Mental Health Law Signed After Va. Tech

By Kristen Gelineau

Associated Press Writer

April 9, 2008

CBNNews.com - RICHMOND, Va. - The governor signed into law Wednesday a package of legislation aimed at tightening the state's mental health system and improving campus security in response to last year's deadly Virginia Tech shootings.

The new laws, which go into effect in July, are intended to improve oversight and accountability of a mental health system harshly criticized after a mentally disturbed student killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech on April 16.

"It has been a difficult year, but it has been a year where people haven't shrinked from trying to learn and improve," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said at the bill-signing ceremony as lawmakers and the parent of a student wounded in the shootings looked on.

The Legislature last month budgeted $42 million to expand community-based mental health treatment across the state.

Killer Seung-Hui 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.

The changes 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 legislation changes that standard to a "substantial likelihood" that the person will cause physical harm to himself or others.

The bills also allow better sharing of mental health records, extend the time a person can be detained for observation, and require representatives of local community services boards, which provide mental health services, to participate in commitment hearings.

Universities also will be required to develop written emergency management plans and establish threat-assessment teams under the legislation. The bills also require that by Jan. 1, 2009, universities must establish comprehensive emergency notification systems.

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times by Cho but survived, said the bills strike a good balance between protecting people's privacy while ensuring adequate protections.

"It's a terrible shame that it took something as terrible as Virginia Tech and the incident there to bring to light so many inadequacies in the mental health system," Goddard said. "I'm sure many people were crying out about these for a long time, and it didn't get the spotlight that it deserved."

Kaine acknowledged that no law can totally eliminate the possibility of someone like Cho again falling through the cracks of the mental health system. But he said the changes will dramatically reduce the risk.

Lawmakers will monitor how the changes are implemented and will study whether additional steps need to be taken, Kaine said.

"This is not the end of what we need to do," he said.

The state has been hoping to stave off lawsuits over the shootings by trying to negotiate a settlement with injured victims and families of the deceased. Under a proposal presented by the state last month, representatives of each of the 32 killed would receive $100,000, with another $800,000 available to the two dozen injured victims.

Kaine declined to speculate on when a deal might be reached or comment on the status of negotiations, saying only that talks had been "very productive."

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