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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2018 SESSION
Co-Chair: Thomas K. Norment, Jr. - Co-Chair: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.
Clerk: John Garrett
Staff: Lisa Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: February 6, 2018
Time and Place: 9:00 AM Committee Room B Ground Floor Pocahontas Building
Updated to remove SB 883, SB 393 and SB 683
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.
Patron: Stanley
Interstate 73 Corridor Development Fund and Program. Establishes the Interstate 73 Corridor Development Fund and Program and reallocates to the I-73 Fund the $40 million from state recordation taxes that is currently allocated annually to the U.S. Route 58 Corridor Development Fund and Program. All provisions of the bill are contingent upon construction of and payments for Route 58 being completed.
Patron: Petersen
Motor vehicle fuels sales tax in certain transportation districts; price floor. Establishes a floor on the 2.1 percent tax imposed on motor vehicle fuels sold in Northern Virginia by requiring that the average wholesale price upon which the tax is based be no less than the statewide average sales price on February 20, 2013.
Patron: Wexton
Historical African American cemeteries and graves; Loudoun County; Belmont. Adds the African-American Burial Ground for the Enslaved at Belmont in Loudoun County, which cemetery contains 44 eligible graves, to the list of those cemeteries for which qualified charitable organizations may receive funds from the Department of Historic Resources for the care of historical African American cemeteries and graves.
Patron: Stanley
Revolutionary War cemeteries and graves. Authorizes the Comptroller of the Commonwealth to disburse appropriated sums to the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for the maintenance of no more than 6,000 Revolutionary War graves set forth on a list submitted annually by the society to the Director of the Department of Historic Resources (the Director). The bill expands the categories of people whose graves may be maintained or marked to include persons rendering service to the Patriot cause in the Revolutionary War. The bill prohibits retroactive disbursements and requires the Director to deposit any funds that have been appropriated for grave maintenance but are not disbursed during the same fiscal year into the Revolutionary War Cemeteries and Graves Fund, which is created by the bill. The bill provides that the Director may use moneys in the Fund to make grants to perform extraordinary maintenance, renovation, repair, or reconstruction of cemeteries or graves or to erect and care for markers, memorials, and monuments.
Patron: Stanley
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill provides that the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles shall return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended solely for nonpayment of fines or costs.
Patron: Locke
Historical African American cemeteries and graves; Portsmouth. Adds the Mt. Calvary Cemetery in the City of Portsmouth, with 266 eligible gravesites, to the list of historical African American cemeteries for which qualifying charitable organizations may receive funding for maintenance.
Patron: Stuart
Children's Services Act; special education programs. Expands eligibility for services under the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private school special education program to a public school special education program established and funded jointly by a local governing body and school division located within Planning District 16 for the purpose of providing special education and related services when (i) the public school special education program is able to provide services comparable to those of an approved private school special education program and (ii) the student would require placement in an approved private school special education program but for the availability of the public school special education program.
Patron: DeSteph
Department of Medical Assistance Services; eligibility for services under waiver. Prohibits the Department of Medical Assistance Services from reducing, terminating, suspending, or denying services for an individual enrolled in a waiver who is otherwise eligible for such services on the basis of such individual's informed choice of place of residence in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Peake
Forfeiture of property used in connection with the commission of crimes; finding of guilt required. Requires that any action for the forfeiture of property used in connection with the commission of a crime be stayed until the owner of the property or the person in whose custody such property is found has been found guilty of the crime authorizing the forfeiture, regardless of whether he has been sentenced. The bill provides that property may be forfeited even though no finding of guilt is made if (i) the forfeiture is ordered by the court pursuant to a plea agreement or (ii) the owner of the property or the person in whose custody the property is found has not submitted a written demand for the return of the property within one year from the date the property was seized.
Patron: Peake
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and cancers of the colon, brain, and testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop them. The measure also reduces, from 12 years to five years, the minimum number of years of continuous service that such firefighters and other employees are required to have completed in order to qualify for the presumption that such a condition is an occupational disease suffered in the line of duty.
