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2004 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor

Chairman: William C. Wampler, Jr.

Date of Meeting: March 1, 2004
Time and Place: 1/2 hour after adjournment, Senate Room B, GAB

H.B. 59

Patron: Parrish

Electric utility restructuring; electrical generating facility certificates. Extends by two years the expiration date of certificates granted by the State Corporation Commission to construct and operate electrical generating facilities for which applications were filed with the Commission prior to July 1, 2002. This bill identical to SB 239.

H.B. 390

Patron: Amundson

Virginia Health Spa Act; requirement for bond or letter of credit. Increases the amount of bond or letter of credit that health spas with 1,250 or fewer contracts must file with the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill would increase the bond or letter of credit required for health spas with 250 or fewer contracts from $10,000 to $30,000. For each additional 250 contracts, the required bond or letter of credit amount will increase by $5,000, except that no increase is required for health spas with more than 1,250 contracts.

H.B. 471

Patron: Nixon

Non-profit credit counseling; penalty. Requires credit counseling agencies to obtain a license from the State Corporation Commission in order to provide or offer to provide to consumers debt management plans. Under consumer debt management plans, an agency agrees to engage in debt settlement or debt pooling and distribution services on behalf of a consumer with the consumer's creditors, and the consumer gives money or control of his funds to the agency for distribution to the consumer's creditors. Licensees shall provide to consumers a statement that providing debt management plan services on behalf of the consumer may have a derogatory effect upon the consumer's credit report. The SCC's Bureau of Financial Institutions may investigate and examine the affairs, business, premises, and records of any person licensed or required to be licensed. The SCC may impose a fine or penalty on violators not exceeding $1,000. Any person operating without a license in violation of the Act shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. Any person who suffers loss by reason of a violation may bring a civil action. The SCC may request the Attorney General to investigate a suspected violation. Any violation constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The measure does not apply to a person licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth. An agency that had been licensed under the current statutes regulating non-profit debt counseling agencies, which laws are repealed by this measure, is required to reapply for the new license by October 1, 2004.

H.B. 472

Patron: Nixon

Payment of wages and salaries; prepaid debit cards. Eliminates the requirement that payments of wages by prepaid debit cards be deposited into a trust account. Payments of wages by credit to prepaid debit cards are specifically authorized, provided the employee affirmatively consents and the employer discloses any applicable fees.

H.B. 529

Patron: Hogan

Unemployment compensation; definition of employment services. Excludes from the definition of "employment services," for the purposes of unemployment compensation benefits, work performed by an inmate of a custodial or penal institution for the institution or while in the Diversion Center Incarceration Program. In a conforming amendment, the bill eliminates the exemption of employers with regard to such inmates from responsibility for benefit charging.

H.B. 599

Patron: Dudley

Enterprise zone designations. Adds 5 enterprise zones to the number the Governor may designate, for a total of 65. The bill also requires the new zones to be designated in localities that have no enterprise zones as of July 1, 2004. The bill also increases the $16 million cap to $18 million, effective July 1, 2006.

H.B. 609

Patron: Gear

Fire insurance; flood coverage; notices. Requires insurers issuing a new or renewal contract or policy of fire insurance that excludes coverage for damage due to flood, surface water, waves, tidal water, or any other overflow of a body of water, to provide written notice to the policyholder that contents coverage may be available with the flood policy for an additional premium. Current law requires an insurer to notify a policyholder when flood coverage is excluded from a policy or contract and that flood insurance is available from the insurance agent or the National Flood Insurance Program. The bill incorporates HB 1371.

H.B. 686

Patron: Rapp

Price gouging. Prohibits suppliers from selling, leasing, or licensing necessary goods and services during times of disaster at an unconscionable price. To determine whether a price increase is unconscionable, the court must consider, among other factors, whether the price charged by the supplier during the time of disaster grossly exceeded the price at which the same or similar goods or services were readily obtainable in the trade area during the 10 days prior to the time of disaster. A violation constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, though aggrieved persons will not be able to bring a private cause of action. This bill incorporates HB 971 and is identical to SB 242.

