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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2019 SESSION
Chairman: Stephen D. Newman
Date of Meeting: February 14, 2019
Time and Place: 8:00 a.m. - Senate Room A, Pocahontas Bldg.
Patron: Cole
Military families; relocation to the Commonwealth; student registration. Permits any student whose service member parent is relocated to the Commonwealth pursuant to orders received to register for courses and other academic programs and participate in the lottery process for charter schools and college partnership laboratory schools in the school division in which such student will reside at the same time and in the same manner as students who reside in the local school division.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hope
Teacher licensure; alternate routes. Requires the Board of Education to develop guidelines that establish a process to permit a school board or any organization sponsored by a school board to petition the Board for approval of an alternate route to licensure that may be used to meet the requirements for a provisional or renewable license or any endorsement.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Reid
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; financial aid award notification. Requires any comprehensive financial aid award notification provided to a student by a public institution of higher education or nonprofit private institution of higher education to meet the requirements and best practices established by the Council in its Financial Aid Award Letters Policies and Guidance.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Marshall
Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; threat assessment; case management tool. Requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to develop a case management tool for use by public elementary and secondary school threat assessment teams and requires such threat assessment teams to use such tool to collect and report to the Center quantitative data on its activities.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Krizek
Election day; school holiday. Prohibits local school boards from requiring students to attend school on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
01/22/19 House: Read third time and passed House (97-Y 1-N)
Patron: Sickles
School buildings; electronic room partitions. Prohibits school employees from opening or closing an electronic room partition in any school building except under certain limited circumstances. The bill requires any annual safety review or exercise for school employees in a local school division to include information and demonstrations, as appropriate, regarding the operation of such partitions. The bill also requires the Board of Education to make available to each school board model safety guidance regarding the operation of such partitions.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Ransone
Virginia Public Records Act; implementation in local school divisions; recommendations. Requires the Public School Records Consortium and the Records Oversight Committee to confer with school boards and division superintendents and submit to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2019, recommendations on ways in which school boards and school board employees can better promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the implementation of the Virginia Public Records Act.
01/25/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N)
Patron: Bell, Richard P.
State share for basic aid; duration of certain agreements. Provides that certain cost-savings agreements between school divisions shall be extended to a period of 20 years. Under current law, such agreements are valid for a period of 15 years.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hope
Department of Medical Assistance Services; waiver eligibility criteria; dependents of foreign service members. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to amend eligibility criteria for the Community Living waiver and the Family and Individual Support waiver to allow the dependent of a foreign service member to maintain his position on the waiting list following a transfer of the foreign service member to an assignment outside the Commonwealth, so long as the foreign service member maintains the Commonwealth as his legal residence to which he intends to return following completion of the assignment.
01/28/19 House: Read third time and passed House (87-Y 11-N)
Patron: Orrock
Health care professionals; advertising. Prohibits a health care professional from including in any advertisement a reference to marijuana, unless such advertisement is for the treatment of addiction or substance abuse. However, a person registered with the Board of Pharmacy to issue written certifications for the use of cannabidiol or THC-A oil may include such information in an advertisement.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (86-Y 11-N)
Patron: Marshall
Pharmaceutical processors; employment; misdemeanors. Allows pharmaceutical processors to employ or permit to act as an agent of such pharmaceutical processor persons who have been convicted of certain drug and drug paraphernalia misdemeanors, except in cases where such conviction occurred within the last five years. The bill also requires that pharmaceutical processors adopt policies for pre-employment drug screening and regular, ongoing, random drug screening of employees.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (75-Y 23-N)
Patron: Adams, D.M.
Department of Health Professions; disclosure of investigative information. Allows the Department of Health Professions and health regulatory boards to disclose otherwise confidential information related to disciplinary hearings to the Virginia Department of Education and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia if such information relates to nursing or nurse aide education programs regulated by the Board of Nursing.
