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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.
2020 SESSION
Chair: L. Louise Lucas
Date of Meeting: February 6, 2020
Time and Place: 8:00 a.m. - Senate Room A, Pocahontas Bldg.
Patron: Stanley
Board of Social Work; reciprocal licensing agreements. Directs the Board of Social Work to pursue the establishment of reciprocal agreements with jurisdictions that are contiguous with the Commonwealth for the licensure of baccalaureate social workers, master's social workers, and clinical social workers. The bill provides that reciprocal agreements shall require that a person hold a comparable, current, unrestricted license in the other jurisdiction and that no grounds exist for denial based on the Code of Virginia and regulations of the Board.
Patron: Marsden
Public institutions of higher education; admissions applications; criminal history. Prohibits each public institution of higher education from (i) utilizing an institution-specific admissions application that contains questions about the criminal history of the applicant; (ii) denying admission to any applicant on the basis of any criminal history information provided by the applicant on any third-party admissions application accepted by the institution; or (iii) otherwise inquiring about the criminal history of an applicant for admission prior to the applicant receiving a conditional offer of acceptance from the institution.
Patron: Suetterlein
Department of Education; pilot program; feasibility of educational placement transition of certain students with disabilities. Requires the Department of Education and relevant local school boards to develop and implement a pilot program for up to four years in two to eight local school divisions in the Commonwealth. In developing the pilot, the Department is required to partner with the appropriate school board employees in each such local school division to (i) identify the resources, services, and supports required by each student who resides in each such local school division and who is educated in a private school setting pursuant to his Individualized Education Program; (ii) study the feasibility of transitioning each such student from his private school setting to an appropriate public school setting in the local school division and providing the identified resources, services, and supports in such public school setting; and (iii) recommend a process for redirecting federal, state, and local funds, including funds provided pursuant to the Children's Services Act, provided for the education of each such student to the local school division for the purpose of providing the identified resources, services, and supports in the appropriate public school setting. The bill requires the Department of Education to make a report to the Governor, the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance, and the House Committees on Education and Appropriations on the findings of each pilot program after two and four years.
Patron: Stuart
Public institutions of higher education; tuition and mandatory fee increase; student approval. Provides that no increase in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees approved by a governing board of a public institution of higher education shall take effect unless such increase receives an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of undergraduate students enrolled in such institution.
Patron: Stuart
Public institutions of higher education; chief executive officer compensation. Provides mandates for when any governing board of a public institution of higher education or committee of such board considers increasing the compensation of the institution's chief executive officer as defined in § 23.1-100 or amending the board's policies and procedures relating to the compensation of the chief executive officer. The bill provides that the board or committee shall provide written notice of the rationale for such amendment or the rationale for, source of funding for, and amount of such increase to the public in advance of any meeting at which the board or committee votes on the amendment or increase. The bill also provides that members of the public shall be provided the opportunity to provide public comment on the compensation, that the board or committee shall vote on the compensation in an open meeting, and that no executive compensation increase shall be approved in a year in which there is a tuition increase.
Patron: Dunnavant
Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice programs and hospice facilities; possession and administration of cannabidiol or THC-A oil. Allows nursing home, assisted living facility, hospice program, and hospice facility employees and staff members who are authorized to possess, distribute, or administer medications to residents to store, dispense, or administer cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil to a resident who has been issued a valid written certification for such medication.
Patron: Marsden
In-state tuition; domicile; individuals granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Declares that, absent congressional intent to the contrary, any individual currently granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has the capacity to intend to remain in the Commonwealth indefinitely and is therefore eligible to establish domicile and receive in-state tuition charges at any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Favola
School Divisions of Innovation; performance-based assessments. Allows a local school board, when applying for its school division to be designated as a School Division of Innovation, to apply to the Board of Education to replace the Virginia Studies and Civics and Economics Standards of Learning assessments with performance-based assessments. The bill requires any such application to (i) demonstrate that the proposed performance-based assessment requires that students demonstrate the knowledge and skills required by the relevant Standards of Learning and that students demonstrate one or more of the skills and qualities of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, or citizenship and (ii) provide evidence of the local school board's capacity to administer and score performance-based assessments.
