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2016 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health

Chairman: Stephen D. Newman

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens, Ryan Brimmer
Date of Meeting: March 3, 2016
Time and Place: 8:30 a.m. - Senate Room B

H.B. 46 School Readiness Committee; Secretary of Education, et al., to establish, membership.

Patron: Greason

Secretary of Education; establishment of School Readiness Committee. Directs the Secretary of Education to establish a School Readiness Committee with the first goal of addressing the development and alignment of an effective professional development and credentialing system for the early childhood education workforce in the Commonwealth, including the (i) development of a competency-based professional development pathway for practitioners who teach children birth to age five in both public and private early childhood education programs; (ii) consideration of articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate degree programs; (iii) refinement of teacher licensure and education programs to address competencies specific to early childhood development; (iv) alignment of existing professional development funding streams; and (v) development of innovative approaches to increasing accessibility, availability, affordability, and accountability of the Commonwealth's workforce development system for early childhood education teachers and providers.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 2.2-208.1, relating to the establishment of the School Readiness Committee.

16103691D

H.B. 193 Certificates of public need; creates three-phase process to sunset requirements for medical care.

Patron: O'Bannon

Certificates of public need. Creates a two-phase process to sunset certificate of public need requirements for many categories of medical care facilities and projects, with the requirement for a certificate of public need (i) for ambulatory and outpatient surgery centers other than rural ambulatory and outpatient surgery centers and for capital expenditures at medical care facilities other than rural medical care facilities repealed in effective July 1, 2016 and (ii) for all medical care facilities other than nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals and beds, organ or tissue transplant services, certain open heart surgery services, and rural medical care facilities repealed effective January 1, 2017. The bill also creates a new permitting process for categories of facilities and projects exempted from the certificate of public need process that requires the Commissioner of Health to issue a permit but requires the Commissioner to condition a permit (a)on the agreement of the applicant to provide a specified level of care at a reduced rate to indigents, accept patients requiring specialized care, or facilitate the development and operation of primary medical care services in designated medically underserved areas of the applicant's service area and (b) on compliance of the applicant with quality of care standards. The bill also eliminates regional health planning agencies and makes numerous changes to the COPN process for facilities and projects that will still be subject to the requirement of a certificate.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-4006, 15.2-5307, 32.1-102.1, 32.1-102.1:1, 32.1-102.2, 32.1-102.3, 32.1-102.4, 32.1-102.6, 32.1-122.01, 32.1-122.03, 32.1-122.04, and 32.1-122.07 of the Code of Virginia; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1.1 of Chapter 4 of Title 32.1 a section numbered 32.1-102.14 and by adding in Chapter 4 of Title 32.1 an article numbered 9, consisting of sections numbered 32.1-122.23 and 32.1-122.24; and to repeal §§ 32.1-122.05 and 32.1-122.06 of the Code of Virginia, relating to certificate of public need.

16105052D

H.B. 196 Public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions; information and forms.

Patron: Lingamfelter

Public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions; information and forms. Requires the Board of Education (the Board) to adopt policies to ensure that the Department of Education (the Department) does not require public elementary or secondary schools or local school divisions to provide certain duplicate information or certain information that is not necessary or required pursuant to state or federal law. The bill requires the Board to permit public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions to submit all information and forms to the Department electronically. The bill requires the Department to annually evaluate and determine the continued need for the information that it collects from public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions and requires the Board to annually report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health the results of such annual evaluation and determination, among other things.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-17.6, relating to public elementary and secondary schools and local school divisions; information and forms.

16104523D

H.B. 209 Educational Institutions; revising and recodifying laws.

