Bill Text: VA SB1224 | 2019 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Protective services; adult abuse and exploitation, multidisciplinary teams.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2019-03-22 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0775) [SB1224 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-SB1224-Comm_Sub.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 15.2-1627.6 as follows:
§15.2-1627.6. Coordination of multidisciplinary response to adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation; penalty.
A. The attorney for the Commonwealth in each political subdivision in the Commonwealth may coordinate the establishment of a multidisciplinary response to adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation, which may be an existing multidisciplinary team, to (i) conduct regular reviews of new and ongoing reports of adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation of incapacitated adults and, at the request of any member of the team, may conduct reviews of any other reports of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation in the jurisdiction involving an incapacitated or older adult and (ii) establish and review guidelines for the community's response to adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation of incapacitated adults.
B. The following individuals, or their designees, may be invited to participate in review meetings of the multidisciplinary team: the attorney for the Commonwealth, law-enforcement officials responsible for the investigation of adult abuse offenses involving an incapacitated adult in the jurisdiction, a representative of the local adult protective services unit, a representative of the area agency on aging, and the director of the victim/witness program serving the jurisdiction, if one exists. In addition, the attorney for the Commonwealth may invite other individuals, or their designees, including a health professional knowledgeable in the treatment of, and the provision of services to, incapacitated or older adults who have been abused, neglected, or exploited.
C. All information and records related to adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation and held by the multidisciplinary team shall be confidential and used only for the purposes permitted under subsection A. However, the multidisciplinary team may share such information with any individual described in subsection B during the course of a review meeting, provided that the individual with whom information is shared executes a sworn agreement to maintain the confidentiality of such information. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no member of the multidisciplinary team or individual with whom information is shared pursuant to this subsection shall be required to disclose any confidential information learned or shared during a review meeting. Upon conclusion of the review meeting, all information and records used or shared during the meeting shall be returned to the original custodian or destroyed.
Any person who violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