Patron: Bell
Public institutions of higher education; public-private partnerships; wind and solar power. Permits each public institution of higher education to enter into a public-private partnership with any private entity whereby such entity is permitted to use at no cost property owned or controlled by such public institution of higher education for the generation of wind or solar power in exchange for offering educational immersion programs for high school students and students at public institutions of higher education that provide hands-on education and training in the construction, operations, and maintenance of its wind or solar power generators. The bill requires any energy produced by such solar or wind power generators to be (i) used to provide power for the partner public institution of higher education or (ii) introduced to applicable power grids and sold at market rates, with profits split as agreed upon by the private entity and the partner public institution of higher education. The bill requires any such profits gained by the partner public institution of higher education to be used to further research, expand clean energy education programs, or lower student tuition rates.
Patron: Barker
Certificate of public need; criteria for determining need. Makes clear that in determining whether a public need for a proposed project has been demonstrated the State Health Commissioner shall consider the impact of the proposed project on all people to whom services may be provided and not only residents of the service area.
Patron: Barker
Board of Education; high school graduation requirements; certain substitutions. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit a student who is pursuing an advanced diploma and whose individualized education program specifies a credit accommodation for world language to substitute two standard units of credit in computer science for two standard units of credit in a world language. The bill provides that for any student electing to substitute a credit in computer science for credit in world language, his or her school counselor must provide notice to the student and parent or guardian of possible impacts related to college entrance requirements.
Patron: Deeds
Certificate of public need; psychiatric beds and facilities. Removes mental hospitals and psychiatric hospitals and intermediate care facilities established primarily for the medical, psychiatric, or psychological treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with substance abuse from the list of medical care facilities for which a certificate of public need is required prior to initiation of a project. The bill makes clear that only facilities licensed as hospitals by the Department of Health are subject to certificate of public need requirements; removes from the definition of project the addition of a new psychiatric or substance abuse treatment service and conversion of beds in an existing medical care facility to psychiatric beds; and prohibits the conversion in an existing medical care facility of psychiatric beds to non-psychiatric beds.
Patron: McPike
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Patron: Cosgrove
Certificate of public need; determination of need. Provides that, for the purpose of determining public need for a proposed project in cases in which a provider or affiliated group of providers holds a market share of 55 percent or more for a type of service or medical care facility in a planning district, a proposed project involving the same type of service or medical care facility in the same planning district shall be presumed to be a project that fosters institutional competition that benefits the area to be served while improving access to essential health care services for all persons in the area to be served, absent evidence to the contrary. The bill also provides that, for the purpose of determining public need for a proposed project in cases in which a provider or affiliated group of providers holds a market share of 85 percent or more, the proposed project shall be deemed to be a project that fosters institutional competition that benefits the area to be served while improving access to essential health care services for all persons in the area to be served.
Patron: Edwards
Public institutions of higher education; contracting firms; president of the institution; delegation. Allows a president of a public institution of higher education to delegate to an officer or administrator of the institution his obligation to determine and make a written finding as a matter of public record that a contract is in the best interests of the institution when an officer or employee whose personal interest in a contract with the institution is by reason of an ownership in the contracting firm in excess of three percent of the contracting firm's equity or such ownership interest and income from the contracting firm is in excess of $5,000 per year.
Patron: Reeves
Public institutions of higher education; in-state tuition; children of active duty service members or veterans. Provides that any child of an active duty member or veteran who claims Virginia as his home state and filed Virginia tax returns for at least 10 years during active duty service is eligible for in-state tuition charges, regardless of domicile. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Patron: Reeves
Institutions of higher education; intercollegiate athletics; student-athletes; compensation, representation, and injury. Prohibits any private institution of higher education, baccalaureate public institution of higher education, athletic association, athletic conference, or other organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from (i) providing a prospective student-athlete with compensation that results from the use of the student's name, image, or likeness; (ii) prohibiting or preventing a student-athlete from earning from another individual or entity compensation that results from the use of the student's name, image, or likeness, except in certain limited circumstances; (iii) prohibiting or preventing a student-athlete from obtaining professional representation by an athlete agent or legal representation by an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth; or (iv) declaring ineligible for or revoking a scholarship provided to a student-athlete who earns compensation that results from the use of the student's name, image, or likeness. The bill prohibits any athletic association, athletic conference, or other organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from prohibiting or preventing a private institution of higher education or baccalaureate public institution of higher education from becoming a member of or participating in intercollegiate athletics sponsored by such association, conference, or organization as a consequence of the compensation of a student-athlete at such institution that results from the use of the student-athlete's name, image, or likeness. The bill requires each private institution of higher education and each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to establish (i) a sports injury compensation fund into which the institution shall deposit 7.5 percent of the revenue earned from its intercollegiate athletics programs and from which any student-athlete who suffers a serious or career-ending injury during a practice or competition may apply for compensation upon his graduation and (ii) a wage fund into which the institution shall deposit 7.5 percent of the revenue earned from its intercollegiate athletics programs and from which each student-athlete shall receive an equal amount of compensation at the end of each academic year. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2024. The bill also requires the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System to convene a work group consisting of such members as the Chancellor deems appropriate to consider and make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later July 1, 2022, relating to the compensation and representation of student-athletes enrolled at comprehensive community colleges in the Commonwealth.
