Virginia Code 37.2-204: Appointments to state and local human rights committees
The Board shall appoint a state human rights committee that shall appoint local human rights committees to address alleged violations of human rights of individuals receiving services. One-third of the appointments made to the state or local human rights committees shall be individuals who are receiving or who have received services or family members of such individuals, with at least two individuals who are receiving or who have received public or private mental health, developmental, or substance abuse treatment or habilitation services within five years of the date of their initial appointment on each committee. In addition, at least one appointment to the state and each local human rights committee shall be a health care provider. Remaining appointments shall include lawyers and persons with interest, knowledge, or training in the mental health, developmental, or substance abuse services field. No current employee of the Department, a community services board, or a behavioral health authority shall serve as a member of the state human rights committee. No current employee of the Department, a community services board, a behavioral health authority, or any facility, program, or organization licensed or funded by the Department or funded by a community services board or behavioral health authority shall serve as a member of any local human rights committee that serves an oversight function for the employing facility, program, or organization.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 37.2-204
- Abuse: means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- Board: means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- Community services board: means the public body established pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- Department: means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- Facility: means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- licensed: means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
- Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Substance abuse: means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
1999, c. 969, § 37.1-84.3; 2001, c. 453; 2005, cc. 201, 716; 2012, cc. 476, 507.