Days after a damaging report on how the state supports the disabled, Gov. Bob McDonnell asked legislators to fund a trust to help transition people with intellectual disabilities from state training centers to community-based care.
The legislation he sent down Wednesday also would direct the secretary of health and human resources to plan for the transitions, in a process that could take years and cost millions of dollars.
More than 6,000 Virginians are on a waiting list for community services, about 3,000 of them listed as "urgent." A 2009 study estimated that it would cost the state more than $2 billion over 10 years to eliminate the waiting list.
It will be up to the legislature to decide how much to put in the trust fund, which would be reserved for mental-health spending and not up for grabs for other services.
Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, who has advocated for developmental-disability funding and will carry the trust fund bill in the House, said he would like to see roughly $30 million to start.
The U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into state services, released Feb. 10, highlighted that hundreds of mentally and physically challenged people are languishing in state facilities ready for discharge. The probe could result in litigation if the state does not react appropriately.
Federal officials are giving the state about 45 days to respond to findings affecting five state institutions housing 1,100 individuals.
Some people have been ready for discharge for more than a decade and at the current rate, "the vast majority" of people at the Central Virginia Training Center "will not move into the community during their lifetime."
Bill Hazel, Virginia's secretary of health and human resources, told a House money committee Wednesday that the report urges an opportunity for training center residents to move to a community-based setting, which will require the state to "sketch out a way to address the community capacity" and how to pay for it.
The measure that McDonnell sent down Wednesday directs Hazel to report on progress twice yearly starting in June. He said the administration does not know what it will cost to address the problems raised in the report, but some lawmakers stressed that the situation had built over time.
"It's going to cost a lot of money … to resolve this problem. And it's going to take a while," said Del. Clarence E. Phillips, D-Dickenson.
Jamie Liban, executive director of The Arc of Virginia, said she was encouraged by the focused conversation about moving toward a community-based system.
"There have been generations of parents who've been fighting for the movement to community-based care, and today was a significant acknowledgement that it's time to do that," she said.
In advance of the report, McDonnell proposed spending $30 million as part of his recent budget amendments to create community-based care slots, among other things.
omeola@timesdispatch.com
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