Patron: Petersen
Certificate of public need; conditions; civil penalty. Defines "COPN-conditioned community care" as charity care provided to indigent persons and health care services to individuals eligible for benefits under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C § 1396 et seq. and (i) requires the Commissioner of Health to condition a certificate of public need on the agreement of the applicant to provide a level of community care to patients in the applicant's service area and establish the total amount of community care necessary to satisfy the condition; (ii) provides for imposition of a civil penalty of up to $100 per violation per day for failure to satisfy the conditions on a certificate of public need, but requires the Department of Health to waive the penalty in cases in which the certificate holder demonstrates, in accordance with regulations of the Board, that good faith efforts were made to comply with the conditions on a certificate but that the certificate holder was unable to satisfy the conditions of the certificate despite such good faith efforts; (iii) requires every certificate holder to develop a financial assistance policy that includes specific eligibility criteria and procedures for applying for charity care, which shall be provided to a patient at the time of admission or discharge or at the time services are provided, included with any billing statements sent to a patient, posted conspicuously in public areas of the medical care facility for which the certificate was issued, and posted on a website maintained by the certificate holder; and (iv) provides that when determining whether conditions imposed on a certificate of public need should be amended in response to a request submitted by the certificate holder, the Commissioner shall consider any changes in the circumstances of the certificate holder resulting from changes in the financing or delivery of health care services, including changes to the Commonwealth's program of medical assistance services, and any other specific circumstances of the certificate holder.
The bill also requires the Department of Health to establish an expedited review for certain projects involving addition of imaging equipment, addition of a new ambulatory or outpatient surgery center, addition of operating rooms at an existing ambulatory or outpatient surgery center, and addition of psychiatric beds or conversion of existing beds at a medical care facility to psychiatric beds and requires the Board of Health to include in regulations governing the certificate of public need program a provision for the development of review criteria and standards for specific medical care facilities and health care services for each health planning region that take into account the unique needs and characteristics of such region.
Patron: McDougle
Opening of the school year; Northern Neck Technical Center. Permits the school board of any school division from which students attend Northern Neck Technical Center to set the school calendar so that the first day that students are required to attend school is earlier than Labor Day, including earlier than 14 days before Labor Day.
Patron: McDougle
Certificates of public need; civil penalty. Exempts specialized centers or clinics or that portion of a doctor's office established for the provision of ambulatory or outpatient ophthalmic, urologic, or endoscopic surgery from the definition of medical care facility and creates a new permitting process for projects involving specialized centers or clinics or that portion of a doctor's office established for the provision of ophthalmic, urologic, or endoscopic surgery and services, subject to a civil penalty for failure or refusal to comply with certain conditions of the permit.
Patron: Edwards
Possession and administration of epinephrine; restaurant employee. Authorizes any employee of a licensed restaurant to possess and administer epinephrine, provided that such employee is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine. The bill also requires the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Health Professions, to develop policies and guidelines for the recognition and treatment of anaphylaxis in restaurants.
Patron: Edwards
Advance directives; physician assistants; nurse practitioners; capacity determinations. Adds licensed physician assistants to the list of health care practitioners permitted to determine that a person who has executed an advance directive granting an agent the authority to consent to the person's admission to a facility for mental health treatment is incapable of making an informed decision regarding such admission. The bill also removes the requirement that a nurse practitioner be a psychiatric nurse practitioner to determine that a person who has executed an advance directive granting an agent the authority to consent to the person's admission to a facility for mental health treatment is incapable of making an informed decision regarding such admission.
Patron: Ruff
High school graduation requirements; standard diploma; workforce skills training. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit any student who has successfully completed during high school at least two years of workforce skills training as evidenced by written certification from the training provider to graduate with a standard diploma without completing the remaining credit requirements for such diploma.