01/21/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hurst
Virginia Index of Performance incentive program; Exemplar School Recognition Program. Renames the Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) incentive program as the Exemplar School Recognition Program (the Program) and makes several changes to the Program to align it with recent changes made by the Board of Education (the Board) to the Standards of Accreditation, including requiring the Board to design the Program to recognize and reward (i) schools that exceed Board-established requirements or show continuous improvement on academic and school quality indicators and (ii) schools, school divisions, and school boards that implement effective, innovative practices that are aligned with the Commonwealth's goals for public education.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House (69-Y 27-N)
Patron: Keam
Public schools; instruction on the risks of certain nicotine products. Requires the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth to develop and the Department of Education to distribute to each local school division educational materials concerning the health and safety risks of using tobacco products, nicotine vapor products, and alternative nicotine products. The bill requires instruction concerning the health and safety risks of using such products be provided in each public elementary and secondary school in the Commonwealth, consistent with such educational materials.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Bell, Richard P.
Board of Health; radon. Directs the Board of Health to publish a list of persons who are nationally certified to offer screening, testing, or mitigation for radon.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Herring
Requirements for issuing prescriptions; exceptions for public health practitioners. Authorizes practitioners contracted by the Department of Health and practitioners employed or contracted by a local health department to prescribe antibiotic therapy to the sexual partner of a patient diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without the physical examination normally required. Under current law, only employees of the Department of Health are so authorized. Additionally, the bill authorizes a practitioner, who is an employee of or contracted by the Department of Health or a local health department, to prescribe Schedule VI antibiotics and antiviral agents to other persons in close contact with a diagnosed patient without a bona-fide practitioner-patient relationship with the diagnosed patient when emergency treatment is necessary to prevent imminent risk of death, life-threatening illness, or serious disability.
01/28/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Robinson
Virginia College Savings Plan. Makes several changes to the provisions that establish the Virginia College Savings Plan (the Plan), including (i) permitting the Plan to maintain an independent disbursement system for the disbursement of prepaid tuition contract benefits and (ii) requiring each prepaid tuition contract entered into on or after July 1, 2019, to include provisions for the application of tuition prepayments, at a rate equal to the percentage of enrollment-weighted average tuition at public institutions of higher education to be determined by the board, at (a) public institutions of higher education, (b) accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, and (c) non-Virginia public and accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, provided that no such payment is less than the sum of tuition prepayments made, less any fees as determined by the board.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Rasoul
Department of Medical Assistance Services; PACE program; prospective client education. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to develop and implement a plan to provide choice and education to eligible prospective PACE clients. The plan will ensure that eligible clients receive adequate information regarding the PACE program and contact information for PACE providers.
01/30/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Price
Public elementary and secondary school students; protective orders; notification. Requires any school principal who receives notice that a circuit court, general district court, juvenile and domestic relations court, or magistrate has issued a protective order for the protection of a child who is enrolled at a public elementary or secondary school where such principal is employed, or any other order prohibiting contact with such a child, including an order issued as a condition of pretrial or posttrial supervision, to subsequently notify certain school personnel that such order has been issued. The bill also requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines and develop model policies to aid school boards in the implementation of such notification.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Garrett
Department of Education; energy career cluster. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with representatives from pertinent industries such as renewable energy, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, and oil, to establish an energy career cluster. The bill requires the Department of Education to base the knowledge and skill sets contained in such energy career cluster on the energy industry competency and credential models developed by the Center for Energy Workforce Development in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill further requires the Department of Education to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than December 1, 2019, on its progress toward establishing such energy career cluster.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Peace
Department of Medical Assistance Services; mitigating risk of improper payments; report. Requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services to conduct a pilot program to develop and implement means to mitigate the risk of improper payments to providers of services furnished under the state plan for medical assistance and all applicable waivers. The bill also requires that the Department's selection of a vendor for the operation of the pilot program be dependent on the demonstration of a proof of concept. The bill requires the Department to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance (i) by August 1, 2019, on its progress in designing and implementing the pilot program and (ii) by February 1, 2020, on the pilot program's effectiveness in mitigating the risk of improper payments to providers.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: James
Virginia Community College System; certain registered apprenticeships; uniform instruction. Requires the Virginia Community College System, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Industry, to develop and deliver uniform, related instruction for registered apprenticeships in high-demand programs, as determined by the Virginia Board of Workforce Development and the Virginia Employment Commission, and for which coursework is not otherwise available. The bill requires such instruction to be available statewide and to be delivered in a face-to-face, online, or blended format.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Carroll Foy
Teacher licensure; criteria; assessments. Requires the Board of Education to issue a license to an individual seeking initial licensure who has not completed the professional assessments prescribed by the Board, if such individual (i) holds a provisional license that will expire within three months; (ii) is employed by a school board; (iii) is recommended for licensure by the division superintendent; (iv) has attempted, unsuccessfully, to obtain a qualifying score on the professional assessments prescribed by the Board; (v) has received an evaluation rating of proficient or above on the performance standards for each year of the provisional license, and such evaluation was conducted in a manner consistent with the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents; and (vi) meets all other requirements for initial licensure. The bill removes the requirement that the Board of Education prescribe an assessment of basic skills for individuals seeking entry into an approved education preparation program and establish a minimum passing score for such assessment.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: McQuinn
School boards; staffing ratios; guidance counselors. Changes the name of guidance counselors to school counselors and requires school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; and in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof. Such ratios would be effective with the 2019-2020 school year.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Ransone
Public schools; parental review of certain anti-bullying and suicide prevention materials. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies that ensure parents the right to review any audio-visual materials that contain graphic sexual or violent content used in any anti-bullying or suicide prevention program. Such policies shall require that prior to using any such material, the parent of the child participating in such a program shall be provided written notice of his right to review the material and his right to excuse his child from participating in the part of such program utilizing such material.