Patron: Chafin
Substance-exposed infants; plan for services. Provides that the Department of Health shall serve as the lead agency with responsibility for the development, coordination, and implementation of a plan for services for substance-exposed infants in the Commonwealth. Such plan shall (i) support a trauma-informed approach to identification and treatment of substance-exposed infants and their caregivers and (ii) include (a) options for improving screening and identification of substance-using pregnant women, (b) use of multidisciplinary approaches to intervention and service delivery during the prenatal period and following the birth of the substance-exposed child, and (c) referral among providers serving substance-exposed infants and their families and caregivers.
Patron: Wexton
Equal pay irrespective of sex. Amends the existing law requiring equal pay for equal work irrespective of sex to (i) prohibit unequal provision of benefits and privileges on the basis of sex; (ii) prohibit employers from punishing employees for sharing salary information with their coworkers; and (iii) authorize a court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs to an employee who substantially prevails on the merits in an action for wrongful withholding of wages or benefits and privileges. The measure also deletes the exemption for employers covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act from the Commonwealth's prohibition on discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex.
Patron: Chafin
Newborn screening; lysosomal storage disorders. Clarifies that newborn screening tests performed on infants born in the Commonwealth shall include screening for Pompe disease, mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPS-1), and other lysosomal storage disorders for which a screening test approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration exists. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron: Reeves
Alcoholic beverage control; distiller licensee; commission for sales on licensed premises. Requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to pay a licensed distiller a commission of 20 percent of the retail price of any spirits sold by the distiller at a government store on the licensed premises.
Patron: Reeves
Alcoholic beverage control; distiller licensee; commission from sales on licensed premises; samples; hours of operation; markup. Requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (the Authority) to pay a licensed distiller a commission of 25 percent of the retail price of any spirits sold by the distiller at a government store on his licensed premises and prohibits the Authority from imposing a markup when reselling such spirits to the licensee. The bill allows such stores to operate on Sundays after 10:00 a.m. and allows licensed distillers to include in samples mixers consisting of other alcoholic beverages not manufactured on the licensed premises. The bill also increases the number of banquet licenses for special events a licensed distiller may purchase per year from four to eight and allows the licensee to sell samples of spirits at such special events.
Patron: Carrico
Deputy Sheriff Supplemental Salary Fund; creation and revenue source. Creates the Deputy Sheriff Supplemental Salary Fund to provide funds for qualified localities to supplement the salaries of deputy sheriffs. Twenty percent of local fines generated by a local sheriff's office would be transferred by the circuit court clerk to the Fund to pay for such supplements.
Patron: Obenshain
Maximum number of judges in each judicial district and circuit. Increases or decreases the maximum number of judges in select judicial districts and circuits to reflect the number of authorized judgeships recommended by the Supreme Court of Virginia in the 2017 "Virginia Judicial Workload Assessment Report."
Patron: Obenshain
Public access to nonconfidential court records. Provides that a clerk of court shall make nonconfidential court records available to the public upon request. The bill specifies that such records shall be provided no later than 30 days after the request. The bill further provides that the clerk may charge a fee for responding to such request that shall not exceed the actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, reviewing, supplying, or searching for the requested records. Finally, the bill requires the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to make available to the public an online case information system of nonconfidential information for criminal cases by July 1, 2019.
Patron: DeSteph
Step therapy protocols. Requires health benefit plans that restrict the use of any prescription drug through the use of a step therapy protocol to have in place a clear, convenient, and expeditious process for a prescribing medical provider to request an override of such restrictions for a patient. A step therapy protocol is a protocol or program that (i) establishes the specific sequence in which prescription drugs for a specified medical condition are medically appropriate for a particular covered person and are covered by a health benefit plan or that (ii) conditions coverage of a prescription medication on a patient's first trying an alternative medication without success. The measure requires the granting of a step therapy protocol override if any of certain conditions are satisfied.
Patron: Surovell
Expert witnesses; government officer and employees; fees. Provides that no officer or employee of the Commonwealth or of any locality or political subdivision thereof who is called to testify as an expert witness shall charge a fee for providing such testimony, whether at trial or in a deposition.
Patron: McPike
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds colon cancer to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop the cancer. The measure removes the compensability requirement that the employee who develops cancer had contact with a toxic substance encountered in the line of duty.