Patron: Edwards
Collaborative practice agreements; nurse practitioners; physician assistants. Adds nurse practitioners and physician assistants to the list of health care practitioners who shall not be required to participate in a collaborative agreement with a pharmacist and his designated alternate pharmacists, regardless of whether a professional business entity on behalf of which the person is authorized to act enters into a collaborative agreement with a pharmacist and his designated alternate pharmacists. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Healthcare.
Patron: Edwards
Naloxone; possession and administration. Provides that a person who is not otherwise authorized to administer naloxone or other opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal may administer naloxone or other opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal to a person who is believed to be experiencing or about to experience a life-threatening opioid overdose, provided the administration is in good faith and absent gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct.
Patron: Dunnavant
Medical assistance services; managed care organization contracts with pharmacy benefits managers; spread pricing. Requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services to require a managed care organization with which the Department enters into an agreement for the delivery of medical assistance services to include in any agreement between the managed care organization and a pharmacy benefits manager provisions prohibiting the pharmacy benefits manager or a representative of the pharmacy benefits manager from conducting spread pricing with regard to the managed care organization's managed care plans. The bill defines "spread pricing" as the model of prescription drug pricing in which the pharmacy benefits manager charges a managed care plan a contracted price for prescription drugs and the contracted price for the prescription drugs differs from the amount the pharmacy benefits manager directly or indirectly pays the pharmacist or pharmacy for pharmacist services. The bill applies to agreements entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021.
Patron: Dunnavant
Prescription Monitoring Program; information disclosed to the Emergency Department Information Exchange; redisclosure. Provides for the mutual exchange of information between the Prescription Monitoring Program and the Emergency Department Information Exchange and clarifies that nothing shall prohibit the redisclosure of confidential information from the Prescription Monitoring Program or any data or reports produced by the Prescription Monitoring Program disclosed to the Emergency Department Information Exchange to a prescriber in an electronic report generated by the Emergency Department Information Exchange so long as the electronic report complies with relevant federal law and regulations governing privacy of health information. The bill expands the information that the Director of the Virginia Department of Health Professions can disclose to include information about a specific recipient who is a member of a health benefit plan or to his clinical designee who holds a multistate licensure privilege to practice nursing or a license issued by a health regulatory board within the Department of Health Professions and is employed by a health benefit plan.
Patron: Hanger
Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013; eligible security equipment. Classifies security-related devices located outside of the school building on school property and security-related devices located on school buses as eligible security equipment under the Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013.
Patron: Hanger
Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013; eligible security equipment; vaping detectors. Classifies vaping detectors as eligible security equipment under the Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013.
Patron: Deeds
Department of Education; local school boards; mental health awareness training. Requires each local school board to adopt and implement policies that require each school board employee deemed to be in need of such training to complete mental health awareness training once every 10 years. The bill requires the Department of Education to make mental health awareness training available to employees in need of such training.
Patron: Mason
Teachers in certain schools for students with disabilities; provisional licenses; extension. Requires the Board of Education to extend for at least one additional year, but for no more than two additional years, the three-year provisional license of a teacher employed in a school for students with disabilities that is licensed by the Board upon receiving from the school administrator of such school (i) a recommendation for such extension and (ii) satisfactory performance evaluations for such teacher for each year of the original three-year provisional license. The provisions of the bill mirror current law relating to the extension of provisional licenses for public school teachers.
Patron: Obenshain
School Guardian Fund and Program; establishment. Establishes the School Guardian Fund and requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus safety to establish and administer the School Guardian Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund on a competitive basis to school boards for the appointment or hiring of school guardians, which the bill defines as any individual, including any school resource officer, school security officer, or other school board employee, who is hired or appointed by a school board to carry a firearm on school property during normal school hours for school security purposes. The bill requires each such school guardian to receive an annual stipend of $500 for the performance of his duties. The bill requires the Center to (i) establish training and screening standards for such school guardians that include, at minimum, a requirement to receive a psychological screening and a drug screening prior to the commencement of school guardian duties and (ii) adopt such other rules and policies as it deems necessary for the administration of the Program, including rules and policies for grant applications and awards.
