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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2016 SESSION
Chairman: Stephen D. Newman
Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens, Ryan Brimmer
Date of Meeting: January 21, 2016
Time and Place: 8:00 A.M. - Senate Room B
Revised - added SB's 528, 535, 541 & 573
Patron: Stanley
Grants for donations to science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) programs at qualified schools. Establishes a grant program administered by the Board of Education beginning in 2017 for donations made by STEM organizations to qualified schools. The donations must be used by qualified schools to support STEM programs. The bill defines qualified schools as those public elementary and secondary schools at which at least 40 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Grants are capped at $50,000 per organization per year.
Patron: Stanley
Telemedicine; pilot program. Directs the Department of Health, in partnership with a hospital licensed in the Commonwealth, to establish a three-year telemedicine pilot program designed to reduce patient use of emergency department facilities for the treatment of low-acuity conditions. The bill requires the Department to report the results of the pilot program to the State Board of Health and to the General Assembly by October 1, 2019.
Patron: Favola
Institutions of higher education; required agreements with law enforcement. Requires all mutual aid agreements and memoranda of understanding required between public or private institutions of higher education and other law-enforcement agencies to specify (i) the law-enforcement agency that has primary responsibility for the investigation and (ii) the procedure for sharing information.
Patron: Favola
Campus police departments; retention of physical evidence recovery kits. Requires campus police departments to retain and store physical evidence recovery kits for a minimum of two years where the victim of the sexual assault elects not to report the sexual assault to law enforcement at the time of the collection of such evidence.
Patron: Howell
Consent to organ donation. Eliminates the requirement that a person indicate his willingness to make an anatomical gift every time he renews or replaces his license.
Patron: Miller
Public schools; physical activity requirement. Requires at least 20 minutes of physical activity per day or an average of 100 minutes per week during the regular school year for students in grades kindergarten through five. This requirement becomes effective beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. The current requirement for a program of physical activity available to all students in grades six through 12 with a goal of at least 150 minutes per week on average during the regular school year is not changed.
Patron: Stanley
Grants for science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) competition teams at qualified schools. Establishes a grant program administered by the Board of Education beginning in 2017 to establish STEM competition teams at qualified schools. The bill defines qualified schools as those public secondary schools at which at least 40 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Grants are capped at $10,000 per school per year.
Patron: Black
Physical evidence recovery kit examination; minors. Provides that a minor who is believed to be the victim of a sexual assault shall be deemed an adult for purposes of consenting to a physical evidence recovery kit examination.
Patron: Black
Local school boards; transportation agreements with nonpublic schools. Authorizes local school boards to enter into agreements with nonpublic schools to provide student transportation to and from school field trips. Current law authorizes such agreements for transportation to and from school.
Patron: Wexton
Local school boards; transportation agreements with nonpublic schools. Authorizes local school boards to enter into agreements with nonpublic schools to provide student transportation to and from school field trips. Current law authorizes such agreements for transportation to and from school.
Patron: Favola
Nurse aide education programs. Requires observational and reporting techniques to be included in the curriculum of nurse aide education programs used to prepare nurse aides for certification.
Patron: Lewis
In-state tuition; members of the Virginia National Guard. Provides that any member of the Virginia National Guard residing in Virginia shall be eligible for in-state tuition at a public institution of higher education.
Patron: Miller
Board of Education; high school graduation requirements. Removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit and requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to (i) develop and implement, in consultation with stakeholders representing elementary and secondary education, higher education, and business and industry in the Commonwealth and including parents, policymakers, and community leaders in the Commonwealth, a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship; (ii) emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and (iii) establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing. The bill requires the Board of Education to establish such graduation requirements no later than September 1, 2017, and specifies that such requirements shall apply to each student who enrolls in high school as (a) a freshman after July 1, 2018, (b) a sophomore after July 1, 2019, (c) a junior after July 1, 2020, or (d) a senior after July 1, 2021.
