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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: February 8, 2018
Time and Place: 4:30 p.m. - Committee Room B, Ground Floor, Pocahontas Building
Update to remove SB 844 & SB 915; Add SB 77,SB 362,SB 631& SB 747

S.B. 77

Patron: Sturtevant

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.

S.B. 299

Patron: Norment

Department of Taxation; reports on sales and use tax exemptions. Requires the Department of Taxation (the Department) to report annually to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the House and Senate Committees on Finance regarding the fiscal, economic, and policy impact of each sales and use tax exemption. The review of each exemption shall be performed on a rotation basis. No exemption shall be reviewed more than once every five years, but the exemption for computer purchases for use in data centers shall be reviewed every three years. Taxpayers that purchase tax-exempt computer equipment or enabling software for use in a data center shall submit to the Department every three years a list of its exempt purchases, including purchase prices, made during the previous three taxable years.

S.B. 362

Patron: Howell


Qualified education loan servicers. Prohibits any person from acting as a qualified education loan servicer without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and establishes procedures pertaining to such licenses. Banks, credit unions, and nonprofit institutions of higher education are exempt from the licensing provisions. The servicing of a qualified education loan encompasses (i) receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a qualified education loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; (ii) applying the payments of principal and interest and such other payments, with respect to the amounts received from a qualified education loan borrower, as may be required pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; and (iii) performing other administrative services with respect to a qualified education loan. Qualified education loan servicers are prohibited from, among other things, (a) misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a qualified education loan, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower's obligations under the loan; (b) knowingly misapplying or recklessly applying loan payments to the outstanding balance of a qualified education loan; and (c) failing to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the loan servicer regularly reports information to such a credit bureau. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019, but provides that applications shall be accepted, and investigations commenced, by the SCC beginning October 1, 2018.

S.B. 393

Patron: Barker

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.

S.B. 424

Patron: Petersen

Virginia Gaming Commission; regulation of charitable gaming; administration of fantasy contest registrations. Establishes the Virginia Gaming Commission (Commission) and vests the Commission with the control and regulation of charitable gaming in the Commonwealth and the administration of fantasy contest registrations. Currently the control of charitable gaming and the administration of fantasy contest registrations is vested in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the charitable Gaming Board. The bill establishes the Virginia Gaming Fund as a special fund to be used solely for (i) administering and enforcing charitable gaming laws and regulations and fantasy contest registrations, (ii) educating charitable organizations and players, and (iii) promoting charitable gaming in Virginia. The bill also requires the Commission to revise the fees levied by it for issuing charitable gaming permits and supplier registrations, or renewal thereof, so that the fees are sufficient to cover expenses but not excessive. The Commission is required to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of State Police to provide for the investigation by the Department of any illegal gaming or gambling activity prohibited by Article 1 (§ 18.2-325 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 18.2.

S.B. 516

Patron: Obenshain

Public schools; regional charter school divisions. Authorizes the Board of Education (the Board) to establish regional charter school divisions consisting of at least two but not more than three existing school divisions in regions in which each underlying school division has (i) an enrollment of more than 3,000 students and (ii) one or more schools that have accreditation denied status for two out of the past three years. The bill requires such regional charter school divisions to be supervised by a school board that consists of eight members appointed by the Board and one member appointed by the localities of each of the underlying divisions. The bill authorizes the school board, after a review by the Board, to review and approve public charter school applications in the regional charter school divisions and to contract with the applicant. The bill requires that the state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding of the underlying school district in which the student resides be transferred to such school.

S.B. 580

Patron: Hanger

Data collection and dissemination; governance. Amends the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act to facilitate the sharing of data among agencies of the Commonwealth and between the Commonwealth and political subdivisions. The bill also creates an Office of Data Governance, housed in the office of the Secretary of Technology, to (i) develop guidelines regarding data usage, storage, and privacy and (ii) generally oversee and assist with data sharing in the Commonwealth to promote the usage of data in improving the delivery of services.

S.B. 583

Patron: Hanger

Western Virginia Transportation Fund; revenues. Creates the Western Virginia Transportation Fund (Fund), to be used by the Commonwealth Transportation Board to fund priority transportation projects in Planning Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The bill imposes an additional 2.1 percent tax on motor vehicle fuels in the counties and cities in such planning districts to generate revenue for the Fund.

S.B. 631

Patron: Dunnavant

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.

S.B. 639

Patron: Dunnavant

Health care shared savings; incentive programs. Requires health carriers to establish a comparable health care service incentive program under which savings are shared with a covered person who elects to receive a covered health care service from a lower-cost provider. Incentive payments shall be at least 50 percent of the saved cost compared to the average cost. Incentive payments are not required for savings of $25 or less. Programs are required to be approved by the Commissioner of Insurance. The measure also requires health carriers to make available an interactive mechanism on their website that enables a covered person to compare costs between providers in-network, calculate estimated out-of-pocket costs, and obtain quality data for those providers, to the extent available. The measure authorizes covered persons to obtain health care services from out-of-network providers if their costs are below the average of in-network providers. The measure requires health care facilities and practitioners to provide a covered person an estimate of charges prior to an admission, procedure, or service. All health care providers are required to post in a visible area notification of the patient's ability to obtain information in order to get an estimate of out-of-pocket costs from his health carrier and to compare providers.

