Secretary Janet Kelly told the Health & Human Services committee that HHR has invested heavily in behavioral health and is preparing legislative priorities and operational steps on nursing homes, child welfare and Medicaid implementation during the administration's remaining months.

HB1414 would expand and clarify who in hospital settings must report suspected child abuse to local child welfare authorities, set a 24-hour reporting window, and increase statutory penalties for failures to report in institutional settings; the committee adopted clarifying amendments and referred the bill to Finance.

A substitute to define and strengthen 'reasonable/active efforts' in Virginia foster-care law was reported and sent to Appropriations after divided committee discussion about Title IV‑E alignment, implementation costs and form changes.