A panel investigating the Virginia Tech shootings may have greater ability to access health and academic records of gunman Seung-Hui Cho under an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Kaine.
Kaine on Monday signed an order that clarifies the powers of an eight-member panel he appointed to review all aspects of the April 16 shootings that left 33 people dead, including Cho. In the order, Kaine gives the panel "any authority I can give it to pursue records necessary to its mission by court order."
Federal privacy laws have limited the panel's access to Cho's scholastic and mental health records. Kaine's order directs Tech and "other education institutions" to provide the panel with any scholastic and health records it seeks during its investigation. Tech already has turned over Cho's campus counseling records to the panel after getting consent from Cho's family.
Kaine's order also allows the panel to ask the Virginia Crime Commission, a legislative agency, to use its subpoena powers to get access to records the panel is unable to obtain.
The order also states that any records protected by privacy laws would be treated as governor's "working papers" and not made public.
Lawyers assisting the panel recommended that the governor issue the order to better define its mission and legal standing, said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. Since the order was issued, the panel already has obtained a recording of a 2005 hearing in which a Montgomery County special justice ordered Cho to get outpatient mental health treatment.
Source : www.roanoke.com
Kaine on Monday signed an order that clarifies the powers of an eight-member panel he appointed to review all aspects of the April 16 shootings that left 33 people dead, including Cho. In the order, Kaine gives the panel "any authority I can give it to pursue records necessary to its mission by court order."
Federal privacy laws have limited the panel's access to Cho's scholastic and mental health records. Kaine's order directs Tech and "other education institutions" to provide the panel with any scholastic and health records it seeks during its investigation. Tech already has turned over Cho's campus counseling records to the panel after getting consent from Cho's family.
Kaine's order also allows the panel to ask the Virginia Crime Commission, a legislative agency, to use its subpoena powers to get access to records the panel is unable to obtain.
The order also states that any records protected by privacy laws would be treated as governor's "working papers" and not made public.
Lawyers assisting the panel recommended that the governor issue the order to better define its mission and legal standing, said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. Since the order was issued, the panel already has obtained a recording of a 2005 hearing in which a Montgomery County special justice ordered Cho to get outpatient mental health treatment.
Source : www.roanoke.com
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