Posted on: 10:14 am, January 25, 2014, by Matt Knight, updated on: 10:17am, January 25, 2014

State Senator Creigh Deeds has introduced several bills in the General Assembly to improve the states mental health system. The legislation follows Novembers incident in which Deeds son Gus stabbed the senator before taking his own life.

Deeds will speak about the attack and the states mental health system in an interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Below is the statement Deeds released detailing his proposed legislation:

Dear Friend,

The 2014 session of the General Assembly is streaking by and will soon be a memory. This years session is memorable for several reasons. First, it is the first year of a new governorship, which always brings a certain level of excitement, together with a period of uncertainty as new people get accustomed to new jobs. Second, the legislature convenes with the idea of addressing problems and balancing the budget for all the people of Virginia. While each session resembles the previous one, new legislators and a new administration guarantee a new twist.

For the past several years, I have been forced to deal with the states system of mental health on behalf of my son. In November a lot of issues related to that system were thrust in my face. I am determined to take the experience I have and use what Ive learned to try and prevent future tragedies. To that end, Ive introduced several pieces of legislation.

First, I introduced legislation requiring the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to review the qualifications of workers charged with evaluating people in crisis. Current regulations require the person performing the evaluation to have a Masters degree or its equivalent or be a registered nurse with a certain amount of experience in the psychiatric field. However, based on my experience, it is not clear that every person charged with doing evaluations has the necessary skills and qualifications; I have asked the Department simply to review the regulations and make a report to the General Assembly. Before wholesale changes are made to current law, we need to take into account that which is currently on the books and review whether it works.

Second, Ive called for increasing the amount of time a person may be held under an emergency custody order (ECO). Current law allows a person to be held for four hours with, under certain circumstances, one two hour extension. That time frame is the shortest in the nation. Most states hold people between 24 and 72 hours before a determination is made that they should be held pursuant to a temporary detention order. While that legislation has drawn a lot of fire, specifically from the Virginia Sheriffs Association and the ACLU, it makes sense to me to bring Virginia in line with the rest of the country. There should not be an incident of one who is in need of stabilization services being released, or streeted.

Just as important as extending the time period is to eliminate the requirement that the duration of the ECO be extended by a magistrate. Particularly in rural areas, merely having to seek an extension is a waste of precious time.

Read the original:

Creigh Deeds sponsors bills to improve state’s mental health system