Patron: Reeves
Alcoholic beverage control; sales conducted at government stores established by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on a distiller's licensed premises; disposition of markup profits. Provides that any reasonable markup imposed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board pursuant to subdivision A 2 of § 4.1-235 on spirits sold at a government store established on a distiller's licensed premises shall be retained by such distiller.
Patron: Carrico
Reporting of controlled substance overdoses. Requires the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, state and local law-enforcement agencies, emergency medical services agencies, and hospitals to report information about overdoses of controlled substances within 120 hours of receiving such information to the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and for the Secretary to make such information available to public health, law-enforcement, and emergency medical service agencies and fire departments and companies within 120 hours of receiving the information. The bill also requires the Secretary to report this information quarterly to the Governor and for such report to be made available to all public health, law-enforcement, and emergency medical services agencies in the Commonwealth. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health.
Patron: Petersen
Eminent domain; calculation of lost profits. Amends, in the definitions of "lost profits" and "business profit" for the purposes of eminent domain, the period for which lost profits are calculated to a period not to exceed three years from the later of (i) the date of valuation or (ii) the date the state agency or its contractor prevents the owner from using the land or any of the owner's other property rights are taken. Under current law, lost profits are calculated for a period not to exceed (a) three years from the date of valuation if less than the entire parcel of property is taken or (b) one year from the date of valuation if the entire parcel of property is taken. The bill specifies that the person claiming lost profits is entitled to compensation whether part of the property or the entire parcel of property is taken. The bill further specifies that if the owner is not named in the petition for condemnation, he may intervene in the proceeding and that proceedings to adjudicate lost profits may be bifurcated from the other proceedings to determine just compensation if the lost profits claim period will not expire until one year or later from the date of the filing of the petition for condemnation, but such bifurcation shall not prevent the entry of an order confirming indefeasible title to the land interests acquired by the condemning authority.
Patron: Howell
Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment. Increases from $10 to $20 the maximum amount a local governing body may assess against a convicted defendant as part of the costs in a criminal or traffic case in district or circuit court to fund courthouse and courtroom security.
Patron: Peake
Closure of the Central Virginia Training Center prohibited. Provides that the Central Virginia Training Center shall not be closed and shall instead remain open.
Patron: McPike
Stroke care quality improvement. Provides that the Department of Health shall be responsible for stroke care quality improvement initiatives in the Commonwealth. Such initiatives shall include (i) establishing a system to collect data and information about stroke care in the Commonwealth, (ii) facilitating information and data sharing and collaboration among hospitals and health care providers to improve the quality of stroke care in the Commonwealth, (iii) requiring the application of evidence-based treatment guidelines for transitioning patients to community-based follow-up care following acute treatment for stroke, and (iv) establishing a process for continuous quality improvement for the delivery of stroke care by the statewide system for stroke response and treatment.
Patron: Dunnavant
Mental health services in local and regional correctional facilities. Requires the Board of Corrections to adopt standards for mental health services in local and regional correctional facilities, which shall include a requirement that (i) the sheriff of every county and city in which a local correctional facility is located enter into an agreement with the community services board serving that county or city for the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the local correctional facility and (ii) the administrator of every regional correctional facility enter into an agreement with the community services board or boards serving the counties and cities participating in the regional correctional facility for the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the regional correctional facility. The bill also requires community services boards to provide mental health and substance abuse services to individuals in local and regional correctional facilities and establishes a procedure for the delivery of services to individuals released from local and regional correctional facilities by the community services board serving the local or regional correctional facility or the community services board serving the county or city in which the individual will reside upon his release.
Patron: McDougle
Alcoholic beverage control. Increases the alcoholic beverage general license application fee from $65 to $195. The bill also increases the application fee for mixed beverage special event licenses from $15 to $45 and increases the state tax on wine shipper's licenses and beer shipper's licenses from $95 to $230. The bill establishes that it is a Class 1 misdemeanor for (i) any person to sell wine to retailers or consumers without paying the wine excise tax or (ii) any retailer to purchase, receive, transport, store, or sell any wine on which such retailer has reason to know such tax has not been paid and may not be paid. The bill provides for a civil penalty for (a) each manufacturer or wholesaler who fails to make any return and pay the full amount of the wine excise tax or (b) each manufacturer or wholesaler who makes a false or fraudulent return, where willful intent exists to defraud the Commonwealth of any excise tax due on each liter of wine. Current law provides for these criminal and civil penalties with regard to failure to pay the excise tax imposed on beer and wine coolers but not for failure to pay the excise tax on wine.
