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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Finance

Co-Chair: Thomas K. Norment, Jr. - Co-Chair: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.

Clerk: John Garrett
Staff: Lisa Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: January 30, 2018
Time and Place: 9:00 AM Committee Room B Ground Floor Pocahontas Building

S.B. 28

Patron: Stanley

Medical research on dogs and cats; prohibition on use of state funds; civil penalty. Prohibits appropriating or expending state funds for or to any organization, whether public or private, to carry out any medically unnecessary scientific or medical research that causes significant pain or distress to a dog or cat. The bill defines "significant pain or distress" to include any procedure or condition classified under pain and distress category E by the Department of Agriculture. In addition to any other applicable penalty, any person violating the prohibition on expending state funds for such research will be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $50,000 per incident.

S.B. 56

Patron: DeSteph

Line of Duty Act; eligible dependents. Provides that children born or adopted after the death or disability of an employee covered by the Line of Duty Act are eligible for health insurance coverage if such coverage does not result in an increase in the premium.

S.B. 213

Patrons: Cosgrove, Mason

Public aircraft; definition. Provides that the definition of "public aircraft" includes any fighter or attack jet, defined in the bill, that is leased or owned by a private entity, provided that such aircraft is used exclusively for military combat training in service to the federal government. The bill specifies that no fighter or attack jet that is leased or purchased by a private entity and is used exclusively for military combat training in service to the federal government beginning September 1, 2010, shall be treated as a civil aircraft for purposes of Title 5.1 (Aviation). The bill has an expiration date of September 1, 2023.

S.B. 248

Patron: Dance

Virginia Retirement System; technical amendments. Makes technical amendments to Title 51.1, Pensions, Benefits, and Retirement, including clarifying that medical boards may be composed of not only physicians but also other health care professionals and that the only federal civilian service eligible to be purchased as membership credit is full-time service.

S.B. 262

Patron: Suetterlein

Adoption leave benefit. Creates a new classification of paid leave for a state employee who adopts an infant. The amount of leave would be equivalent to the amount of paid leave awarded to an employee pursuant to short-term disability for maternity leave. The Department of Human Resource Management is directed to develop guidelines and policies for implementing the adoption leave benefit.

S.B. 265

Patron: Lewis

Secretary of Coastal Protection and Flooding Adaptation. Creates the executive branch position of Secretary of Coastal Protection and Flooding Adaptation (the Secretary). The Secretary shall be responsible for consolidating into a single office the resources for protection against coastal flooding threats and flooding adaptation. The Secretary also shall be the lead in developing and in providing direction and ensuring accountability for a statewide coastal flooding adaptation strategy. The bill requires the Secretary, in cooperation with the Secretary of Natural Resources, to identify sources of funding for implementation of strategies for coastal protection and flooding adaptation.

S.B. 297

Patron: Edwards

Incentives for communications companies; provision of wireless broadband services. Directs the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to award at least $10 million per year in grants to cover a portion of expenditures for the purchase and installation of wireless and broadband equipment to rural areas in the Southwest and Southside regions of the Commonwealth. The bill also establishes a sales tax exemption, which would be phased in over four years, for property sold or leased to a telecommunications company and used directly in the rendition of its public service.

S.B. 321

Patron: Ruff

Virginia Retirement System; health insurance credits for retired state employees. Increases annually the amount of the health insurance credit for retirees who rendered at least 30 years of creditable service in the Virginia Retirement System. The bill increases the credit by the same percentage as any annual post-retirement supplement that is calculated for employees hired on or after July 1, 2010.

S.B. 414

Patron: McDougle

Micro Market Act; penalty. Provides for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to issue permits for the operation of a micro market, which is defined in the bill as an unattended, self-checkout retail food establishment located in the interior of a building that is accessible to a defined population, such as the employees of a particular employer or occupants of the building in which the micro market is located, and is not accessible to the general public. The bill establishes minimum standards for the operation of a micro market and provides that any person who operates a micro market without the required permit or violates a condition of such permit is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

S.B. 462

Patron: Reeves

Members of the Virginia National Guard; education grants. Provides that certain members of the Virginia National Guard who are enrolled at an accredited proprietary private institution of higher education are eligible to receive education grants. Under current law, only members who are enrolled at public institutions of higher education or accredited nonprofit private institutions of higher education are eligible for grants. The bill also provides that the cost of textbooks will be included in the calculation of the grant amount. The bill clarifies that the eligibility requirement of a two-year remaining obligation is from the last day of the semester or term for which the grant is awarded.