01/29/19 House: Read third time and passed House (86-Y 13-N)
Patron: Carroll Foy
School boards; public institutions of higher education; College and Career Access Pathways Partnerships. Permits each local school board to enter into College and Career Access Pathways Partnerships (Partnerships), currently referred to as agreements, with comprehensive community colleges or other public institutions of higher education or educational institutions that offer a career and technical education curriculum. The bill requires any such Partnership to (i) specify the options for students to take courses as part of the career and technical education curriculum that lead to course credit or an industry-recognized credential, certification, or license concurrent with a high school diploma, (ii) specify the credit, credentials, certifications, or licenses available for such courses, and (iii) specify available options for students to participate in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs at comprehensive community colleges concurrent with the pursuit of a high school diploma and receive college credit and high school credit for successful completion of any such program. Current law allows local school boards to enter into agreements with such institutions but does not specify course credit as being part of the agreements.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N)
Patron: Davis
Length of school term; waiver for evacuation. Requires the Board of Education to waive the requirement that school divisions provide additional teaching days or teaching hours to compensate for school closings resulting from an evacuation directed and compelled by the Governor for up to five teaching days. The bill provides that there shall be no proportionate reduction in the amount paid by the Commonwealth from the Basic School Aid Fund or the amount paid by a local governing body.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Guzman
Board of Nursing; application for license or certification; military spouse; expedited review. Requires that the Board of Nursing expedite application processing, to the extent possible pursuant to current law, in cases in which an applicant for licensure or certification is licensed or certified in another state and is relocated to the Commonwealth pursuant to a spouse's official military orders.
01/28/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Thomas
Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; terminology. Replaces the term "hearing impaired" and its variations with "deaf or hard of hearing" and "hearing loss" throughout the Code of Virginia. The bill also renames the Virginia Hearing Impairment Identification and Monitoring System as the Virginia Hearing Loss Identification and Monitoring System.
