By Trevor Moncure
Commonwealth Strategy Group
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Gives Report on the Recommendations of the HB 888/SB 176 Workgroup
As you will recall, the General Assembly unanimously passed HB 888 (Watts, D-Fairfax) and SB 176 (Favola, D-Arlington) during the 2024 legislative session. The bill passed with a “re-enactment clause,” meaning that it will have to be voted on again in the 2025 legislative session before it is officially enacted into law. This legislation, if it were reenacted in January 2025, would make it so that patients with neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disabilities would no longer qualify for TDO placements, as those symptoms would be excluded from the statutory definition of mental illness.
For the past four months, PSV/WPS (represented by Trevor Moncure, Dr. Adam Kaul, Dr. Badr Ratnakaran, and others) has participated in a workgroup charged with studying and discussing the potential impact of this legislation, and whether or not reenactment of the original language would be appropriate. Throughout this process, PSV/WPS, in coordination with the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians, the Virginia Health Care Association, and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, maintained the position that while we agree with the intent of the legislation of finding alternative places for these individuals to go in times of crisis, we feel that the removal of this “safety net” would be an inappropriate and unproductive solution to this issue. The workgroup concluded its work in late October after five meetings.
On November 12th, the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources delivered a report with the task force’s official recommendations to the Virginia Behavioral Health Commission. Fortunately, the task force’s official recommendations mostly aligned with those of PSV/WPS. The recommendations mention that the workgroup agreed with the intent of the bill, but correctly identifies that there are limited alternatives at this time and therefore it was recommended that the legislation is not re-enacted as originally written. The bulk of the remaining recommendations advocate for additional resources for institutions that support these individuals.
You can find the task force’s entire report here: https://bhc.virginia.gov/documents/SHHR%20-%20888-176%20Workgroup%20Recommendations%20bhc%20.pdf
Behavioral Health Providers Coalition
The Behavioral Health Providers Coalition is continuing its work in advocating for mental health parity in Virginia. PSV/WPS will be supporting legislation in 2025 that would add additional reporting requirements established by the Bureau of Insurance for insurers to complete, with substantial penalties for non-compliance. This is the first step for a long-term goal, with the intention of this legislation being to gather information that will hopefully shed some light on this issue in the Commonwealth.
The Behavioral Health Provers Coalition is a conglomerate organization of associations specializing in all areas of mental and behavioral health. More information on this group can be found here: https://www.behavioralhealthcoalitionva.com/
PSV Presents Senator Hashmi with the 2024 Legislator of the Year Award
The Psychiatric Society of Virginia presented Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) with the 2024 Legislator of the Year award at the annual fall conference reception in Richmond, VA in October of this year. The award was presented by Trevor Moncure, PSV’s lead lobbyist, and Dr. Badr Ratnakaran, PSV’s current society president. Senator Hashmi is the Chair of the Education & Health Committee in the Virginia State Senate and has been an advocate for mental health reform for the entirety of her political career. Senator Hashmi has recently announced her candidacy to become the next Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia.
2024 Election Results and Looking Ahead to the 2025 Virginia Elections
Donald Trump (R-FL) will return to the oval office in January for a second term following his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) on election night. Republicans will also take the majority in the U.S. Senate and have elected Senator John Thune (R-SD) as the new Senate Majority Leader following Senator Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) announcement that he would step down from the position. Republicans will also maintain the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) retaining his position.
In Virginia, Senator Time Kaine (D) will return to the U.S. Senate for his third term after successfully fending off GOP challenger Hung Cao. In the House of Representatives, no seats were flipped in Virginia, whose delegation will remain 6-5 in favor of Democrats. There are, however, three newly elected Representatives: Suhas Subramanyam (D), Eugene Vindman (D), and John McGuire (R). Both Subramanyam and McGuire are sitting state legislators, so special elections will be held to replace them in the General Assembly. It is expected that Delegate Kannan Srinivasan (D), from Loudoun County, will run for Subramanyam’s seat and is favored in that election. If he were successful, another special election would need to take place to fill his seat in the House of Delegates. It is unclear at this time when either of these special elections will take place.
In other news, the City of Petersburg overwhelmingly voted to approve the development of a casino in the city. In Richmond, Dr. Danny Avula, a practicing pediatrician, decisively won the mayoral election. Dr. Avula is the former Commissioner of Social Services and was the statewide vaccine coordinator for the Department of the Health.
Looking ahead, all eyes will be on Virginia for our statewide elections next November. Virginia will elect a new Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Attorney General. All 100 seats of the Virginia House of Delegates will also be up for election. Because Virginia’s gubernatorial election always takes place a year after the U.S. presidential election, the results of the vote are often viewed as a referendum on the party in power. As of right now, the two likely candidates for Governor will be Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D) and current Lieutenant-Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R). Both of them have already filed for candidacy and are expected to face little to no opposition in their respective primaries.
For more information on elections in Virginia, please refer to the Virginia Public Access Project: https://www.vpap.org/.