H.B. 688

Patron: Morgan

Payday Loan Act; requirements; charges. Requires payday lenders to retain their borrowers' checks. The bill prohibits application of post-maturity interest to loan fees and limits borrowers' right to make partial payments to the period prior to loan maturity. Payday lenders are required to return paid loan agreements to borrowers marked "paid" or "canceled" and to keep copies of such agreements. The measure also provides that the Payday Loan Act's provisions exclusively control the post-judgment interest and other charges and expenses payday lenders may recover from borrowers.

H.B. 754

Patron: May

Public service companies; limited liability companies. Provides that limited liability companies that have been issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity by the State Corporation Commission authorizing them to furnish the services of a public utility are public service companies for purposes of Title 56 unless otherwise indicated. The bill gives such limited liability companies the same powers already conferred upon public service corporations (i) to enter upon the lands or waters of any person in order to conduct examinations or surveys relating to proposed or existing lines or works and (ii) to acquire property by the exercise of the right of eminent domain. The bill contains a provision stating that it does not apply to actions for damages to persons or property done by such a limited liability company that are sustained prior to July 1, 2004.

H.B. 798

Patron: Petersen

Telecommunications; telephonic reading services. Authorizes funding for the operation of telephonic reading services through the assessments already being received for the telecommunications relay service. "Telephonic reading services" means audio information provided by telephone to the blind and visually impaired through a nationally available, multi-state service center to registered readers in all parts of the Commonwealth, including the interstate acquisition and distribution of daily newspapers and other information.

H.B. 818

Patron: Drake

Homeowners insurance; nonrenewal. Prohibits an insurer from refusing to renew a homeowners insurance policy solely because a covered claim was made more than 60 months prior to the policy expiration date. This bill incorporates HB 731.

H.B. 898

Patron: Wardrup

Homeowners insurance deductibles. Requires an insurer who unilaterally changes the deductible on a policy insuring an owner-occupied dwelling to provide written notice to the insured stating that the deductible has been changed and explaining how the new deductible will be applied. This section will apply to policies renewed in Virginia on or after October 1, 2004.

H.B. 920

Patron: Phillips

Natural gas; access by certain public schools. Authorizes a company or its affiliate to make a first or direct sale, ancillary transmission, or delivery service of natural or manufactured gas to certain public schools in the Commonwealth when the schools are not located in a territory for which a certificate to provide gas service has been issued by the State Corporation Commission. Such sale, transmission, or delivery to public schools in the counties of Dickinson, Wise, Russell, and Buchanan, and the city of Norton may be made without regard to the number of schools involved and such schools shall not count in determining whether the company is providing sales or transmission or delivery services to fewer than 35 customers.

H.B. 935

Patron: Marshall, D.W.

State-mandated health insurance; Consumer Choice Benefits Plans. Permits companies offering accident or sickness insurance policies or plans to offer a policy or plan that does not offer or provide all of the existing state-mandated health benefits. Each insurer or health maintenance organization providing such a benefits plan must provide a written disclosure, that must be signed by the prospective or current insured. Any plan must include payment to dentists and certain other health care providers for covered services; coverage of cancer screenings; the prohibition against discrimination; the certificate of quality assurance requirements; coverage of newborn, adopted, and dependent children; coverage of mental health and substance abuse services; coverage for diabetes; and the option relating to conversion coverage. This bill is identical to SB 679.

H.B. 938

Patron: Kilgore

Telecommunications; competition policy. Directs the State Corporation Commission, in resolving issues and cases concerning local exchange telephone service under the federal Telecommunications Act or state law to consider it in the public interest, as appropriate, to treat all providers of local exchange telephone services in an equitable fashion and without undue discrimination and, to the greatest extent possible, apply the same rules to all providers of local exchange telephone services. The Commission is also required to consider it in the public interest, as appropriate, to promote competitive product offerings, investments, and innovations from all providers of such services in all areas of the Commonwealth and to reduce or eliminate any requirement to price retail and wholesale products and services at levels that do not permit providers of such services to recover their costs of those products and services.