01/28/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Thomas
School calendar; opening of the school year; good cause waiver. Permits the Board of Education to waive the requirement to set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend school must be after Labor Day for any school board that certifies to the Board of Education that the school division is entirely surrounded by school divisions that each have an opening date prior to Labor Day in the school year for which the waiver is sought.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House (92-Y 4-N)
Patron: Turpin
Standards for Accreditation; review and corrective action. Aligns the state review process of underperforming schools and school divisions with the new Standards for Accreditation adopted by the Board of Education (Board). The bill requires the Department of Education to cause an academic or other review to be conducted to assist schools not meeting the standards established by the Board. The Board may require a local school board to develop a corrective action plan for any such school within its division. The bill requires a school board of a school division that does not demonstrate progress in implementing such corrective action plan to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Board. The bill also requires the school board of an underperforming school division to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Board prior to developing a corrective action plan.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N)
Patron: Thomas
Physician assistants; licensure by endorsement. Authorizes the Board of Medicine to issue a license by endorsement to an applicant for licensure as a physician assistant who (i) is the spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the Commonwealth, (ii) holds current certification from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, and (iii) holds a license as a physician assistant that is in good standing, or that is eligible for reinstatement if lapsed, under the laws of another state, the District of Columbia, or a United States possession or territory.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Kilgore
Special volunteer license for limited practice. Provides that any qualified practitioner of the healing arts or other profession regulated by the Board of Medicine who does not regularly practice his profession in Virginia and who holds a current valid license or certificate to practice his profession in another state, territory, district, or possession of the United States may be issued a special volunteer license to render free health care in conjunction with a publicly supported, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that sponsors the provision of health care to underserved populations in Virginia, subject to conditions set out in the bill. The bill directs the Board to promulgate regulations to implement the special volunteer license for limited practice. The bill also removes reporting requirements for dentists and dental hygienists volunteering to provide free health care for up to three consecutive days to an underserved area of the Commonwealth under the auspices of a publicly supported all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that sponsors the provision of health care to populations of underserved people.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Rush
Modernization of public school buildings and facilities. Provides that it is the legislative intent that public school buildings and facilities be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to generate more electricity than consumed, and allows local school boards to enter into leases with private developers to achieve that goal. The bill also provides that private developers that contract with local school boards to modernize public school buildings and facilities may receive financing from the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Filler-Corn
Family life education; consent. Requires any high school family life education curriculum offered by a local school division to incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the law and meaning of consent. Under current law, such elements are permissive in any high school family life education curriculum.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (88-Y 10-N)
Patron: Orrock
Nursing homes; truth in advertising for inspections, surveys, and investigations. Requires that if inspection, survey, or investigation data is used in an advertisement regarding nursing homes, the advertisement also include the following information: (i) the date on which the survey, inspection, or investigation was conducted; (ii) a statement that the facility is required to submit a plan of correction in response to any and all statements of deficiencies; (iii) if a finding or deficiency cited in a statement of deficiencies has been corrected, a statement that the finding or deficiency has been corrected and the date on which the finding or deficiency was corrected; and (iv) a statement that the advertisement publication is not authorized or endorsed by the Virginia Department of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of the Inspector General, or any other governmental agency. The bill provides that failure to include this required information constitutes a violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The bill also requires that such information be in the same font, color, and size as the other text in the advertisement.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (82-Y 15-N 1-A)
Patron: O'Quinn
Local school boards; display of advertising material on school buses. Permits local school boards to display (i) commercial advertising material on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and the rear of the bus, provided that no such material (a) obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus, (b) is sexually explicit, or (c) pertains to alcohol; food or beverages that do not meet the nutrition standards developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 or any additional state or local nutrition standards for food or beverages sold to students in school; gambling; politics; or tobacco and (ii) school-related advertising material, including advertising material relating to school events and school board employment opportunities, on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and the rear of the bus, provided that no such material obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus.
01/25/19 House: Read third time and passed House (68-Y 29-N)
Patron: O'Quinn
Pharmacies; delivery of prescription drugs; pharmacy benefits managers. Requires health carriers to administer its health benefit plans in a manner consistent with, or include in contracts for pharmacy benefits management, criteria and provisions that (i) permit a covered individual to fill any mail order-covered prescription, at the covered individual's option, at any mail order pharmacy or network participating retail community pharmacy if the network participating retail community pharmacy agrees to accept a price that is comparable to that of the mail order pharmacy, calculated to reflect all drug manufacturer's rebates, direct and indirect administrative fees, costs and any remuneration; (ii) prohibit a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) or carrier from imposing a differential copayment, additional fee, or other condition on any covered individual who elects to fill his prescription at an in-network retail community pharmacy that is not similarly imposed on covered individuals electing to fill a prescription from a mail order pharmacy; and (iii) require the PBM to use the same benchmark index to reimburse all pharmacies participating in the health benefit plan regardless of whether a pharmacy is a mail order pharmacy or a retail community pharmacy. The measure applies with respect to contracts entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2020.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (53-Y 46-N)
Patron: Robinson
Board of Optometry; membership. Adds to the requirements for the five licensed optometrist members of the Board of Optometry that they be individuals who at the time of appointment (i) have met all requirements for practice as an optometrist and are qualified to engage in the full scope of the practice of optometry and (ii) are actively engaged in the delivery of clinical care to patients for an average of at least 20 hours per week.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Filler-Corn
Issuance of temporary licenses; individuals engaged in counseling residency. Directs the Board of Counseling to promulgate emergency regulations for the issuance of temporary licenses to individuals engaged in a counseling residency so that they may acquire the supervised, postgraduate experience required for licensure.
