This story was reported and written by VPM News.
The Virginia Behavioral Health Commission voted Tuesday on several proposed law and budgetary changes ahead of the 2025 General Assembly session.
The bipartisan 12-person panel met in Richmond to discuss recommendations made by the commission’s staff.
High-profile cases, including the in-custody death of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno at a state psychiatric hospital, have driven additional state funding and legislation to bolster Virginia’s mental health care system. This includes “Irvo’s Law,” which allows loved ones to be with family members undergoing a mental health crisis at the hospital; more money for mobile crisis units and crisis receiving centers; and to address staffing issues as well as other challenges.
Among the potential changes adopted by the commission was a proposal to clarify in state code that law enforcement officers aren’t required to arrest someone under a temporary detention or emergency custody order.
Some lawmakers on the commission said law enforcement’s discretion to make such arrests is already codified, but raised concerns over police either not knowing about that policy or not believing it’s included in state code.
“One of the reasons we’re proposing to put this into statute is apparently it’s not that well known,” state Sen. Barbara Favola (D–Arlington) said at Tuesday’s meeting, adding that including the change “won’t make it known.”
To address this, Favola and state Sen. Russet Perry (D–Loudoun) proposed additional language to ensure state and local police undergo training to ensure they know about their discretion on arresting people under such orders.
Commission members evoked the death of Otieno, who was arrested and sent to jail after meeting the criteria for a temporary detention order, without mentioning him by name.
Del. Carrie Coyner (R–Chesterfield) said the commission’s aim was to make sure what happened to Otieno doesn’t happen again.
“That’s our underlying goal,” Coyner said. “To make sure that someone in crisis gets the help that they need and they stay safe and alive. We want them safe and alive.”
Other proposals adopted by the commission include:
- Adding budget language to create a housing benefit for Medicaid beneficiaries with serious mental illness
- Adding budget language to direct DBHDS to revise hospital discharge protocols requiring Permanent Supportive Housing screening for all patients, develop assessments for their housing placements, create training for discharge staff
- Add $7.8 million in fiscal year 2026 to develop and establish co-response programs between law enforcement and clinicians
- $5 million budget amendment in FY26 to establish a program for private psychiatric hospitals to fund facilities that increase involuntary patient admissions
- $7.5 million budget amendment for FY26 to restore the School-Based Mental Health Integration program for two years
The commission also adopted a recommendation from its staff to amend state code to make the Autism Advisory Council a permanent commission within the legislative branch and to include a budget amendment for funding.
Another recommended change the panel adopted was a proposal to require the State Inspector General’s Office to keep the behavioral health commission informed of issues related to state facilities and other behavioral health service providers. The commission’s staff said the change would ensure the panel is kept “in the loop” on issues facing the state’s mental health system.
Lawmakers will propose these changes for the 2025 session, which starts Jan. 8, 2025.
Tuesday’s commission meeting comes ahead of the second anniversary of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Right Help, Right Now” plan, a three-year initiative aimed at overhauling Virginia’s mental health care system.
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