Patron: LeMunyon

Revision of Title 23, Educational Institutions. Creates proposed Title 23.1 (Institutions of Higher Education; Other Educational and Cultural Institutions) as a revision of existing Title 23 (Educational Institutions). Proposed Title 23.1 consists of 32 chapters divided into five subtitles: Subtitle I (General Provisions); Subtitle II (Students and Campus); Subtitle III (Management and Financing); Subtitle IV (Public Institutions of Higher Education); and Subtitle V (Other Educational and Cultural Institutions). The bill organizes the laws in a more logical manner, removes obsolete and duplicative provisions, and improves the structure and clarity of statutes pertaining to institutions of higher education and other educational and cultural institutions in the Commonwealth. The bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission and has a delayed effective date of October 1, 2016.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 2.2-108 of the Code of Virginia; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 2 of Title 22.1 a section numbered 22.1-20.2, by adding in Title 22.1 a chapter numbered 19.1, consisting of sections numbered 22.1-349.1 through 22.1-349.11, by adding a title numbered 23.1, containing a subtitle numbered I, consisting of chapters numbered 1 through 3, containing sections numbered 23.1-100 through 23.1-310, a subtitle numbered II, consisting of chapters numbered 4 through 9, containing sections numbered 23.1-400 through 23.1-909, a subtitle numbered III, consisting of chapters numbered 10 through 12, containing sections numbered 23.1-1000 through 23.1-1238, a subtitle numbered IV, consisting of chapters numbered 13 through 29, containing sections numbered 23.1-1300 through 23.1-2913, and a subtitle numbered V, consisting of chapters numbered 30 through 32, containing sections numbered 23.1-3000 through 23.1-3228, and by adding in Title 32.1 a chapter numbered 5.3, consisting of sections numbered 32.1-162.23 through 32.1-162.31; and to repeal Article 4 (§§ 2.2-2508, 2.2-2509, and 2.2-2510) of Chapter 25, Article 1 (§§ 2.2-2700 through 2.2-2704) of Chapter 27, and Chapter 50.1 (§§ 2.2-5004 and 2.2-5005) of Title 2.2, § 3.2-503, and Title 23 (§§ 23-1 through 23-303) of the Code of Virginia, Chapter 471 of the Acts of Assembly of 1964, as amended, Chapter 170 of the Acts of Assembly of 1978, Chapter 306 of the Acts of Assembly of 1986, relating to revising and recodifying laws pertaining to institutions of higher education and other educational and cultural institutions.

16100365D

H.B. 241 Students who are English language learners; BOE to consider certain assessment.

Patron: Lingamfelter

Students who are English language learners; alternative assessments. Requires the Board of Education to consider assessments aligned to the Standards of Learning that are structured and formatted in a way that measures the content knowledge of students who are English language learners and that may be administered to such students as Board of Education-approved alternatives to Standards of Learning end-of-course English reading assessments.

  A BILL to require the Board of Education to consider certain alternative assessments for students who are English language learners.

16105039D

H.B. 350 Certificate of public need; changes to Medical Care Facilities Certificate of Public Need Program.

Patron: Byron

Certificate of public need. Makes changes to the Medical Care Facilities Certificate of Public Need Program. The bill removes various behavioral health facilities from the list of medical care facilities and projects subject to the requirement of a certificate of public need and makes various changes to procedures governing the certificate of public need process including (i) defining "charity care" for purposes of the certificate of public need program; (ii) establishing an expedited 45-day review process for applicants for projects determined by the Department of Health (the Department) to be uncontested and to present minimal health planning impacts and for which the applicant agrees to comply with quality assurance requirements established by the Board of Health (the Board) and consents to provide charity care in an amount specified by the Board; (iii) establishing an expedited 120-day review process for applicants for projects identified by the Department to be uncontested and to present limited health planning impacts that require an intermediate level of scrutiny and for which the applicant agrees to comply with quality assurance requirements established by the Board and consents to provide charity care in an amount specified by the Board; (iv) clarifies the content of a completed application for a certificate; (v) eliminates the requirement for a public hearing on applicants for certificates; (vi) reduces the timeline from 80 calendar days to four days for a person to be made party to the case for good cause following completion of the review and submission of recommendations related to an application; (vii) requires the Department to establish a website to make information about the certificate of public need program, including information about letters of intent received by the Department, available to the public; and (viii) establishes a permit process for projects that are no longer subject to the requirement for a certificate of public need which includes provisions for charity care requirements and quality assurance. The bill also (a) directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to review requirements governing imposition and satisfaction of charity care requirements for certificates of public need, including provisions for defining charity care and calculating the amount and value of charity care required and provided, develop recommendations for standardizing and enforcing such requirements, and report his recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, 2016, and (b) requires the Department to work cooperatively with Virginia Health Information to develop a process for the collection of utilization data for recipients of certificates of public need describing specific types of equipment utilized.