01/30/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Simon
Free public elementary and secondary education; eligibility criteria. Requires every person of school age to be deemed to reside in a school division for the purpose of eligibility for free public elementary and secondary education in such school division when all or any portion of the building in which such person resides with certain other individuals or as an emancipated minor is taxable by the locality in which the school division is located.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hodges
Department of Health; plan for oversight and enforcement; requirements governing onsite sewage treatment systems. Directs the Department of Health to develop a plan for the oversight and enforcement by the Department of requirements related to the inspection and pump-out of onsite sewage treatment systems that do not require a Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit established pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and are located in counties eligible for participation in the Rural Coastal Virginia Community Enhancement Authority. The bill requires the Department to present such plan to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health prior to implementing the plan.
01/30/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Thomas
School board employees; discipline; written reprimand. Requires the Board of Education to include, in its regulations that prescribe the requirements for the licensure of teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license, procedures for the written reprimand of such license holders. The bill permits the Board of Education to issue written reprimand to any such license holder who knowingly and willfully commits a certain enumerated act relating to secure mandatory tests administered to students. The only express disciplinary actions that are permissible under current law in such a scenario are suspension or revocation of such individual's license. The bill also permits a school board or division superintendent to issue written reprimand to a teacher who breaches his employment contract after the school board or division superintendent declines to grant such teacher's request for release from such contract on the grounds of insufficient or unjustifiable cause. The only express disciplinary action that is permissible under current law in such a scenario is revocation of such teacher's license.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N)
Patron: Landes
Public institutions of higher education; executive officers; salaries. Provides that no salary of any executive officer of a public institution of higher education hired on or after July 1, 2019 shall exceed the midpoint of the Level I Range for agency heads set forth in Part 4 of the general appropriation act, provided, however, that (i) the governing board of any institution located in Planning District 8 may adjust the salary of any such executive officer by no more than 19 percent of such midpoint and (ii) the governing board of any institution may supplement the salary of any such executive officer with private gifts, endowment funds, foundation funds, and income from private gifts and endowments.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (94-Y 5-N)
Patron: Miyares
Public institutions of higher education; tuition and fees; foster care youth. Requires each associate degree-granting public institution of higher education (i.e., Richard Bland College and each comprehensive community college) and each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to provide a grant for the payment of tuition and certain fees for any Virginia student who (i) (a) has received a high school diploma or has passed a high school equivalency examination approved by the Board of Education and was in foster care or in the custody of the Department of Social Services or is considered a special needs adoption at the time such diploma or certificate was awarded or (b) was in foster care when he turned 18 and subsequently received a high school diploma or passed a high school equivalency examination approved by the Board of Education and (ii) meets certain other criteria. Under current law, such grants are limited to tuition and fees for Virginia students who are enrolled at comprehensive community colleges.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hurst
Public institutions of higher education; online course catalogue; no-cost and low-cost course materials. Requires the registrar or another appropriate employee of each public institution of higher education to identify conspicuously in the online course catalogue or registration system, as soon as practicable after the necessary information becomes available, each course for which the instructor exclusively uses no-cost course materials or low-cost course materials.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Hope
Public schools; tobacco products and nicotine vapor products. Requires each school board to (i) develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use and distribution of tobacco products and nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at an on-site or off-site school-sponsored activity and (ii) include in its code of student conduct a prohibition against possessing tobacco products or nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at an on-site or off-site school-sponsored activity. Current law only places these requirements on each school board with regard to electronic cigarettes. The bill requires such policy to include adequate provisions for enforcement among students, employees, and visitors, including the enumeration of possible sanctions or disciplinary action consistent with state or federal law, and referrals to resources to help staff and students overcome tobacco addiction.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (83-Y 15-N)
