TITLE 51.5. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

§§ 2.2-203, 2.2-510, 2.2-2411, 2.2-2640, 2.2-2646, 2.2-2905, 2.2-3705, 2.2-5302, 37.1-42.1, 37.1-42.2, 51.5-1, 51.5-2, 51.5-40, 51.5-46, 63.1-182.1, and 63.1-314.8 amended; §§ 51.5-39.1 through 51.5-39.12 added; §§ 51.5-36 through 51.5-39 repealed.
Persons with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, or mental illness. Revises the external human rights system for persons with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, or mental illness. The Department for Rights of Virginians with Disabilities is removed from the executive branch and becomes an independent state agency renamed the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy. The bill creates a governing board for the Office, consisting of 11 members who are appointed by the Governor and the General Assembly for staggered terms. No such appointments shall be members of the General Assembly. This board shall hire the agency director, who shall be an attorney in good standing licensed to practice in Virginia. The Office is given the authority to access facilities and programs, receive notification of deaths in state facilities and to protect the confidentiality of records. The bill establishes an ombudsman program, within the new office, to become effective July 1, 2004, and creates the Protection and Advocacy Fund. HB 9; CH. 572 (effective - see bill).

§§ 51.5-9.01, 51.5-16 through 51.5-20, and 63.1-70.1 amended.
Rehabilitative services; vocational. Revises state Code language to reflect changes made in 1998 to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The changes update the list of vocational rehabilitation services, add the new consumer option to develop all or part of the written plan for services with or without the Department of Rehabilitative Services assistance, revise the name of the written plan for services to "Individualized Plan for Employment" to emphasize the plan's goal to achieve an employment outcome and replace the outdated term "sheltered workshop" with "community rehabilitation program." SB 231; CH. 46.

§ 46.2-411 amended; §§ 51.5-12.1 through 51.5-12.4 added; §§ 32.1-73.1 through 32.1-73.4 repealed.
Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative. Moves the statutory language and responsibilities for the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative from the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Advisory Board and Department of Health to the Commissioner and the Department of Rehabilitative Services. The provisions of the program remain the same except that the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Trust Fund will be allocated forty-seven and one-half percent for research on neurotrauma, forty-seven and one-half percent for rehabilitative services, and five percent for the Department of Rehabilitative Services' costs for administering and staffing the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Advisory Board. Enactment clauses repeal the present health provisions, continue the previously appointed Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Advisory Board, and preserve the Board of Health's regulations and grant application, review, and award procedures until the Commissioner of Rehabilitative Services promulgates regulations. SB 620; CH. 60.

§§ 37.1-179 and 37.1-179.1 amended; § 51.5-14.1 added.
Licensure of providers of services. Grants the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services the authority to issue licenses to providers of day support, in-home support or crisis stablization services funded through the Individual and Families Developmental Disabilities Support Waiver. The Department of Rehabilitative Services shall collaborate with the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services in activities related to licensing providers of services under such waiver. These activities include involving advocacy and consumer groups who represent persons with developmental disabilities in the regulatory process; training the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, local human rights committees and the State Human Rights Committee on the unique needs and preferences of individuals with developmental disabilities; assisting in the development of regulatory requirements for such providers; and providing technical assistance in the regulatory process and in performing annual inspections and complaint investigations. SB 504; CH. 56 (effective - see bill).

§§ 51.5-54 through 51.5-58 amended.
Rehabilitative services; assistive loan fund. Permits the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority to make loans available to people with disabilities for entrepreneurial purposes. HB 832; CH. 19.

§§ 51.5-60 through 51.5-105 and 51.5-106 through 51.5-114. See § 63.1-1.1; SB 303.

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