 A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-4006, 32.1-102.1, 32.1-102.2, 32.1-102.2:1, 32.1-102.3, 32.1-102.4, and 32.1-102.6 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1.1 of Chapter 4 of Title 32.1 a section numbered 32.1-102.14 and by adding in Chapter 4 of Title 32.1 an article numbered 9, consisting of sections numbered 32.1-122.23 and 32.1-122.24, relating to the Certificate of Public Need program; report.

16105312D

H.B. 381 Standards of Learning; alternative means for children with disabilities to demonstrate achievement.

Patron: Greason

Children with disabilities; alternative means to demonstrate achievement of the Standards of Learning. Requires the Board of Education to prescribe alternative means for children with disabilities who meet criteria established by the Board to demonstrate achievement of the Standards of Learning.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to children with disabilities; alternative means to demonstrate achievement of the Standards of Learning.

16105339D

H.B. 894 Standards of Learning Innovation Committee; change in membership.

Patron: Greason

Standards of Learning Innovation Committee; membership. Requires that the membership of the Standards of Learning Innovation Committee include at least one representative of a four-year public institution of higher education and at least one representative of a two-year public institution of higher education and specifies that the business representative or representatives on the Committee shall represent the business community. The bill also staggers the terms of legislative members and nonlegislative citizen members. The bill contains an emergency clause.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:10 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Standards of Learning Innovation Committee; membership.

16102595D

EMERGENCY

H.B. 1090 Health, Department of; expenditure of funds related to abortions and family planning services.

Patron: Cline

Department of Health; restrictions on expenditure of funds related to abortions and family planning services. Prohibits the Department of Health from spending any funds on an abortion that is not qualified for matching funds under the Medicaid program or providing any grants or other funds to any entity other than a licensed hospital that performs such abortions. The bill also prioritizes the types of entities that the Department of Health contract with or provide grants to for family planning services.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 1 of Title 32.1 a section numbered 32.1-23.2, relating to the Department of Health; expenditure of funds related to abortions and family planning services.

16103060D

H.B. 1103 ABLE savings trust accounts; exclusion from determination of state means-tested assistance, etc.

Patron: Filler-Corn

ABLE savings trust accounts; exclusion from determination of state means-tested assistance and benefits. Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of state law that requires consideration of one or more financial circumstances of an individual for the purpose of determining (i) the individual's eligibility to receive any assistance or benefit pursuant to such provision of state law or (ii) the amount of any such assistance or benefit that such individual is eligible to receive pursuant to such provision of state law, any (a) moneys in an ABLE savings trust account for which such individual is the beneficiary, including any interest on such moneys, (b) contributions to an ABLE savings trust account for which such individual is the beneficiary, and (c) distribution for qualified disability expenses for such individual from an ABLE savings trust account for which such individual is the beneficiary shall be disregarded for such purpose with respect to any period during which such individual remains the beneficiary of, makes contributions to, or receives distributions for qualified disability expenses from such ABLE savings trust account.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 23-38.81 of the Code of Virginia, relating to ABLE savings trust accounts; exclusion from determination of state means-tested assistance and benefits.

16101737D

H.B. 1279 Public schools; fire drills and lock-down drills.

Patron: Anderson

Public schools; fire drills; lock-down drills. Requires every public school to hold a fire drill at least twice during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least two additional fire drills during the remainder of the school session. Under current law, every public school is required to hold a fire drill at least once every week during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least once every month during the remainder of the school session. The bill also requires every public school to hold a lock-down drill at least twice during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least two additional lock-down drills during the remainder of the school session. Under current law, every public school is required to hold at least two lock-down drills every school year.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-137 and 22.1-137.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public schools; fire drills; lock-down drills.

16105540D