Patron: Levine
Virginia Department of Health; monitoring of health care-associated infections. Requires health care facilities that are required to report information about health care-associated infections (HAIs) to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to release such data to the Board of Health through the NHSN.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Landes
Practitioners of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, or chiropractic; retiree license. Provides that the Board of Medicine may issue a retiree license to any doctor of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, or chiropractic who holds a valid unrestricted license to practice in the Commonwealth upon receipt of a request and submission of the required fee. The bill provides that a person to whom a retiree license has been issued shall not be required to meet continuing competency requirements for the first biennial renewal of such license. The bill also provides that a person to whom a retiree license has been issued may only engage in the practice of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry or chiropractic for the purpose of providing charity care or in-home health care services to patients for whom travel is a barrier to receiving health care.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Torian
Medical assistance services; long term care; eligibility; screening; report. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to report annually, by August 1, to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health regarding (i) the number of screenings for eligibility for community-based and institutional long-term care services conducted by DMAS or the public or private entity with which DMAS has entered into a contract to conduct such screenings and (ii) the number of cases in which DMAS or the public or private entity with which the DMAS has entered into a contract to conduct such screenings fails to complete such screenings within 30 days.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Robinson
Teacher licensure; reciprocity; alternate routes. Requires the Board of Education, in its regulations providing for licensure by reciprocity, to grant special consideration to individuals who have successfully completed a program offered by a provider that is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. The bill also requires the Board of Education to develop guidelines that establish a process to permit a school board or any organization sponsored by a school board to petition the Board for approval of an alternate route to licensure that may be used to meet the requirements for a provisional or renewable license or any endorsement.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N)
Patron: Tran
Administration of topical drugs; dental hygienists, physician assistants, and nurses. Authorizes a dental hygienist practicing under remote supervision to administer topical oral anesthetics, topical and directly applied antimicrobial agents for treatment of periodontal pocket lesions, and any other Schedule VI topical drug approved by the Board of Dentistry. Under current law, a dental hygienist must be practicing under general supervision to do so. Additionally, the bill authorizes a physician assistant, nurse, or dental hygienist to possess and administer topical fluoride varnish pursuant to an oral or written order or a standing protocol. Under current law, such possession and administration is limited to administration to children aged six months to three years and is required to conform to standards adopted by the Department of Health.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Robinson
Maternal Death Review Team established. Establishes the Maternal Death Review Team (Team) to develop and implement procedures to ensure that maternal deaths occurring in the Commonwealth are analyzed in a systematic way. The bill requires the Team to provides that information and records obtained or created by the Maternal Death Review Team to (i) develop and revise as necessary operating procedures for maternal death reviews, including identification of cases to be reviewed and procedures for coordinating among the agencies and professionals involved; (ii) improve the identification of and data collection and record keeping related to causes of maternal deaths; (iii) recommend components of programs to increase awareness and prevention of and education about maternal deaths; and (iv) recommend training to improve the review of maternal deaths. The bill also requires the Team to compile triennial statistical data regarding maternal deaths and to make such data available to the Governor and the General Assembly. The bill provides that information and records obtained or created by the Team and portions of meetings of the Team at which individual maternal deaths are discussed shall be confidential.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Plum
Department of Health Professions and health regulatory boards; information obtained in an investigation or disciplinary proceeding; authorized disclosures. Provides that provisions protecting the confidentiality of information obtained during an investigation or disciplinary hearing do not prohibit the disclosure of information about a suspected violation of state or federal law or regulation to state law enforcement. Under current law, such disclosure is authorized only to agencies within the Health and Human Resources Secretariat or to federal law-enforcement agencies. The bill also provides that investigative staff of agencies to which disclosure is authorized are not prohibited from interviewing fact witnesses, disclosing to fact witnesses the identity of the subject of the complaint or report, or reviewing with fact witnesses any portion of records or other supporting documentation necessary to refresh the fact witnesses' recollection.