Patron: McClellan
Virginia Human Rights Act; discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of persons related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Requires employers, defined in the bill, to make reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of a person related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, if such accommodation is necessary to assist such person in performing a particular job, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. The bill also prohibits employers from taking any adverse action against an employee who requests or uses a reasonable accommodation and from denying employment or promotion opportunities to an otherwise qualified applicant or employee because such employer will be required to make reasonable accommodation to the applicant or employee. The bill creates a cause of action against any employer who denies any of the rights afforded by the bill and permits the court or jury to award compensatory damages, back pay, and other equitable relief. The bill requires all employers to inform employees about the nondiscrimination policies created by the bill within 120 days of the bill's enactment and directs the Division of Human Rights to develop and conduct educational efforts about nondiscrimination in employment. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron: McClellan
Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leaders and mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of a unit in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs and the establishment of a unit in the Department of Education to oversee principal mentorship statewide in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Patron: McClellan
School principals; incident reports. Eliminates the requirement that school principals report certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense to law enforcement.
Patron: Deeds
Licensure of psychologists; Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact. Authorizes Virginia to become a signatory to the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact. The Compact permits eligible licensed psychologists to practice in Compact member states, provided that they are licensed in at least one member state. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021, and directs the Board of Psychology to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill.
Patron: Barker
Certificate of public need. Revises the Medical Care Facilities Certificate of Public Need Program. The bill (i) removes from the list of reviewable medical care facilities specialized centers or clinics or that portion of a physician's office developed for the provision of lithotripsy, magnetic source imaging, or nuclear medicine imaging; (ii) removes from the definition of project introduction into an existing medical care facility of any new lithotripsy, magnetic source imaging, or obstetrical service that the facility has never provided or has not provided in the previous 12 months and addition by an existing medical care facility of any medical equipment for the provision of lithotripsy and magnetic source imaging; (iii) creates a new process for registration of projects exempted from the definition of project by the bill; (iv) renames the State Medical Facilities Plan as the State Health Services Plan and establishes a State Health Services Plan task force to provide recommendations related to the content of the State Health Services Plan; (v) clarifies the content of the application for a certificate; (vi) reduces the timeline for a person to be made party to the case for good cause from 80 calendar days to four days following completion of the review and submission of recommendations related to an application; (vii) requires the Commissioner of Health to condition issuance of a certificate upon the agreement of the applicant to provide care to individuals who are eligible for benefits under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq.), Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.), and 10 U.S.C. § 1071 et seq. and permits the Commissioner to condition the issuance of a certificate on the agreement of the applicant to provide specialty medical services in addition to existing options for conditioning certificates; (viii) requires every certificate holder to develop a financial assistance policy that includes specific eligibility criteria and procedures for applying for charity care, which shall be provided to a patient at the time of admission or discharge or at the time services are provided, included with any billing statements sent to uninsured patients, posted conspicuously in public areas of the medical care facility for which the certificate was issued and posted on a website maintained by the certificate holder; (ix) eliminates the requirement that a person willfully fail, refuse, or neglect to comply with a plan of correction to be subject to a civil penalty so that any failure, refusal, or neglecting to comply with a plan of correction may subject the person to a civil penalty; and (x) provides that the Commissioner may consider any changes in the circumstances of the certificate holder resulting from changes in the financing or delivery of health care services, including changes to the Commonwealth's program of medical assistance services, and any other specific circumstances of the certificate holder when determining whether conditions imposed on a certificate continue to be appropriate. The bill also (a) directs the Department of Health to develop recommendations to reduce the duration of the average review cycle for applications for certificates of public need to not more than 120 days and to report on its recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 1, 2020, and (b) directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to implement a system to ensure that data needed to evaluate whether an application for a certificate is consistent with the State Health Services Plan is timely and reliable; to make all public records pertaining to applications for certificates and the review process available in real time in a searchable, digital format online; to make an inventory of capacity authorized by certificates of public need, both operational and not yet operational, available in a digital format online; and to establish a public education and outreach program designed to improve public awareness of the certificate of public need process and the public's role in such process by January 1, 2021.
Patron: Lewis
Pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technician trainees; registration. Amends eligibility criteria for registration as a pharmacy technician to include a requirement that the individual has (i) successfully completed or was enrolled in a Board of Pharmacy-approved pharmacy technician training program or (ii) passed a national certification examination required by the Board of Pharmacy but did not complete a Board-approved pharmacy technician training program. The bill also directs the Board to establish requirements for the issuance of a registration as a pharmacy technician to a person who (a) has previously practiced as a pharmacy technician in another U.S. jurisdiction and (b) has passed a national certification examination required by the Board. The bill defines "pharmacy technician trainee" and sets out requirements for registration as a pharmacy technician trainee. The bill also directs the Board to convene a workgroup composed of stakeholders deemed appropriate by the Board to develop recommendations related to the addition of duties that a pharmacy technician registered by the Board may perform.
