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2015 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Finance

Co-Chair: Walter A. Stosch - Co-Chair: Charles J. Colgan

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Lisa Wallmeyer, Nicole Brenner
Date of Meeting: February 23, 2015
Time and Place: 10:30 a.m. Senate Room A

H.B. 1570 Child day centers and family day homes; regulations, national background check required, report.

Patron: Orrock

Unlicensed, unregistered family day homes; notice to Department of Social Services and notice to parents. Requires fingerprint-based national criminal history records checks for licensed child day centers and family day homes. The bill also requires family day homes providing care for five or more children, other than the children of the provider or children that reside in the home, for compensation to be licensed by the Department of Social Services. Currently, only family day homes providing care for six or more children, other than the children of the provider or children that reside in the home, are required to be licensed. The bill also requires local commissioners of the revenue or other local business license officials to report to the Department of Social Services on a quarterly basis the name, address, and contact information for any child day center or family day home to which a business license was issued; requires the Department of Social Services to promulgate regulations requiring licensed and registered child day centers and family day homes to notify the parent of every child enrolled in the child day center or family day home, in writing, of any emergency situation that occurs while the child is receiving care; and requires all unlicensed and unregistered family day homes, other than those in which all of the children receiving care are related by blood or marriage to the provider, to provide written notice to the parents of every child receiving care stating that the family day home is not regulated by the Department of Social Services and referring the parents to a website maintained by the Department for additional information regarding licensed, registered, and unlicensed, unregistered family day homes. The bill also requires all child day centers and family day homes that enter into a contract with the Department of Social Services or a local department of social services to provide child care services that are funded, in whole or in part, by the Child Care and Development Block Grant to comply with all requirements established by federal law and regulation. The bill also requires the Department of Social Services to develop recommendations related to appropriate criminal and civil penalties for individuals who operate or engage in the conduct of a child day center or family day home without first obtaining a license or after such license has been revoked or has expired and not been renewed, or who operate or engage in the conduct of a child day center or family day home serving more children than the maximum stipulated in the license, and that the Department report on the requirements established in the Child Care and Development Block Grant to the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions by December 1, 2015.

Impact Statements

H.B. 1692 Higher educational institutions; alternative tuition or fee structures offered to students.

Patron: Rush

Four-year public institutions of higher education; alternative tuition or fee structures. Permits each public institution of higher education to offer alternative tuition or fee structures to students. The bill provides that if a public institution of higher education, with the approval of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (Council), offers alternative tuition or fee structures, including discounted tuition, four-year flat tuition rates, discounted student fees, or student fee and student services flexibility, to any Virginia-domiciled, first-time, incoming freshman undergraduate student who enrolls full time with the intent to earn a degree in a program that leads to employment in a high-demand field in the region, according to guidelines established by the Council, each student who receives the benefits of such an alternative tuition or fee structure shall count one and a half times for the purpose of (i) targeted economic and innovation incentives pursuant to subdivision 3 of § 23-38.87:16, (ii) the base adequacy funding guidelines adopted and periodically updated by the Joint Subcommittee Studying Higher Education Funding Policies, or (iii) biennial assessments of institutional performance as set forth in Part 4 of the general appropriation act and consistent with § 23-9.6:1.01.

H.B. 2238 Virginia Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts; established.

Patron: LaRock

Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts. Permits the parents of certain students with disabilities to apply to his resident school division for a Parental Choice Education Savings Account to consist of the student's Standards of Quality per pupil funds and to be used for certain expenses of the student, including (i) tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a private elementary or secondary school or preschool that is located in the Commonwealth and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin; (ii) educational therapies or services for the student from a practitioner or provider, including paraprofessionals or educational aides; (iii) tutoring services; (iv) curriculum; (v) tuition or fees for a private online learning program; (vi) fees for a nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement test, an Advanced Placement examination, or any examination taken to gain admission to an institution of higher education; or (vii) tuition fees or required textbooks at a public two-year or four-year institution of higher education in the Commonwealth or at an accredited private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill also contains provisions for the audit and revocation of such accounts.

Impact Statements

H.B. 2320 Cooperative degree program; Secretary of Education, et al., shall develop a plan to establish.

Patron: Cline

Cooperative online degree program plan. Requires the Secretary of Education and the Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in consultation with each two-year or four-year public or private, nonprofit institution of higher education in the Commonwealth and the Virginia Community College System, to develop a plan to establish and advertise a cooperative degree program whereby any undergraduate student enrolled at any two-year or four-year public or private, nonprofit institution of higher education in the Commonwealth may complete, through the use of online courses at any such institution, the course credit requirements to receive a degree at a tuition cost not to exceed $4,000 per academic year and report no later than October 1, 2016 to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health on the progress made toward developing such cooperative degree program plan.

Impact Statements