01/28/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Pillion
Electronic transmission of certain prescriptions; exceptions. Provides certain exceptions, effective July 1, 2020, to the requirement that any prescription for a controlled substance that contains an opioid be issued as an electronic prescription. The bill requires the licensing health regulatory boards of a prescriber to grant such prescriber a waiver of the electronic prescription requirement for a period not to exceed one year due to demonstrated economic hardship, technological limitations that are not reasonably within the control of the prescriber, or other exceptional circumstances demonstrated by the prescriber. The bill provides that a dispenser is not required to determine whether one of the exceptions applies when he receives a non-electronic prescription for a controlled substances containing opioids. The bill requires the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Optometry to promulgate regulations to implement the prescriber waivers. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to identify successes and challenges of the electronic prescription requirement and offer possible recommendations for increasing the electronic prescribing of controlled substances and to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2022.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Pillion
Pharmacy audits; pharmacy benefits managers. Requires that any contract between a carrier and its intermediary pursuant to which the intermediary has the right or obligation to conduct audits of participating pharmacy providers and any provider contract between a carrier and a participating pharmacy provider or its contracting agent pursuant to which the carrier has the right or obligation to conduct audits of participating pharmacy providers contain certain terms and provisions relating to audits and that will apply in the absence of fraud. The terms and provisions (i) require at least 14 days written notice before conducting the initial audit for each audit cycle; (ii) prohibit the initiation or scheduling of an onsite audit during the first five calendar days of any month or on a Monday; (iii) prohibit an onsite audit of a particular pharmacy location on behalf of a particular carrier more than once in a 12-month period; (iv) require each pharmacy shall be audited under the same standards and parameters as every other similarly situated pharmacy; (v) require any audit issues that involve clinical or professional judgment to be conducted by a pharmacist who has available for consultation a pharmacist licensed by the Commonwealth; (vi) require each audit to be conducted by a field agent who possesses the requisite knowledge and experience in pharmacy practice; (vii) require audits to be conducted in the Commonwealth in compliance with federal and state laws, rules and regulations; (viii) require prescriptions to be considered valid prescriptions if they are compliant with the then-current Board of Pharmacy rules and regulations and have been successfully adjudicated upon a clean claim submission; (ix) require electronic records and documentation to be acceptable for auditing under the same terms, conditions, and validation and for the same purposes as their paper analogs; (x) permit a pharmacy to use the historical records of a hospital, physician, or other authorized practitioner of the healing arts for drugs or medicinal supplies written and transmitted by any documented means of communication for purposes of validating the pharmacy record with respect to orders or refills of a legend or narcotic drug; (xi) require validation and documentation at the time of dispensing of appropriate days' supply and drug dosing to be based on manufacturer guidelines and definitions or, in the case of topical products or titrated products, based on the professional judgment of the pharmacist in communication with the patient or prescriber; (xii) require a pharmacy's usual and customary price for compounded medications to be considered the reimbursable cost unless the pricing methodology is published in the provider contract and signed by both parties or their agents; (xiii) prohibit a carrier or its intermediary from making charge backs or seeking recoupment from a pharmacy, or assessing or collecting penalties from a pharmacy, until the time period for filing an appeal to an initial audit report has passed or until the appeals process has been exhausted, whichever is later; (xiv) establish requirements for a preliminary audit report; (xv) require a pharmacy to be allowed at least 60 calendar days following receipt of the preliminary audit report in which to produce documentation to address any discrepancy found during an audit or to file an appeal; (xvi) establish time periods during which a final audit report containing claim level information for any discrepancy found and total dollar amount of claims subject to recovery is required to be delivered to the pharmacy or its pharmacy corporate office; (xvii) prohibit a carrier or its intermediary from recovering from the pharmacy payment of claims that is identified through the audit process to be the responsibility of another payer; (xviii) prohibit recoupment of amounts paid to a pharmacy for any claim shall be made solely on the basis of a prescriber's or patient's lack of response to a request made by a carrier or its intermediary; (xix) require a carrier or its intermediary to issue its initial audit findings in conformity with the laws of the Commonwealth; and (xx) prohibit a carrier or its intermediary from retroactively denying a claim in certain circumstances.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: LaRock
Family life education programs; student participation. Prohibits any public elementary or secondary school student from participating in any family life education program without the prior written consent of his parent.
02/04/19 House: Read third time and passed House (50-Y 48-N)
Patron: Tran
Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure; membership; recommendations. Grants to the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System voting privileges as a member of the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure (the Advisory Board). The bill requires the Advisory Board to report to the Board of Education and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than December 1, 2019, recommendations relating to licensure qualifications for individuals (i) employed by an institution of higher education to teach career and technical education courses in a high school setting and (ii) to teach dual enrollment courses in a high school setting.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (97-Y 0-N)
Patron: Kory
Public institutions of higher education; students; determination of domicile. Prohibits any student at a public institution of higher education from being deemed ineligible to establish domicile and receive in-state tuition charges solely on the basis of the immigration status of his parent.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (90-Y 9-N)
Patron: Bell, John J.
