A week before the anniversary of the shootings at Virginia
Tech, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed into law more than
30 bills in response to the massacre.
The new laws, which take effect July 1, are intended to
improve Virginia’s mental-health system.
“The Virginia Tech tragedy reminded us that we must
address the mental-health needs of those in our family,
among our friends and in the community,” Kaine said
when signing the bills this past Wednesday.
“We will make significant investments in our mentalhealth
system, and the bills before me today will establish
standards for the system and increase accountability.”
Many of the bills deal specifically with minors and
college students (see sidebar). Other new laws increase
gun-control restrictions.
House bill 709 (sponsored by Delegate Bill Janis, DHenrico)
and Senate bill 226 (sponsored by Sen. Ryan
McDougle, R-Mechanicsville) will augment the questions
required on state background checks to purchase a firearm.
Applicants will be asked whether they ever have been
involuntarily committed to mental-health treatment.
Senate bill 216 (sponsored by Sen. John Edwards,
D-Roanoke) prohibits those who have been involuntarily
committed from purchasing, possessing or transporting
a firearm.
Other bills address the confidentiality of court and
medical records for mental-health patients. They will make
it easier for government agencies to share such records.
House bill 559 (sponsored by Delegate Rob Bell,
R-Charlottesville) changes the criteria for involuntarily
committing someone to a mental-health treatment program.
Currently, a person must be deemed an imminent threat
to others or to their own safety to be involuntarily committed.
Under the new law, a person can involuntarily be
committed if there is any possibility of the person doing
harm to themselves or others in the near future.
Senate Joint Resolution 42 (sponsored by Sen. Louise
Lucas, D-Portsmouth) requests a study on mental-care
reform by the Joint Commission on Health Care.
The state budget for the 2008 biennium will include
$28.3 million in funding for emergency services, outpatient
services and mental-health case management. An extra
$13.4 million will fund other mental-health programs
across the commonwealth.
The legislation and budget allocations were in response
to the deaths at Virginia Tech on April 16, when a student
with a history of mental-health problems shot and killed
32 people before killing himself.
In memory of the victims, Kaine has ordered the state
flag be lowered to half-staff this Wednesday, the anniversary
of the massacre. The governor also has called for a
statewide moment of silence at noon that day, followed
by a tolling of bells.
Accompanied by first lady Anne Holton, Kaine plans to
address a convocation at Virginia Tech Wednesday.
—
Bills that deal specifically
with minors and college
students: