Assembly rebuffs attempt to protect state training centers

RICHMOND

A Virginia Beach lawmaker’s attempt to prolong the life of Southeastern Virginia Training Center and other state institutions for the mentally disabled has been rebuffed by the General Assembly.

Del. Bob Tata’s bill, HB1790, would have prohibited training centers from discharging residents without their consent or that of their guardians -- in effect, guaranteeing them lifetime residency.

The measure was enacted Saturday, but with an amendment providing that it won’t take effect unless it is re-enacted next year, essentially nullifying it.

SVTC, in Chesapeake, is one of five state institutions for people with mental and developmental disabilities. The centers have found themselves in the crosshairs of a scathing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which found that many of their residents are unnecessarily institutionalized and should be moved into less restrictive settings in the community.

Virginia is one of only a handful of states that still house mentally disabled people in large institutions.

Tata introduced his measure at the urging of parents who worry that their children – in many cases adults who have lived in the centers for years – will be forced out with no place to go.

“They want to make sure that when they’re gone, their children will have a place to stay,” Tata said.

Jane Anthony, co-president of the parents’ group at Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax, said the centers’ most profoundly disabled residents would be unable to function in a community setting because communities lack the necessary services to handle them.

Anthony’s son at NVTC is 35 and has the mental capacity of a 6-month-old.

“They’re not Forrest Gump. They don’t do well in the community. So what are you going to do with them?” Anthony said. “The community isn’t ready yet. Let’s get the community ready first.”

But several lawmakers said Tata’s bill would have complicated the state’s negotiations with the Justice Department as it tries to stave off a federal lawsuit. The legislature has added $30 million to the current state budget to speed up the transition of residents from the institutions into communities.

Tata’s bill “runs directly in the face of what the Department of Justice is trying to do,” said Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington County. Hope estimated that up to half the residents in the training centers are high-functioning enough that they could be moved out now.

The population at the Chesapeake center, the smallest of the five state institutions, has dropped from 200 to 125. It is slated to drop to 75 when a new $23 million replacement facility is completed later this year.

Pilot writer Elizabeth Simpson contributed to this report.