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2017 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Higher Education

Saslaw (Chairman), Black, Chase, Cosgrove, Petersen

Clerk: Patty Lung, Rhonda Johnson
Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: January 31, 2017
Time and Place: Immediately Upon Adjournment - 4th Floor East Conf. Rm.

S.B. 1234

Patron: Dunnavant

Public institutions of higher education; transferable credits. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (Council), in consultation with each public institution of higher education, to develop a passport credit program that will be offered at each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education. Under the program, each passport credit course shall satisfy a lower division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education, and any student who completes a passport credit course at an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education shall be permitted to transfer all such credit hours earned to any public institution of higher education to which the student has been admitted and apply such credit hours toward the general education requirements at such institution. The bill requires the Council to develop such program by June 1, 2018 and each associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education to offer such program by the 2018-2019 academic year.

S.B. 1346

Patron: Surovell

Associate-degree-granting institutions; transfer credit information. Requires each associate-degree-granting institution of higher education to (i) designate in its course catalog each course that is offered in an associate degree program at such institution and is transferable for course credit to a baccalaureate public institution of higher education and (ii) provide information on the State Transfer Tool to all enrolled students.

S.B. 1371

Patron: Saslaw

Virginia Research Investment Committee. Expands the role of the Virginia Research Investment Committee (the Committee) to include, in addition to awarding grants and loans from the Virginia Research Investment Fund, providing guidance and coordination in the use of public funds to support research and commercialization efforts throughout the Commonwealth. The bill moves responsibility for the development of the Commonwealth Research and Technology Strategic Roadmap from the Center for Innovative Technology to the Committee.

The bill also clarifies that the exemption from mandatory disclosure of records under the Freedom of Information Act by applicants for grants and loans from the Committee applies to certain financial records, trade secrets, and research-related information. The bill requires an applicant seeking to invoke the protections of the exemption to submit a written request to the Committee identifying the records or data for which protection is sought and stating the reason why protection is necessary. The exemption would also apply to documents prepared exclusively for the application review by the Committee, its staff, or a reviewing entity conducting a scientific review at the request of the Committee. The closed meeting exemption would also be amended to include interviews of applicants by the Committee or a reviewing entity conducting a scientific review.

The bill contains technical amendments.

S.B. 1389

Patron: Mason

Institutions of higher education; letter certifying good standing of certain students. Requires institutions of higher education that include notations on the transcripts of students who have been suspended for, have been permanently dismissed for, or withdraw from the institution while under investigation for offenses involving sexual violence under the institution's code, rules, or set of standards governing student conduct to require the dean of students or similar such individual at any other institution of higher education within or outside the Commonwealth to submit to it a letter certifying the good standing of any student who seeks admission to the institution that requires the letter of certification and who, at the time such student withdraws from the other institution of higher education within or outside the Commonwealth, is determined to be in good standing according to the institution's code, rules, or set of standards governing such a determination and is not under investigation or subject to any pending institutional proceedings for a violation of the institution's code, rules, or set of standards governing student conduct.

S.B. 1430

Patron: Reeves

Higher education; student mental health; post-crisis services. Requires that policies developed and implemented by public institutions of higher education regarding suicide prevention ensure that after a student-death-related crisis affected students have access to appropriate medical and behavioral health services, including postvention services. The bill defines postvention services as services designed to facilitate the grieving or adjustment process, stabilize the environment, reduce the risk of negative behaviors, and prevent suicide contagion. The bill requires the Council to develop guidelines regarding such policies and to review the policy of each public institution of higher education at least once every four years.

S.B. 1534

Patron: Sturtevant

Public institutions of higher education; course credit; dual enrollment courses. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in consultation with the governing board of each public institution of higher education, to establish a policy for granting undergraduate course credit to any entering freshman student who has successfully completed a dual enrollment course at a comprehensive community college pursuant to an agreement for postsecondary degree attainment. The bill requires SCHEV and each public institution of higher education to make the policy available to the public on their websites.