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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health

Chairman: Stephen D. Newman

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: March 1, 2018
Time and Place: 8:30 AM - Senate Room A - Pocahontas Bldg.

H.B. 3

Patron: Landes

Dual enrollment courses; quality standards; universal transfer course credit. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council), in consultation with the Department of Education and each public institution of higher education, to establish (i) quality standards for dual enrollment courses, including quality standards for course instructors, materials, and content; (ii) a process by which dual enrollment courses that meet or exceed such quality standards are certified as universal transfer courses that satisfy course credit or other academic requirements at any public institution of higher education; and (iii) a policy for the satisfaction of course credit or other academic requirements through the successful completion of universal transfer courses by entering students that (a) identifies the course credit or other academic requirements of each public institution of higher education that the student satisfies by successfully completing a universal transfer course and (b) ensures, to the extent possible, that the satisfaction of course credit or other academic requirements is consistent across each public institution of higher education and each such universal transfer course. The provisions of the bill replace existing provisions that require the Council and each public institution of higher education to establish policies relating to course credit for dual enrollment courses but that do not provide for quality standards or the universal transfer designation for such courses.

H.B. 165

Patron: Yancey

Public institutions of higher education; loans to students; collection. Requires each public institution that makes a loan to a student to (i) include in loan documents for each such loan an individual plan for the repayment of principal and interest and the payment of any late fees and clear and detailed information about the collection process for such loan pursuant to the Virginia Debt Collection Act, including information about the agency or entity that is responsible for collection and (ii) establish a process for notifying each student or, in the case of an undergraduate student and as appropriate, the student's parent of any loan payment that is past due no later than (a) 30 days after such payment becomes past due and (b) if necessary, the end of the academic term during which such payment becomes past due. The bill permits each such institution to modify the terms of any loan for which payments are past due to provide for repayment forbearance on such loan and repayment to commence on an agreed-upon date in the future with a percentage increase in the interest rate that is less than or equal to the inflation-adjusted annual percentage increase in the Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), for the year immediately preceding such future date.

H.B. 167

Patron: Miyares

Diploma seals; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Requires the Board of Education to establish criteria for awarding a diploma seal for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the Board of Education-approved diplomas. Under current law, such diploma seal is limited in scope to technology and advanced mathematics.

H.B. 329

Patron: Yancey

High school graduation requirements; course load. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit students to exceed a full course load in order to participate in courses offered by an institution of higher education that lead to a degree, certificate, or credential at such institution.

H.B. 338

Patron: Miyares

Medicaid; work requirement; report. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services (the Department) to apply for a waiver to implement a work requirement for able-bodied adult recipients of medical assistance services. The bill requires the Department to administer the Training, Education, Employment, and Opportunity Program (the Program) to enable Medicaid enrollees to improve their health and well-being through training, education, employment and other community engagement opportunities leading to self-sufficiency. The bill requires Medicaid recipients to participate in the program but provides exceptions for children, individuals age 65 or older, individuals with certain disabilities, and individuals who are the primary caregiver for a dependent.

The bill requires enrollees to meet gradually escalating participation requirements, culminating in 20 hours per week of required participation after 12 months of enrollment. The bill provides that the Program shall work with Virginia Workforce Centers or One-Stops to provide services to enrollees.

H.B. 443

Patron: Carroll Foy

High school graduation requirements; substitution of computer coding credit for foreign language credit. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to (i) provide for the substitution of computer coding course credit for any foreign language course credit required to graduate with a standard or advanced diploma for children with disabilities and (ii) permit any English language learner who previously earned a sufficient score on an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate foreign language examination to substitute computer coding course credit for any foreign language course credit required to graduate, except in cases in which such foreign language course credit is required to earn an advanced diploma offered by a nationally recognized provider of college-level courses.

H.B. 454

Patron: Filler-Corn

Public institutions of higher education; governing boards; open educational resources. Requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to implement guidelines for the adoption and use of low-cost and no-cost open educational resources and low-cost commercially published materials in courses offered at such institution.

H.B. 541

Patron: Freitas

Alternative treatment options for certain veterans; report. Directs the Department of Veterans Services to consider the efficacy of alternative treatments available for the treatment of traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder and report its findings and conclusions to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health. The bill defines "alternative treatment" as a therapeutic service that (i) is not part of the standard of medical care established by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for treating traumatic brain injury or posttraumatic stress disorder but has been shown by at least one scientific or medical peer-reviewed study to have some positive effect on traumatic brain injury or posttraumatic stress disorder and (ii) is provided at the direction and under the supervision of an individual licensed by the Board of Medicine, Nursing, Counseling, Psychology, or Social Work.