Patron: Alexander
Higher education; study abroad programs. Requires each public or private institution of higher education to report to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia a list of all study abroad programs offered or approved for credit by the institution, any deaths of study abroad program participants, and any accidents involving or illnesses of such participants during such programs that resulted in hospitalization. The bill requires the Council to publish the reports on its website along with information regarding sexual assaults and criminal acts that affect study abroad program participants. The bill also provides that any person offering a study abroad program shall be considered, in any civil action involving a participant of such program who is a resident of the Commonwealth or attends an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth, to have transacted business in the Commonwealth for the purposes of personal jurisdiction.
Patron: Lucas
Possession or distribution of marijuana for medical purposes; cancer. Provides an affirmative defense in a prosecution for the possession of marijuana if the marijuana is in the form of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil possessed pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner of medicine or osteopathy licensed by the Board of Medicine for purposes of treating cancer or alleviating such patient's symptoms. The bill provides that a practitioner shall not be prosecuted for distribution of marijuana under the circumstances outlined in the bill.
Patron: Howell
Superintendent of Public Instruction; tracking teacher turnover. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and implement a system to track teacher turnover and to annually report his findings to the General Assembly and the Governor.
Patron: Reeves
Rights of persons with disabilities in public places and places of public accommodation; fraudulent representation of a service dog; penalty. Provides that any person who knowingly, willfully, and fraudulently fits a dog with a harness, collar, vest, sign, or identification card commonly used by a person with a disability in order to represent that the dog is a service dog to fraudulently gain public access for such dog in a public place is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Patron: McDougle
Public schools; standards of accreditation. Authorizes the Board of Education to review the accreditation status of a school or division once every two years or every three years. The bill requires any school that receives a multiyear accreditation status other than full accreditation to be covered by a Board approved multiyear corrective action plan for the duration of the period of accreditation. The bill also provides that when the Board of Education determines a corrective action plan submitted by a local school board is not sufficient to enable all schools within the division to achieve full accreditation, the Board may return the plan to the local school board with directions to submit an amended plan pursuant to Board guidance. Finally the bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to report to the Board on the accreditation status of all school divisions and schools. Currently the Superintendent is required to identify to the Board schools or divisions that do not meet certain criteria.
Patron: Dunnavant
Practitioners of the healing arts; temporary authorization to practice. Replaces the requirement for a temporary license or certification to practice medicine or the duties of a profession in the Commonwealth on a temporary basis with the requirement for authorization to so practice. The bill eliminates the requirement that the Board of Medicine promulgate regulations governing approval of the credentials of practitioners authorized to practice temporarily in the Commonwealth and the form of such authorizations.
Patron: Marsden
Crohn's disease, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome; identification cards and information. Directs the Department of Health to develop a process for issuing identification cards to individuals diagnosed by a health care provider as having Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a toilet facility, which shall include information about the symptoms of such conditions and the need for emergency access to restroom facilities of individuals diagnosed with such conditions. The bill also requires the Department to make information about Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome available to the public via the Department's website.
Patron: Garrett
Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Act. Requires, beginning with the incoming freshman class of 2017, the board of visitors of a four-year public institution of higher education to maintain a ratio of the in-state and out-of-state student population in each incoming freshman class that is not less than 55 percent in-state students. The bill stablishes the Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Fund and Program. The program grants scholarships to the top two percent of graduates from Virginia public high schools. The scholarships pay for tuition, mandatory fees, room, and board for eight semesters over five years. Recipients may apply the scholarships to one of nine public institutions of higher education on the basis of the locality of the student's high school or to Norfolk State University, Virginia Military Institute, or Virginia State University.
Patron: Edwards
Higher education; student mental health policies. Specifies that the contact person designated by a memorandum of understanding between a public four-year institution of higher education and a mental health care provider to be notified when a student is involuntarily committed, or when a student is discharged from a facility and consents to such notification, shall be notified only to the extent allowable under state and federal privacy laws.
Patron: Barker
Military medical personnel; pilot program. Directs the Department of Veterans Services, in collaboration with the Department of Health Professions, to establish a pilot program in which military medical personnel may practice and perform certain delegated acts that constitute the practice of medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician or podiatrist. The bill requires the Department of Veterans Services to establish general requirements for participating in the program.
Patron: Barker
Public institutions of higher education; social media accounts. Prohibits a public or private institution of higher education from requiring a student to disclose the username or password to any of such student's social media accounts.
