[NYAPRS Enews] W Post: Virginia Senate Rejects 'Kendra's Law' Styled Initiative

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Va. Senate Bill Scales Back Mental Health Initiatives

By Sandhya Somashekhar   Washington Post    February 6, 2008

 

RICHMOND, Feb. 6 -- The Virginia Senate Finance Committee endorsed a
bill Wednesday to revise some aspects of the state's mental health
system but rejected a proposal to give relatives, social workers,
doctors and other caretakers more power to force the mentally ill into
outpatient treatment.

 

The more far-reaching proposal, which would have been similar to a
forced-treatment statute in New York known as "Kendra's Law," was
"laudable" but too expensive, Sen. R. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania) said
during the committee meeting.

 

State financial analysts had estimated a provision similar to the New
York law would cost from $7 million to $22 million on top of the $42
million that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) has included for mental health
initiatives in his proposed budget.

 

Various changes to the state's mental health laws, incorporated in the
bill that won committee approval, represent an attempt to close gaps in
care and monitoring exposed after last year's Virginia Tech massacre.
Student Seung Hui Cho of Fairfax County shot 32 students and faculty
members to death before killing himself. Cho had encounters with mental
health workers before the rampage.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR200802
0601951_pf.html
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR20080
20601951_pf.html>   

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20080206/9fed468b/attachment.html>