Patron: Wexton
Medical assistance; determination of income; personal needs allowance. Provides that, when determining the income of a recipient of medical assistance services who is receiving long-term care in a medical institution or intermediate care facility, the Department shall disregard a personal needs allowance in an amount that is at least $100 and that the amount of the personal needs allowance shall be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, all urban consumers (CPI-U).
Patron: Wagner
Motor vehicle fuels sales tax in certain areas of the Commonwealth; price floor. Establishes a floor on the 2.1 percent sales tax imposed on motor vehicle fuels sold in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads by requiring that the average wholesale price upon which the tax is based be no less than the statewide average wholesale price on February 20, 2013.
Patron: Hanger
Pipeline construction; upland impacts; supplemental review. Requires the Department of Environmental Quality (the Department) to determine whether any activity associated with a federally regulated natural gas pipeline project will occur in an upland area or other sensitive area, will be likely to result in a discharge to state waters and will not be covered by a federal Clean Water Act certification. The bill requires the Department, for each identified activity, to conduct a separate supplemental review of the project. In certain cases, the bill requires the Department to recommend that the State Water Control Board (the Board) impose additional conditions on the project. The bill also directs the Board to require both a Virginia Water Protection Permit and an Individual Water Quality Certification under the federal Clean Water Act for any interstate natural gas pipeline and, for such pipelines, to review water body crossings as well as plans for erosion and sediment control and stormwater management. Finally, the bill directs the Board to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the act.
Patron: Obenshain
Creating a statewide e-filing system for civil case filings. Provides that, except as otherwise provided by law, beginning July 1, 2019, no petition, pleading, motion, order, or decree filed in a civil case in a circuit court, including any agreement of the parties or transcripts, shall contain the social security number of any party, or of any minor child of any party, or any identifying financial information of any party. The bill further provides that, where such information is required by law, such information shall be contained in a separate addendum file by the attorney or party in such civil case. The bill further requires each circuit clerk to establish and operate a system for electronic filing. Current law provides that any such clerk may establish and operate such a system. The bill provides that, in any civil case filed on or after July 1, 2019, clerks of the circuit courts shall maintain all nonconfidential documents in electronic form and make such documents available through secure remote access and searchable by name and case number across all circuit courts that use the Office of the Executive Secretary's electronic imaging system. The bill directs the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court to administer a paid subscription service that provides access to all electronic records maintained by the clerks who use such electronic imaging system for civil cases filed on or after July 1, 2019. The bill specifies that such subscription shall be on an annual basis, with an annual fee to be established by the Judicial Council of Virginia. The bill provides that any sums collected pursuant to such subscription shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the Courts Technology Fund. The bill directs the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to update its document entitled "Security Standard for Restricted Remote Access to Documents on Court-Controlled Websites" consistent with the provisions of the bill by July 1, 2019. The requirement that the Virginia Information Technologies Agency update such document becomes effective in due course; the remaining provisions of the bill become effective on July 1, 2019.
Patron: Wagner
Hurricane and Flooding Risk Reduction and Bond Rating Protection Act of 2018; report.
Patron: Edwards
Disclosure of information under the Master Settlement Agreement and Non-Participating Manufacturer Adjustment Settlement Agreement. Provides that officers, employees, or agents of the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Taxation shall share with each other's departments and disclose to the appropriate person or party information in accordance with the Master Settlement Agreement and the Non-Participating Manufacturer Adjustment Settlement Agreement entered into by the Commonwealth on October 10, 2017. The bill provides that any records shared by, collected by, disclosed by, or reported or provided to an officer, employee, or agent of the Office of the Attorney General or the Department of Taxation in accordance with such agreements are exempt from the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.) and the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act (§ 2.2-3800 et seq.).