Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on Wednesday signed into law a series of bills overhauling large parts of the state’s mental health system and other legislative reforms that emerged from last year’s Virginia Tech tragedy.
The bills — which range from loosening involuntary-commitment standards to strengthening campus safety to tightening restrictions to mentally ill people’s access to firearms — were part of a rare bipartisan legislative effort in the wake of theApril 16 massacre.
Their approval comes as Blacksburg prepares for the first anniversary of the shootings, in which deranged gunman and student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty before taking his own life.
Much of the legislation sprouted from the findings of the Virginia Tech Review Panel convened by Kaine shortly afterward.
“I think in that respect it shows that the General Assembly is being responsive to the issues and concerns that were identified as a result of the very rigorous and intensive review of our tragedy by the governor’s review commission,” said Larry Hincker, Virginia Tech’s chief spokesman.
The policy reforms are accompanied by a $42 million spending boost for mental health services passed last month in the assembly’s two-year budget.
Chief among them was the omnibus mental health package, which includes the changes to involuntary commitment, as well as requirements for better disclosure of information among parties and the presence of mental health staff at commitment hearings.
Among the bundle of other bills signed by Kaine Wednesday are measures that mandate the reporting of an involuntary commitment to a central criminal records database that restrict firearms purchases, and require state colleges and universities to keep and develop crisis- and emergency-management plans.
The state’s mental health problems are far from solved with the bills’ passage, said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, who added he was nevertheless “pleased with what’s been accomplished this year.”
“Certainly after working on this legislation for five years, we’ve made little tiny steps … this year we’ve taken some real significant strides forward,” he said.