S.B. 683

Patron: Stuart

Commuter Rail Operating and Capital Fund. Establishes the Commuter Rail Operating and Capital Fund to be used by the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, with the approval of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, on projects that expand and improve commuter rail service.

S.B. 747

Patron: Sturtevant

Public institutions of higher education; guaranteed admissions agreements. Provides that the guaranteed admissions agreements between baccalaureate public institutions of higher education and associate-degree-granting public institutions of higher education may provide for the guaranteed admission of a student who earns an associate degree concurrently with a high school diploma through a dual enrollment program, as well as any student who earns an associate degree after high school.

S.B. 804

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.

S.B. 823

Patron: McDougle

Wireless support structures; public rights-of-way use fees. Establishes an annual wireless support structure public rights-of-way use fee to be charged to wireless services providers and wireless infrastructure providers in connection with a permit for occupation and use of the public rights-of-way under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation (VDOT) or a locality for the construction of new wireless support structures. The amount of the use fee is (i) $1,000 for any wireless support structure at or below 50 feet in height; (ii) $3,000 for any wireless support structure above 50 feet and at or below 120 feet in height; (iii) $5,000 for any wireless support structure above 120 feet in height; and (iv) $1 per square foot for any other equipment, shelter, or associated facilities constructed on the ground. The measure provides that the use fee amounts shall be adjusted every five years on the basis of inflation. The measure also provides that an existing agreement, contract, license, easement, or permit allowing the use of the public rights-of-way by a wireless services provider or wireless infrastructure provider may be enforced by VDOT or the locality only until the current term of the agreement, contract, license, easement, or permit expires.

S.B. 845

Patron: Dunnavant

Premium Security Plan. Creates the Premium Security Plan (the Plan), a state-based reinsurance program to stabilize premiums for individual health benefit plans sold on the exchange. The measure provides that moneys provided from general fund appropriations and federal funding provided by a state innovation waiver under § 1332 of the Affordable Care Act would be used to partially reimburse insurers for high-cost claims by initially covering 80 percent of an enrolled individual's annual claims costs between $50,000 and $250,000. The Plan will be overseen by the Virginia Health Reinsurance Association, created by this measure. An enactment clause provides that the measure, other than the requirement that the Commissioner of Insurance apply for the state innovation waiver, will become effective 30 days after notice of approval of the waiver request.

S.B. 856

Patron: Saslaw

Mass transit in the Commonwealth. Makes numerous changes to the administration of and revenues for mass transit in the Commonwealth, specifically as it relates to the membership and funding of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the disbursement of funds in the Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund, and the authority of the Commonwealth Transportation Board to issue bonds for transit capital. The bill sets a floor on the average price of fuel used to calculate the regional motor sales tax as the price of gas on February 20, 2013, the same floor that is used to calculate the state fuels tax. The bill also raises the regional congestion relief fee and the regional transient occupancy tax in the Northern Virginia region to raise additional revenues for mass transit.

S.B. 857

Patron: Chafin

Public Rights-of-Way Use Fees; high-speed Internet access. Allocates a portion of Public Rights-of-Way Use fees collected by the Virginia Department of Transportation and certain localities to be used for the deployment and expansion of high-speed Internet services in underserved areas.

S.B. 942

Patron: Norment

State sales and use tax; Historic Triangle. Creates a one percent state sales and use tax in the Historic Triangle. Fifty percent of the revenues will be used by the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee, through the creation of an office of marketing and promotion, to market, promote, and advertise the Historic Triangle as an overnight tourism destination, and the other 50 percent will be distributed to the localities in which the revenues were collected. The bill defines the Historic Triangle as the City of Williamsburg and the Counties of James City and York, an area of historic great historical significance that generates substantial employment and economic benefit for the Commonwealth. The bill removes the authority of these localities to impose the current $2 transient occupancy tax used to promote tourism in the area. The bill is contingent on the City of Williamsburg repealing recent ordinances raising the local transient occupancy, food and beverage, and admission taxes and will expire if the City of Williamsburg reinstates such taxes in the future.

S.B. 951

Patron: Surovell

Eastern Virginia; hydraulic fracturing prohibited. Prohibits hydraulic fracturing, as defined in the bill, in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area.

S.B. 964

Patron: Sturtevant

Health insurance; catastrophic health plans. Requires health carriers to offer catastrophic plans in the individual market in every locality in the Commonwealth in which they offer any health benefit plan. A catastrophic plan is a high-deductible health care plan that provides essential health benefits and coverage for at least three primary care visits per policy year. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, catastrophic plans satisfy requirements that health benefit plans provide minimum levels of coverage only if they cover individuals who are under 30 years of age or who qualify for a hardship exemption or affordability exemption. The measure requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to apply to the federal government for a state innovation waiver allowing the implementation of the provision. The provision will become effective 30 days after the Secretary notifies persons that the request has been approved.

S.B. 986

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.).

S.B. 992

Patron: Lucas

Charitable Gaming Board; Texas Hold'em poker events. Allows a qualified organization to conduct Texas Hold'em poker events in conjunction with its charitable gaming activities. The conditions under which a qualified organization may manage, operate or contract with operators of, or conduct Texas Hold'em poker games and tournaments shall be prescribed by the Charitable Gaming Board. The bill provides that the initial regulations adopted by the Charitable Gaming Board pertaining to the conduct of Texas Hold'em events shall be exempt from the requirements of Article 2 (§ 2.2-4006 et seq.) of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.).