Virginia’ Attorney General Wants Mental Health, and Immigration Reform in 2008

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Attorney General Bob McDonnell said Tuesday he would focus on mental health reform in response to the Virginia Tech shootings and illegal immigration in the 2008 General Assembly, which convenes Wednesday.

A top priority is lowering the commitment standard for the mentally ill. Currently, someone has to be considered an “imminent danger” to himself or others to be committed. McDonnell and others want that lowered to allow emergency custody orders, temporary detention orders and involuntary commitment for a person who poses a “threat of serious bodily harm.“

“That threshold is so very high that there are people that should be given involuntary mental health treatment that are not captured by that standard,“ McDonnell said of the imminent danger requirement.

Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and himself at Tech’s Blacksburg campus on April 16. Cho had been ruled an “imminent danger to himself” during a court commitment hearing in 2005 and was ordered to receive outpatient mental health care, but he never received the treatment.

McDonnell said he supported several measures dealing with illegal immigrants who wind up in police custody. One bill would require law enforcement officers to notify federal immigration officials if someone in custody appears to be an illegal alien. Another would deny bail for any illegal immigrant who is charged with a crime until after trial.

The Republican attorney general also will support several proposals on the environment, prisoner re-entry, consumer protection and animal cruelty, which became a hot topic last year after NFL star Michael Vick and others were convicted in a dogfighting conspiracy ring in rural Virginia.