SB1102 will enhance the provision of Medicaid consumer-directed supports. The Virginia Association of Centers for Independent Living supports this legislation.

The Arc of Northern Virginia strongly supports SB1102. We have worked regularly with families who wait years for a Medicaid Waiver. When one is finally granted, they're shocked with all of the work they must take on to hire, fire, and train care attendants who have incredibly high turnover rates. SB1102 would provide some training to those attendants directly from DMAS. We believe this would decrease the burden on people with disabilities and families and increase the morale of Personal Support Attendants who would get some formal training and assistance taking on a challenging job.

Available to answer questions that the committee may have

SB 1235 was tabled this morning 2/11/2021. Del Orrock asked if it could be discussed and voted on when Senator Peake was in the room. I speak as a collective voice for parents in Virginia because like myself, I had to sign a consent form after my 14 yr old had a medical procedure without my knowledge or consent, but for her to have reparative surgery to be performed, I had to sign a consent form. To add insult to injury, I was responsible for the cost of the follow-up care in the amount of $27,000. A story you have heard before. Please pass this bill out of committee and ask yourself, please, as a parent or grandparent why would you not want to know or consent to having a stranger talk to your child or grandchild? The committee members are comprised of parents and grandparents and deserve a right to know and to give consent to anyone talking to your child or grandchild on healthcare, sex, education and upbringing - not strangers. You love your children more than strangers and certainly have their best interest at heart not a stranger. Please pass this bill on.

Dear Mr. Chairman and Members of the House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee: On behalf of Virginia’s sexual and domestic violence victim advocacy community, the Action Alliance is asking you to oppose SB 1235 (Peake). Many of our 65 sexual and domestic violence agencies (SDVAs) statewide, including the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance, are contracted partners (primarily as grant recipients) with the Virginia Department of Health. Part of our work includes making sure that minor victims of child abuse, sexual assault, dating violence, and harassment have access to information on accessing services if they are victimized, on preventing violence in their peer groups, and on supporting healthy relationships and norms. This bill, with amendments, as written, would have a chilling effect on minor access to reporting violence, seeking justice and healing, and to efforts to promote long-term health and wellbeing. The CDC reports that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced sexual violence, dating violence, or stalking and that of those numbers, almost 70% of women and 54% of men who were victimized first experienced this violence between the ages of 11 and 24. Given the magnitude of sexual and dating violence among youth, the public health science calls on us to treat this as we would any other epidemic. Our programs, who contract with VDH to support information sharing on preventing sexual violence and dating violence, offers us an inoculation, a means by which young people can access critical conversations and education that serve to prevent issues like relationship violence, unintended pregnancy, and adverse childhood experiences before they can ever occur. This is essential and any policy seeking to make it less accessible to youth is one that also disregards public health and safety. Thanks for your time and attention to issues impacting the lives of survivors of abuse and the advocates who serve them. I'm always happy to talk more about this and our programming to prevent sexual and domestic violence in Virginia, --- Jonathan Yglesias Policy Director Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance 1118 W. Main Street Richmond, VA 23220 Office: (804) 377.0335 Find us on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Statewide Hotline | Call: 800.838.8238 | Text: 804.793.9999 | Chat: www.vadata.org//chat/ LGBTQ Helpline | Call: 866.356.6998 | Text: 804.793.9999 | Chat: www.vadata.org//chat/

RE: SB 1302, Crisis Call Center Fund Dear Chair Sickles and Members of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee: I am writing on behalf of Inseparable, a growing coalition of people from across the country who share a common goal to fundamentally improve mental healthcare policy to heal ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. This year, as the recovery from the COVID pandemic begins, America cannot afford to let mental health care fall further behind. Because of the dramatic increase in mental health crises, it has never been more important to invest in mental health and addiction care policy and services. We applaud Senator McPike for introducing SB1302. The success of the new mental health emergency hotline (988) is dependent on a timely and well-resourced nationwide rollout. Key to this is securing expanded and sustainable funds for not only crisis centers, but also for the mental health workforce that will deal with expected increase in demand and provide follow-on services. Like other mental health advocacy groups in the state and nationally, we are concerned that the current $0.12 fee in the bill is not sufficient to cover vital costs. We ask you to please urgently revisit the financial costs that will be generated by the establishment of the hotline and revise the fee amount on the bill. While we appreciate that there are plans to make increases in the future, Virginians are suffering today and need adequate support now. Sincerely, Krithika Harish Inseparable.us

