respondent's interest in the restriction outweighs the public's interest in attendance by any person who would be excluded.
Patron: Howell
Special justices; appointment. Clarifies that a special justice serves at the pleasure of the chief justice of the judicial circuit in which he serves, rather than the specific chief justice that makes the original appointment.
Patron: Howell
Voluntary and involuntary commitment; forms. Provides that the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall prepare the petitions, orders, and such other legal documents as may be required in proceedings for emergency custody, temporary detention, and voluntary and involuntary admission to a facility and distribute such forms to the clerks of the general district courts and the juvenile and domestic relations courts. This bill further provides that the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services shall prepare the preadmission screening report, examination, and such other clinical forms as may be required for emergency custody, temporary detention, and voluntary and involuntary admission to a facility and distribute such forms to community services boards, mental health care providers, and directors of state facilities.
Patron: Howell
Mental health law revisions. Amends mental health statutes to address issues resulting from the overhaul of mental health laws during the 2008 Session. This bill clarifies requirements that law-enforcement initiated emergency custody remains subject to the four hour limit and two hour extension provisions; clarifies that the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing need not be the person who prepared the prescreening report, and that neither the employee or designee of the community services board attending a commitment hearing nor the independent examiner who attends the commitment hearing shall be excluded pursuant to an order of sequestration of the witnesses; clarifies that the prescreening report shall be admitted into evidence and made part of the record of the case; and extends the CCRE reporting requirement to close of business on the next business day following the hearing resulting in involuntary commitment. This bill has an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Lucas
Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment of Minors Act; outpatient treatment; etc. Provides that a person who meets the criteria for involuntary commitment under the Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment of Minors Act may be ordered to mandatory outpatient treatment if less restrictive alternatives to involuntary inpatient treatment are appropriate and are available and the minor and his parents have the capacity to understand the stipulations of the minor's treatment and to comply with such outpatient treatment and that they have agreed to abide by the treatment plan. The bill also sets forth how such mandatory outpatient treatment will be monitored and how a minor's noncompliance with such treatment will be addressed. The bill also clarifies that the commitment criteria for minors, and not the criteria for adults, apply when the emergency admission of a minor is sought under the procedures for the emergency admission of an adult set forth in Article 4 (§ 37.2-808 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 37.2. The bill also provides that a minor who has been properly detained by a juvenile and domestic relations court may petition for voluntary admission and treatment of mental illness. Currently, such detained minors may not voluntarily seek admission. The bill further requires that if a minor is in a detention home or shelter care facility when admitted to a mental health facility, the director of the detention home or shelter care facility or his designee shall provide, if available, certain information relating to the minor to the mental health facility and to the juvenile and domestic relations district court for the jurisdiction in which the facility is located if such court is different than the court that placed the minor in detention or shelter care. The bill also clarifies under what circumstances the qualified evaluator who examined the minor must attend the minor's hearing and under what circumstances the evaluator's report is admissible.
Patron: Edwards
Crisis intervention pilot programs for persons with mental illness. Permits the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish crisis intervention team pilot programs in areas of the state by January 1, 2010. The crisis intervention team pilot programs shall assist law-enforcement officers in responding to crisis situations involving persons with mental illness, substance abuse problems, or both. By November 1, 2009, the Department shall submit to the Joint Commission on Health Care a report outlining the plan for the program. The Department, in consultation with the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, shall establish a training program for all persons involved in the crisis intervention team pilot programs. Each crisis intervention team shall develop a protocol that permits law-enforcement officers to release from custody persons whom they encounter in crisis situations when the crisis intervention team has determined the person is sufficiently stable. The Department shall evaluate and report annually to the Joint Commission on Health Care on the impact and effectiveness of the crisis intervention team pilot programs.
Patron: Hurt
Involuntary mental health commitment. Provides that a court may, in its discretion, appoint counsel for a minor in proceedings seeking judicial approval of the admission by the parents of a minor 14 years of age or older who is incapable of making an informed decision or who objects to the admission and provides that a court may, in its discretion, appoint a guardian ad litem for a minor who is the subject of an involuntary commitment petition. Currently, the court is required to appoint both a guardian ad litem and counsel in both circumstances. The bill also removes authority for monitoring compliance with mandatory outpatient treatment from special justices and places it with district court judges (currently it can be done by either) and allows recordings of hearings to be electronic or digital.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Notification of family member of person involved in commitment process. Authorizes disclosure of information regarding a patient's location and general condition to a family member or personal representative of the person.
Patron: Cuccinelli
Consumers; right to notify. Provides that a consumer in a mental health facility shall have the opportunity to have an individual of his choosing notified of his general condition, location, and transfer to another facility.
Patron: McEachin
Mental health court; Richmond. Requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to establish a mental health court in the Thirteenth Circuit, Richmond City.