H.B. 589

Patron: Davis

Institutions of higher education; diplomas; proof of education; method. Provides that each public institution of higher education and private institution of higher education may provide any diploma or other proof of education to requesting individuals or entities using the method that it deems most appropriate, in either electronic or paper form. The bill requires the Council to post on its website a statement in accordance with such institutional authority.

H.B. 611

Patron: Habeeb

Certificate of public need; exception. Authorizes the State Health Commissioner (Commissioner) to accept and review applications and issue a certificate of public need for new neonatal care services in Planning District 5, provided that certain conditions are met. The bill provides that the Commissioner shall not deny the application on the basis of economic or service volume impact on existing providers.

H.B. 632

Patron: Bulova

Career investigation courses and programs of instruction. Requires the Board of Education (Board) to (i) establish content standards and curriculum guidelines for courses in career investigation; (ii) develop, in consultation with certain stakeholders, resource materials that are designed to ensure that students have the ability to further explore interest in career and technical education opportunities in middle and high school; and (iii) disseminate such career investigation resource materials to each school board. The bill directs each school board to require each middle school student to take at least one course or alternative program of instruction in career investigation.

H.B. 685

Patron: Ransone

Cybersecurity Student Loan Repayment Grant Program established; report. Establishes the Cybersecurity Student Loan Repayment Grant Program, to be administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council), whereby renewable grants of up to $20,000 of matching state and employer funds are provided on a competitive basis to an individual who (i) either (a) graduated within the past year from a public institution of higher education or regionally accredited private institution of higher education with an undergraduate or graduate degree in computer science or another academic program recognized by the Council to prepare an individual for a career in cybersecurity and who resides in the Commonwealth or (b) has served on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, was discharged or released within the past year from such service under conditions other than dishonorable, gained experience or received training in computer science during such service, and resides in the Commonwealth and (ii) accepts an offer of employment in a computer science position with any federal or state organization, including any federal or state military or defense organization, that is located in the Commonwealth or any private organization that contractually provides cybersecurity services for any such federal or state organization and that is located in the Commonwealth. The bill contains provisions relating to program administration and dissemination of information and reporting on the program.

H.B. 803

Patron: O'Quinn

High school equivalency programs; eligibility. Extends eligibility to participate in programs of preparation and instruction to take a high school equivalency examination approved by the Board of Education to individuals who are at least 16 years of age. Under current law, such programs are available only to adults who did not complete high school, students who have been granted permission by their division superintendent, and those who have been ordered by a court to participate in the program.

H.B. 829

Patron: Bagby

Compulsory school attendance. Clarifies that each parent of a school-age child in the Commonwealth is required to cause his child to attend school. Current law requires each such parent to send his child to school.

H.B. 886

Patron: Stolle

Admissions for mental health treatment; toxicology. Requires the Board of Health to include in regulations governing hospitals a provision that requires every hospital that provides inpatient psychiatric services to establish a protocol that requires, for every refusal to admit a patient for whom there is a question of medical stability or medical appropriateness for admission due to toxicology results, the on-call physician in the psychiatric unit to which the patient is sought to be transferred to participate in direct verbal communication, either in person or via telephone, with a clinical toxicologist or other person who is a Certified Specialist in Poison Information employed by a poison control center that is accredited by the American Association of Poison Control Centers to review the results of the toxicology screen and determine whether a medical reason for refusing admission to the psychiatric unit related to the results of the toxicology screen exists, if requested to do so by the referring physician.  

H.B. 919

Patron: Jones, S.C.

Virginia Community College System. Makes several changes to the Virginia Community College System to ensure a standard quality of education at all comprehensive community colleges, and to ensure in the transfer of community college credit to four-year public institutions of higher education in order to provide higher education as efficiently and cost effective as possible. The bill requires the development of a standard Passport Program and a Uniform Certificate of General Studies program to be offered at each community college. Initially, the Passport Program course offerings would be accepted as credit at a four-year institution, unless a four-year institution had applied for and received a waiver from accepting a particular course for a particular major, with a goal of making all courses in the Uniform Certificate transferrable. Four-year institutions, in cooperation with the Community College System, would be required to map out career education pathways to allow students to see the classes necessary to complete a four-year degree in a particular field of study. The Virginia Community College System would be required to create a single online repository where the public may access all transfer agreements and dual enrollment agreements with four-year institutions. Finally, the State Board for Community Colleges is required to implement an annual review for each community college, and to standardize the course offerings across the community college system.