February 11, 2021 Delegate Mark D. Sickles, Chair HWI Committee Virginia General Assembly RE: SB 1302, Crisis Call Center Fund Dear Chair Sickles and Members of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee: NAMI Virginia is part of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Our mission is to promote recovery and improve the quality of life of Virginians with mental illness through support, education and advocacy. We would like to express our gratitude to Senator McPike for introducing SB 1302, the Crisis Call Center Fund, and to the Committee for hearing this bill today. NAMI supports the vision outlined in the bill, but we believe the bill should be strengthened by small changes, which we believe are critical to meeting the needs of Virginians with serious mental illness. NAMI’s members frequently come to us in need of help and support after enduring life-shattering circumstances. Too often, those circumstances include law enforcement. I’d like to share two brief examples to highlight the pain of inadequate investment in a mental health crisis service system. Recently, a Virginia man reached out to NAMI, distraught. His sibling had been saying things that didn’t make sense and was increasingly paranoid and lashing out, sensing threats where none existed. After an altercation with his partner, who called 911, police came and arrested the man, who was experiencing psychosis and had a family history of serious mental illness. With his family’s advocacy, this man was eventually given a mental health examination. The man and his family were traumatized by the police intervention and the daunting and stigmatizing challenges of navigating the criminal justice system. If they had been able to call 988 and receive a mobile crisis team response instead of police, there would have been no arrest, no criminal record and legal fees, and far less trauma for this Virginia family. Instead, the family’s sole focus could have been on helping this man get the care that he needed – not navigating the criminal justice system. In another instance, a person with bipolar disorder became manic and confused and tried to leave the state. When the family called for help, police arrested their child and held him in jail. Desperate, the family spent heartbreaking hours and significant resources trying to obtain not only legal help, but mental health treatment for their beloved child. Despite their resources, they were unable to navigate an incomprehensible system that criminalizes people with serious mental illness. There are countless families in Virginia whose lives have been turned upside down because of the lack of a sufficient behavioral health crisis system in Virginia. While we appreciate that there are plans to gradually improve this, the slow pace of investment does not do justice to the lives of Virginians who are suffering today and who deserve an investment of more than $0.12 a month. We respectfully request that you reconsider the level of E-911 fee for the Crisis Call Center Fund, clarify that it can be used to support mobile crisis teams, and further clarify that the annual report should include not only recommendations on crisis system needs, but also a recommendation on fee levels needed in the future to support the level of mobile response needed for the complex and acute mental health needs in our communities throughout Virginia. Respectfully, Kathy Harkey, MAPP, BSP, BSMDS Executive Director

Although I am supportive of the National 9-8-8 Crisis Line, I am very concerned about linking the 9-1-1 and 9-8-8 funding. By linking the two, the National VDOT 9-1-1 Coordinator and FCC have ruled that Virginia would be considered as diverting 9-1-1 funds. Additionally, the 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) are not adequately funded. Currently the 9-1-1 Wireless Distribution, offsets an average of 12% of a PSAP's operating costs, and this is before the increases from moving to Next Generation Technology. I urge you to de-couple this Bill from 9-1-1. There will be significant value if 9-8-8 has a separate funding stream and separate visibility on carriers bills. Additionally, line 289 and 290 of the Senate Substitute Bill assigns in-house building repeaters as the number 2 priority. Although again while this important, it is restrictive and not the number 2 priority for 911 PSAPs. This should be removed, or at a minimum changed to "investments to improve location accuracy". I would like to speak, but I am receiving a message that requests to speak are closed. I have also reached out to Senator McPike, but have not been successful in getting a return call. I know others have submitted written comments on the Bill as well.

Delegate Mark D. Sickles, Chair Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee RE: SB 1302, Crisis Call Center Fund Dear Chair Sickles and Members of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee: NAMI Virginia is part of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Our mission is to promote recovery and improve the quality of life of Virginians with mental illness through support, education and advocacy. We would like to express our gratitude to Senator McPike for introducing SB 1302, the Crisis Call Center Fund, and to the Committee for hearing this bill today. NAMI supports the vision outlined in the bill, but we believe the bill should be strengthened by small changes, which we believe are critical to meeting the needs of Virginians with serious mental illness. NAMI’s members frequently come to us in need of help and support after enduring life-shattering circumstances. Too often, those circumstances include law enforcement. I’d like to share two brief examples to highlight the pain of inadequate investment in a mental health crisis service system. Recently, a Virginia man reached out to NAMI, distraught. His sibling had been saying things that didn’t make sense and was increasingly paranoid and lashing out, sensing threats where none existed. After an altercation with his partner, who called 911, police came and arrested the man, who was experiencing psychosis and had a family history of serious mental illness. With his family’s advocacy, this man was eventually given a mental health examination. The man and his family were traumatized by the police intervention and the daunting and stigmatizing challenges of navigating the criminal justice system. If they had been able to call 988 and receive a mobile crisis team response instead of police, there would have been no arrest, no criminal record and legal fees, and far less trauma for this Virginia family. Instead, the family’s sole focus could have been on helping this man get the care that he needed–not navigating the criminal justice system. In another instance, a person with bipolar disorder became manic and confused and tried to leave the state. When the family called for help, police arrested their child and held him in jail. Desperate, the family spent heartbreaking hours and significant resources trying to obtain not only legal help, but mental health treatment for their beloved child. Despite their resources, they were unable to navigate an incomprehensible system that criminalizes people with serious mental illness. There are countless families in Virginia whose lives have been turned upside down because of the lack of a sufficient behavioral health crisis system in Virginia. While we appreciate that there are plans to gradually improve this, the slow pace of investment does not do justice to the lives of Virginians who are suffering today and who deserve an investment of more than $0.12 a month. We respectfully request that you reconsider the level of E-911 fees for the Crisis Call Center Fund, clarify that it can be used to support mobile crisis teams, and further clarify that the annual report should include not only recommendations on crisis system needs, but also a recommendation on fee levels needed in the future to support the level of mobile response needed for the complex, acute mental health needs in our Virginia communities. Respectfully yours, Kathy Harkey, MAPP, BSP, BSMDS Executive Director

Available to answer questions that the committee may have

the disAbility Law Center of Virginia supports SB 1421. We thank Senator Edwards for bringing this good bill.