                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT WITH RESPECT TO PUBLIC GUARDIAN AND
CONSERVATOR PROGRAM (§ 51.5-150)

A. The Department shall fund from appropriations received for such purpose a
statewide system of local or regional public guardian and conservator programs.

B. The Department shall, with respect to the public guardian and conservator
programs:

   1. Make and enter into all contracts necessary or incidental to the
   performance of its duties and in furtherance of the purposes as specified in
   this article in conformance with the Public Procurement Act (&#xA7; 2.2-4300
   et seq.);

   2. Contract with local or regional public or private entities to provide
   services as guardians and conservators operating as local or regional Virginia
   public guardian and conservator programs in those cases in which a court,
   pursuant to &#xA7;&#xA7; 64.2-2010 and 64.2-2015, determines that a person is
   eligible to have a public guardian or conservator appointed;

   3. Adopt reasonable regulations in accordance with the Administrative Process
   Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) as appropriate to implement, administer, and manage
   the state and local or regional programs authorized by this article,
   including, but not limited to, the adoption of:
   				a. Minimum training and experience requirements for volunteers and
   professional staff of the local and regional programs;
   				b. An ideal range of staff-to-client ratios for the programs, and adoption
   of procedures to be followed whenever a local or regional program falls below
   or exceeds the ideal range of staff-to-client ratios, which shall include, but
   not be limited to, procedures to ensure that services shall continue to be
   available to those in need and that appropriate notice is given to the courts;
   sheriffs, where appropriate; and the Department;
   				c. Procedures governing disqualification of any program falling below or
   exceeding the ideal range of staff-to-client ratios, which shall include a
   process for evaluating any program that has exceeded the ratio to assess the
   effects falling below or exceeding the ideal range of ratios has, had, or is
   having upon the program and upon the incapacitated persons served by the
   program.
   				The regulations shall require that evaluations occur no less frequently
   than every six months and shall continue until the staff-to-client ratio
   returns to within the ideal range; and
   				d. Person-centered practice procedures that shall:

      1. Focus on the preferences and needs of the individual receiving public
      guardianship services; and

      2. Empower and support the individual receiving public guardianship
      services, to the extent feasible, in defining the direction for his life and
      promoting self-determination and community involvement.

   4. Establish procedures and administrative guidelines to ensure the separation
   of local or regional Virginia public guardian and conservator programs from
   any other guardian or conservator program operated by the entity with whom the
   Department contracts, specifically addressing the need for separation in
   programs that may be fee-generating;

   5. Establish recordkeeping and accounting procedures to ensure that each local
   or regional program (i) maintains confidential, accurate, and up-to-date
   records of the personal and property matters over which it has control for
   each incapacitated person for whom it is appointed guardian or conservator and
   (ii) files with the Department an account of all public and private funds
   received;

   6. Establish criteria for the conduct of and filing with the Department and as
   otherwise required by law: values history surveys, annual decisional
   accounting and assessment reports, the care plan designed for the
   incapacitated person, and such other information as the Department may by
   regulation require;

   7. Establish criteria to be used by the local and regional programs in setting
   priorities with regard to services to be provided;

   8. Take such other actions as are necessary to ensure coordinated services and
   a reasonable review of all local and regional programs;

   9. Maintain statistical data on the operation of the programs and report such
   data to the General Assembly on or before January 1 of each even-numbered year
   as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems
   for the processing of legislative documents regarding the status of the
   Virginia Public Guardian and Conservator Program and the identified
   operational needs of the program. Such report shall be posted on the
   Department&#8217;s website. In addition, the Department shall enter into a
   contract with an appropriate research entity with expertise in gerontology,
   disabilities, and public administration to conduct an evaluation of local
   public guardian and conservator programs from funds specifically appropriated
   and allocated for this purpose, and the evaluator shall provide a report with
   recommendations to the Department and to the Public Guardian and Conservator
   Advisory Board established pursuant to &#xA7; 51.5-149.1. Trends identified in
   the report, including the need for public guardians, conservators, and other
   types of surrogate decision-making services, shall be presented to the General
   Assembly. The Department shall request such a report from an appropriate
   research entity every four years, provided the General Assembly appropriates
   funds for that purpose;

   10. Decennially review the ideal range of staff-to-client ratios for local and
   regional public guardian and conservator programs in the Commonwealth and make
   recommendations as to whether the ratio should be revised to ensure that
   public guardians are able to meet their obligations to incapacitated persons
   pursuant to this article and report its findings and conclusions to the
   Governor and the General Assembly by December 1 of each year in which such
   review is performed; and

   11. Recommend appropriate legislative or executive actions.

C. Nothing in this article shall prohibit the Department from contracting
pursuant to subdivision B 2 with an entity that may also provide privately
funded surrogate decision-making services, including guardian and conservator
services funded with fees generated by the estates of incapacitated persons,
provided such private programs are administered by the contracting entity
entirely separately from the local or regional Virginia public guardian and
conservator programs, in conformity with regulations established by the
Department in that respect.

D. In accordance with the Public Procurement Act (&#xA7; 2.2-4300 et seq.) and
recommendations of the Public Guardian and Conservator Advisory Board, the
Department may contract with a not-for-profit private entity that does not
provide services to incapacitated persons as guardian or conservator to
administer the public guardian and conservator program, and, if it does, the
term &#8220;Department&#8221; when used in this article shall refer to the
contract administrator.

HISTORY: 1998, c. 787, § 2.1-373.12; 2000, c. 463; 2001, c. 844, § 2.2-712;
2005, c. 712; 2010, cc. 411, 801; 2012, cc. 322, 803, 835; 2016, c. 40; 2020, c.
728; 2022, c. 272; 2024, c. 587.