S.B. 468

Patron: Reeves

Line of Duty Act; death benefit eligibility; Department of Military Affairs employees. Confers eligibility not currently available for death benefits under the Line of Duty Act to any employee of the Department of Military Affairs whose death is the direct or proximate result of the performance of official duties of the agency when those duties are related to a major disaster or emergency.

S.B. 494

Patron: Carrico

Line of Duty Act; health insurance coverage for eligible spouses. Allows the eligible spouse of a deceased person under the Line of Duty Act (the Act) whose death occurred prior to July 1, 2017, to continue to receive health insurance coverage under the Act after the eligible spouse remarries. The eligible spouse would be required to pay for such continued coverage after the spouse remarries.

S.B. 498

Patron: Carrico

Retirement benefits for local law-enforcement officers; participation by certain political subdivisions. Requires a locality that participates in the Virginia Retirement System and hat has two or fewer public safety officers eligible for supplemental retirement benefits to provide such benefits for such employees. The Commonwealth would fund one-half the cost of such supplement for those counties and cities.

S.B. 579

Patron: DeSteph

Tax credits related to education; aggregate cap. Allocates 20 percent of any unissued credits in a fiscal year under the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credit program to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be allocated to education programs under the Neighborhood Assistance Act (§ 58.1-439.18 et seq.) tax credit program during the next fiscal year. The 20 percent of unissued credits would be added to the current $9 million cap for education programs under the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program.

S.B. 593

Patron: Vogel

Health insurance; coverage for autism spectrum disorder. Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder in individuals of any age. Currently, such coverage is required to be provided for individuals from age two through age 10. The provision applies with respect to insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans delivered, issued for delivery, reissued, or extended on or after January 1, 2019.

S.B. 691

Patron: Deeds

Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; conservation officers. Adds conservation officers of the Department of Conservation and Recreation as members of the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System. The bill makes conservation officers eligible to accrue retirement benefits under the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System only for creditable service on and after July 1, 2018.

S.B. 814

Patron: Cosgrove

Aircraft sales and use tax; cap. Limits the maximum amount of sales tax and use tax due on an aircraft to $25,000.

S.B. 822

Patron: Edwards

Collection of delinquent amounts due locality. Amends provisions that currently allow the treasurer in any locality to employ the services of private collection agents to assist with the collection of delinquent local taxes by also including "other charges." The bill also changes from six months to three months the period for which certain taxes or other charges must be delinquent prior to certain collection efforts.

S.B. 869

Patron: DeSteph

Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits; benefits and eligibility requirements for students with a disability. Broadens eligibility criteria for students with a disability to include students with an Individualized Instructional Plan (IIP) attending a school for students with a disability licensed by the Department of Education and accredited by an agency approved by Virginia Council of Private Education. Under current law, only students who have obtained an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) may meet the criteria for the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits program. The remaining criteria for students with a disability (residence in Virginia and family household income not more than 400 percent of the poverty level) would continue to apply regardless of whether the student had an IIP or an IEP.

The bill increases the scholarship amount available for an eligible student with a disability from 100 percent to 300 percent of the per-pupil amount distributed to the local school division as the state's share of the standards of quality costs.

S.B. 879

Patron: Chafin

Intangible personal property; personal property used in manufacturing. Clarifies that personal property used directly in manufacturing in the locality in which the tax is assessed is classified as intangible personal property. Current law does not require that the property be used directly in manufacturing in order to be considered intangible, nor does it require that the property be in the locality in which manufacturing actually occurs.

S.B. 904

Patron: Petersen

Line of Duty Act; disabled persons; health insurance. Allows a person disabled in the line of duty to continue to participate in the state or local health plan that he participated in prior to the disability. The bill also allows any natural or adopted child of a deceased person or a disabled person to be an eligible dependent for purposes of the Line of Duty Act, regardless of the date of birth or adoption of such child.