Mental Health Reform Bills Advance in Va.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Spurred by the deadliest campus shooting in the nation's history, a Senate committee endorsed a package of mental health reform bills Wednesday.

The Finance Committee unanimously voted to send the measures to the Senate floor, where they will be taken up early next week. The Courts of Justice Committee previously had approved the package and sent it to the budget-writing panel.

Senators acknowledged that the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings created a mandate for mental health reforms long delayed by budget constraints. A mentally disturbed student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded dozens more before committing suicide.

"Too many times, it takes a tragedy for us to get critical mass behind a funding issue," said Sen. William C. Wampler, R-Bristol.

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax and sponsor of the most sweeping of the five bills, said the legislature is adding $43 million to a "shamefully underfunded" mental health system. That, she said, is a good start.

The Tech shooting exposed flaws in the state's mental health system, according to a commission appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to investigate the tragedy. Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005 and was ordered to receive outpatient mental health care, but he never got it.

Howell's bill would relax the standard for involuntary commitment to a mental health facility. Under current law, a person proven to be an "imminent danger" to himself or others can be forced into treatment. The bill would change that standard to a "substantial likelihood" that the person will cause physical harm to himself or others.

A 30-member commission, appointed by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr., began examining the mental health system months before the Virginia Tech shootings and had recommended relaxing the involuntary commitment standard.

Howell's bill also would require better monitoring of those receiving outpatient treatment to make sure they get the treatment that is ordered and allow better sharing of mental health records.

Other measures endorsed by the committee would reform the process for committing minors and establish a program addressing the unique mental health needs of veterans.

The panel postponed a handful of other bills until next year because of a lack of funds. Among them was a proposal by Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond, allowing the involuntary commitment of patients who fail to comply with an outpatient treatment plan.

Estimates of the cost of implementing the proposal ranged from just under $11 million to more than $25 million a year.

"In these very uncertain times we're in, we couldn't recommend this bill go forward," said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania and chairman of the subcommittee that reviewed the mental health bills.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)