Use of seclusion and restraint in public schools. Requires the Board of Education, in its regulations regarding the use of seclusion and restraint in public schools, to specifically identify and prohibit the use of any method of restraint or seclusion that it determines poses a significant danger to the student and establish safety standards for seclusion.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Jones, J.C.
School resource officers; compulsory minimum training standards. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish compulsory minimum training standards for certification and recertification of law-enforcement officers serving as school resource officers that are specific to the role and responsibility of a law-enforcement officer working with students in a school environment. The bill requires every full-time or part-time law-enforcement officer employed as a school resource officer after July 1, 2020, to comply with such compulsory minimum training standards within a period of time fixed by the Criminal Justice Services Board.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (76-Y 22-N)
Patron: Delaney
Information for maternity care patients; perinatal anxiety. Adds information about perinatal anxiety to the types of information about which each licensed nurse midwife, licensed midwife, or hospital providing maternity care must provide to each maternity patient and, if present, the father of the infant and other relevant family members or caretakers. Currently, licensed nurse midwives, licensed midwives, and hospitals providing maternity care are required to provide information about postpartum blues and perinatal depression, shaken baby syndrome and the dangers of shaking babies, and safe sleep environments for infants.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Ransone
Board of Education; school counseling services; model policies. Requires the Board of Education to develop a model policy for the provision of counseling services in public schools that includes provisions for parental consent, written parental notification, parental involvement, as appropriate, confidentiality, procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibit his child's participation, appropriate exceptions such as imminent need, health, or safety or maintaining order in the school, and other necessary provisions as determined by the Board. The bill requires the Board of Education, in developing such model policy, to seek to balance the needs of students with the rights of parents.
02/04/19 House: Read third time and passed House (83-Y 14-N)
Patron: Hope
Regulation of licensed providers; Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to require disclosure of certain information about employees. Directs the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to amend regulations governing licensed providers to require every licensed provider to provide a statement regarding the character, ability, and fitness for employment of a current or past employee or other individual currently or previously associated with the provider in a capacity that requires a criminal history background check to any other licensed provider with which the current or past employee has applied for employment or to fill a role that requires a criminal history background check upon receipt of a request for such information from the other licensed provider and written consent to the disclosure of such information executed by the current or past employee or other individual currently or previously associated with the provider in a capacity that requires a criminal history background check.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Landes
High school graduation requirements; capstone project. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to require students, beginning with first-time ninth grade students in the 2022-2023 school year, to complete a senior capstone project, portfolio, performance-based assessment, or structured experiment that relates to a work-based learning, service-learning, or community engagement activity and aligns with and further develops the knowledge and skills attained through such work-based learning, service-learning, or community engagement activity.
02/01/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (95-Y 0-N)
Patron: Orrock
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Virginia State University; joint plan for new degree program. Requires Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Virginia State University to jointly develop and report to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the House Committee on Education, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than the first day of the 2020 regular session of the General Assembly a plan for the establishment of a baccalaureate or other degree program that prepares graduates to be effective career and technical education teachers in order to address persistent teacher shortages in career and technical education subject areas in the Commonwealth.
01/29/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Freitas
Employment of school security officers; law-enforcement officers previously employed by the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof; carrying a firearm in performance of duties. Allows a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if, within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board, he was employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof and his duties were substantially similar to those of a law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth. Under current law, only a school security officer who was an active law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board may qualify to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties.
02/04/19 House: Read third time and passed House (65-Y 32-N)
Patron: Edmunds
Lyme disease; disclosure of information to patients. Requires every laboratory reporting the results of a test for Lyme disease ordered by a health care provider in an office-based setting to include, together with the results of such test provided to the health care provider, a notice stating that the results of Lyme disease tests may vary and may produce results that are inaccurate and that a patient may not be able to rely on a positive or negative result from such test. Such notice shall also include a statement that health care providers are encouraged to discuss Lyme disease test results with the patient for whom the test was ordered. The bill also provides that a laboratory that complies with the provisions of the act shall be immune from civil liability absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.
02/04/19 House: Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
Patron: Byron
Certificate of public need; conditions; triennial review. Directs the Commissioner of Health (i) to review charity care conditions on certificates of public need at least once every three years to determine whether conditions continue to be appropriate or should be revised and (ii) to notify the certificate holder as to his conclusions and the process for requesting changes to conditions on an existing certificate.
02/05/19 House: Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)