H.B. 1007

Patron: Rust

Homeowners insurance; exclusions for attractive nuisances and dangerous or vicious animals. Authorizes the issuer of a homeowner's policy, with the insured's written consent, to exclude from coverage any liability resulting from an injury caused by a dangerous or vicious animal owned by or in the care, custody, or control of the insured if such animal has bitten, attacked, or inflicted injury on a person or companion animal. This bill incorporates HB 1332.

H.B. 1016

Patron: Dillard

Group accident and sickness insurance coverage. Allows coverage under a group accident and sickness insurance policy to be extended to insure any person who the insured group member elects, provided such extension of coverage is agreed to by the insurer and the group policyholder. The measure also specifically authorizes coverage under such group policies to be extended to children of the insured group member who are older than 19, or 25 if a full-time student, as may mutually be agreed upon by the insurer and group policyholder. Currently, group policy coverage may be extended only to the insured group member's spouse and children under 19, or dependent children under 25 who are full-time students.

H.B. 1155

Patron: Morgan

Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact. Provides that Virginia is a Compacting State under the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact. The Compact is intended to: (i) promote and protect the interest of consumers of individual and group annuity, life insurance, disability income, and long-term care insurance products; (ii) develop uniform standards for those insurance products; (iii) act as a central clearinghouse to review insurance products and advertisements; (iv) approve product filings and advertisements; (v) improve coordination of regulatory resources and expertise among state insurance departments regarding uniform standards and review of relevant insurance products; (vi) create the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission, and (vii) perform other related functions consistent with state regulation of the business of insurance. This bill also appoints the Commissioner of Insurance as the Commonwealth's representative to the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission.

H.B. 1342

Patron: Morgan

Motor vehicle insurance; unfair settlement practices. Provides, with respect to a glass claim arising under a motor vehicle insurance policy, that an insurer's failure to disclose (i) the true nature of a third party representative; (ii) that an insured is not required to use the facility, service or products recommended by the insurer; or (iii) that the insured or its third-party representative has a financial interest in the recommended replacement or repair facility, an unfair settlement practice, constitutes unfair settlement practices. The referring insurer is accountable for any violations by the third party representative.

H.B. 1404

Patron: Byron

Insurance; group accident and sickness insurance coverage for dependent children. Allows insurers, at the policyholder's election, to extend coverage under a group accident and sickness insurance policy to include any child of an insured group member, regardless of the child's age.

H.B. 1407

Patron: Tata

Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act. Increases assessments for participating physicians and hospitals, and nonparticipating physicians on an incremental basis beginning in 2005, to maximums of $5,500, $200,000, and $300, respectively. The bill also establishes threshold birth weight of 2,000 grams (approximately 4.4 pounds) for qualifying infants, and eliminates the authority to pay attorney's fees to applicants who are not admitted into the birth injury fund program.

H.B. 1408

Patron: Carrico

Accident and sickness insurance; claims experience. Requires health maintenance organizations to provide, upon request, to those health care plan policyholders which employed an average of at least 100 insured, subscribers or enrollees in the preceding 12-month period, as part of the insured's claims experience record, a (i) summary of claims charges incurred and the amount paid for each claim for the most recent available 24-month period; (ii) a listing of the number of insured or subscribers for whom combined medical costs or claims exceeded $100,000 in the most recently available 12-month period; and (iii) total enrollment in each membership category. The existing disclosure requirements applicable to group accident and sickness insurance policies and subscription contracts are amended to incorporate the new provisions regarding the size of the group policyholder that may request the information and to increase the threshold enrollees for whom information must be disclosed from those with payments or costs in excess of $50,000 to those in excess of $100,000. The measure becomes effective on January 1, 2005.