The bill adds the Virginia Community College System to the Virginia Online Network, and requires that all Passport Program courses be made available through the Network. A community college would be required to indicate whether dual enrollment courses offered at local school division would be eligible for transfer. The Community College system would also be required to maintain a database of all dual enrollment course offered across the Commonwealth.

 

H.B. 1044

Patron: Torian

School board policies; healthy school workplaces. Requires each school board to adopt policies to (i) prohibit abusive work environments in the school division, (ii) provide for the appropriate discipline of any school board employee who contributes to an abusive work environment, and (iii) prohibit retaliation or reprisal against a school board employee who alleges an abusive work environment or assists in the investigation of an allegation of an abusive work environment. The bill defines an abusive work environment as one in which a school board employee engages in conduct in the workplace that a reasonable person would find hostile and that is severe enough to cause physical harm or psychological harm to another school board employee.

H.B. 1054

Patron: Herring

Prescription requirements; treatment of sexually transmitted disease. Allows a practitioner employed by the Department of Health to prescribe antibiotic therapy to the sexual partner of a patient diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without the physical examination normally required. The bill also requires the Commissioner of Health to convene a workgroup consisting of Department of Health staff and private practitioners to evaluate services provided by the Department of Health pursuant to the bill and to make appropriate recommendations for the use of expedited partner therapy in Virginia. The Commissioner shall report to the Secretary of Health and Human Resources concerning his findings and recommendations by July 1, 2019. The bill contains organizational and technical amendments. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2020.

H.B. 1125

Patron: Landes

Teacher licensure. Makes several changes to the teacher licensure process, including (i) permitting teachers with a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, to receive licensure by reciprocity without passing additional licensing assessments and (ii) specifying that for the purpose of Board of Education regulations for the approval of teacher education programs, the term "education preparation program" includes four-year bachelor's degree programs in teacher education.

H.B. 1320

Patron: Habeeb

Department of Education; division-level performance assessments; resource guide. Requires the Department of Education to develop and distribute to each local school division a resource guide on the local development and implementation of performance assessments that includes (i) detailed recommendations for methods of ensuring (a) the quality, validity, and reliability of such assessments, such as assurances, sampling, and auditing, and (b) the alignment of such assessments with the desired student outcomes of critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship and (ii) a collection of division-level performance assessment exemplars.

H.B. 1370

Patron: Pogge

Requirements for home instruction of children; education options. Clarifies that a parent who provides home instruction through a program of study or curriculum is required to provide his child with such program of study or curriculum to satisfy the requirements for the home instruction of such child.

H.B. 1524

Patron: Ingram

Board of Medicine; regulations related to retention of patient records; time.  Provides that any health care provider that provides professional services in a family medical practice with locations in the Cities of Colonial Heights and Hopewell that has provided health care services since 1955 and currently maintains all records created since May 2006 in electronic format and all records of current patients created prior to May 2006 in paper format may destroy paper versions of records created prior to May 2006 other than paper records of patients who have not yet reached the age of 18 and shall not be subject to disciplinary action for such action. Paper records of patients who have not yet reached the age of 18 shall be maintained until such time as the patient reaches the age of 18.

H.B. 1530

Patron: Davis

Career and technical education; diplomas. Requires the Board of Education to make recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2018, relating to (i) strategies for eliminating any stigma associated with high school career and technical education pathways and the choice of high school students to pursue coursework and other educational opportunities in career and technical education and related fields such as computer science and robotics and (ii) the consolidation of the standard and advanced diplomas into a single diploma and the creation of multiple endorsements for such diploma to recognize student competencies and achievements in specific subject matter areas.

H.B. 1606

Patron: Orrock

Certificate of public need; psychiatric beds and services. Eliminates the requirement for a certificate of public need for certain projects involving mental hospitals or psychiatric hospitals and intermediate care facilities established primarily for the medical, psychiatric, or psychological treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with substance abuse. The bill also directs the Department of Health to develop a plan for an expedited permitting process for psychiatric beds consistent with the State Medical Facilities Plan by July 1, 2019.