January 12, 2013
Representatives of both the House Approriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have been appointed to serve on a Special Joint Subcommittee to meet the following requirements of the DOJ Settlement:
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved the final settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commonwealth of Virginia on August 23, 2012. Pursuant to the agreement, a special subcommittee will review and consult on the administration’s plan to cease residential operations at four of the five state training centers. The objective of the special subcommittee would be to provide feedback to the administration to ensure the plan meets the needs of the vulnerable individuals who are currently receiving care from the Commonwealth’s training centers. The language from the DOJ Settlement Agreement is listed below:
Section III. Serving Individuals with Developmental Disabilities in the Most Integrated Setting
C.9. The Commonwealth has made public its long-standing goal and policy, independent of and adopted prior to this Agreement or the Department of Justice’s findings, of transitioning from an institutional model of care to a community-based system that meets the needs of all individuals with ID/DD, including those with the most complex needs, and of using its limited resources to serve effectively the greatest number of individuals with ID/DD. This goal and policy have resulted in a decline in the population of the state training centers from approximately 6000 individuals to approximately 1000 individuals. The Commonwealth has determined that this significant and ongoing decline makes continued operation of residential services fiscally impractical. Consequently, and in accordance with the Commonwealth’s policy of transitioning its system of developmental services to a community-based system, the Commonwealth will provide to the General Assembly within one year of the effective date of this Agreement, a plan, developed in consultation with the Chairmen of Virginia’s House of Delegates Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, to cease residential operations at four of the five training centers by the end of State Fiscal Year 2021.