Patron: Saslaw
Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program; eligibility; use of funds. Makes several changes to the student eligibility criteria for Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program grants, including (i) removing the requirement that the recipient be a dependent, (ii) requiring the recipient to be enrolled full time, (iii) removing the restriction on the number of years for which the grant may be renewed annually, and (iv) permitting renewal of the grant only if the recipient successfully completes a minimum of 30 credit hours in the immediate preceding award year, unless granted an exception for cause pursuant to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia regulations. The bill permits public institutions of higher education to use Guaranteed Assistance Program funds to provide enhanced awards to students who are enrolled in at least 15 credit hours per term. The provisions of the bill become effective beginning with first-time entering freshman class of the fall 2017 academic year.
Patron: Vogel
Movable soccer goal safety. Requires any organization that owns and controls a movable soccer goal to establish a soccer goal safety, training, and education policy, consistent with the Guidelines for Movable Soccer Goal Safety published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The bill also requires the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to provide technical assistance to organizations to establish such policies.
Patron: Obenshain
Drug Control Act; Schedule 1. Adds certain chemical substances to Schedule 1 of the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances to Schedule 1 in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the Schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the Schedule.
Patron: Locke
School efficiency reviews; scope and costs. Eliminates the 25 percent match required of local school divisions that request an efficiency review from the Department of Planning and Budget. This provision was in conflict with the current appropriation act, which requires the school division to pay the entire cost of the review. The bill also revises the operational areas examined by the efficiency review and provides that an efficiency review does not constitute an academic review that may be required by the Standards of Quality.
Patron: Dunnavant
Prescription Monitoring Program; requirements of prescribers of benzodiazepine or opiates. Changes the time at which a prescriber prescribing benzodiazepine or opiates must request information from the Prescription Monitoring Program from the time the course of treatment is initiated to prior to prescribing the benzodiazepine or opiate and requires a prescriber whose prescribing of benzodiazepine or an opiate continues for more than 90 days after the date of the initial prescription to request information about the recipient from the Director of the Department of Health Professions at least once every 90 days until the course of treatment has ended. The bill creates an exemption from these requirements if (i) benzodiazepine or opiate is prescribed to a patient currently receiving hospice or palliative care; (ii) benzodiazepine or opiate is prescribed to a patient as part of treatment for a surgical procedure, provided that such prescription is not refillable; or (iii) the Prescription Monitoring Program is not operational or available due to temporary technological or electrical failure or natural disaster. The bill eliminates an exception for cases in which the prescriber prescribes benzodiazepines or opiates that have been identified by the Secretary of Health and Human Resources as having a low potential for abuse by human patients. This bill includes a sunset of July 1, 2019.
Patron: Stuart
Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program; eligibility. Extends the benefits of the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program to the spouse or child of a veteran with at least a 90 percent permanent, service-related disability. Under current law, the spouse or child would be eligible for benefits only if the veteran's disability was incurred during military operations against terrorism, on a peacekeeping mission, as a result of a terrorist act, or in any armed conflict.
Patron: Deeds
Virginia Behavioral Health Practitioner Student Loan Repayment Fund and Program. Establishes the Virginia Behavioral Health Practitioner Student Loan Repayment Fund and Program to provide student loan repayment grants to eligible behavioral health practitioners who agree to a 12-month employment obligation with a community services board, behavioral health authority, or Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services facility or with an entity that has entered into a contract with a community services board, behavioral health authority or Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services facility to provide behavioral health services. Grants may be up to $10,000 per recipient per year, and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services may award up to 250 grants per year.
Patron: Edwards
Two-Year College Scholarship Match Program. Establishes the Two-Year College Scholarship Match Program to provide matching funds to two-year college foundations and the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education. Funds paid shall not exceed $5 million, in aggregate, in any fiscal year. These funds shall be used to award scholarships to students who (i) are domiciled residents of Virginia and (ii) are enrolled in an associate degree program in a Virginia two-year college based on science, technology, engineering, math, education, or nursing.
Patron: Ruff
Part-time teacher permits. Directs the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of temporary part-time teacher permits to qualified professionals with expertise and credentials in career and technical education areas who are recommended for the permit by employing school divisions.