Patron: Ebbin
Private schools; sexual misconduct; employment assistance prohibited. Requires the governing boards or administrators of private elementary and secondary schools accredited on behalf of the Board of Education by the Virginia Council for Private Education to adopt and implement policies prohibiting any individual who is a governing board member, administrator, employee, contractor, or agent of such school to assist a governing board member, administrator, employee, contractor, or agent of such school in obtaining a new job if such individual knows or has probable cause to believe that the individual seeking new employment engaged in sexual misconduct regarding a minor or student in violation of law.
Patron: Suetterlein
Naloxone; possession and administration; employee or person acting on behalf of a public place. Provides that an employee or other person acting on behalf of a public place who has completed a training program on the administration of naloxone or other opioid antagonist may possess and administer naloxone or other opioid antagonist, other than naloxone in an injectable formulation with a hypodermic needle or syringe, in accordance with protocols developed by the Board of Pharmacy in consultation with the Board of Medicine and the Department of Health. The bill defines "public place" as any enclosed area that is used or held out for use by the public, whether owned or operated by a public or private interest.
Patron: Petersen
George Mason University; establishment of a school of medicine. States that it is the sense of the General Assembly that George Mason University shall be encouraged to take steps to investigate and pursue the potential of establishing a school of medicine in the Northern Virginia area.
Patron: Pillion
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments; report. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended. The bill requires the Department of Education to annually report on the estimated projected and actual savings from the implementation of the bill and report the amount of such savings to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance no later than the first day of each Regular Session of the General Assembly. The bill also requires that such amount be included in the total for Direct Aid to Public Education in any general appropriation act.
Patron: DeSteph
Public institutions of higher education; six-year plans; pricing structure and tuition discounting strategies. Requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to include in each six-year plan for the institution a detailed explanation of the institution's pricing structure and tuition discounting strategies, including pricing by student income level and the use of tuition revenue for financial aid.
Patron: Barker
Long-term care services and supports; preadmission screenings. Provides that every individual who applies for or requests community or institutional long-term services and supports, as defined in the state plan for medical assistance services, may choose to receive services in a community or institutional setting and may choose the setting and provider of long-term care services and supports from a list of approved providers. The bill also clarifies requirements related to the performance of such long-term care services and supports screenings. The bill removes the definition of and references to PRE-Pace. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to consider alternative assessment tools for long-term services and supports screenings completed on or after July 1, 2021, and to report its findings and conclusions to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1, 2020. The provisions of the bill shall not become effective if they conflict with any provision of federal law or regulations or guidance issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Patron: Vogel
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; public institutions of higher education; dyslexia and literacy; multisensory structured language education. Directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to facilitate the development of a statewide coalition of public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth to gather and share information on the latest evidence-based methods and approaches to effectively educate K-12 students in reading, including multisensory structured language education to instruct students with dyslexia. The bill provides that the coalition shall meet twice annually, and relevant stakeholders shall be permitted to attend such meetings to provide input and contribute to discussions. The bill allows each public institution's school of education, education department, or relevant department for the career paths of K-12 reading specialists and teachers to collect such information and collaborate with other public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth regarding the latest reliable research for reading instruction to all K-12 students, with an emphasis on improving reading instruction to students with dyslexia.
Patron: Hashmi
Standards of Quality; state funding; ratios of teachers to English language learners. Requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support 20 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency. Current law requires state funding to support 17 such positions for each 1,000 such students. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Patron: Locke
Reproductive health services. Requires health benefit plans to cover the costs of specified health care services, drugs, devices, products, and procedures related to reproductive health. The health benefit plan requirements become effective when a plan is delivered, issued for delivery, reissued, or extended in the Commonwealth on and after January 1, 2021, or at any time thereafter when any term of the health benefit plan is changed or any premium adjustment is made. The measure also requires the Board of Medical Assistance Services to include in the state plan for medical assistance services a provision for the payment of the costs of a reproductive health care program providing reimbursement for medically necessary reproductive health care services, drugs, devices, products, and procedures for eligible individuals.
Patron: Favola
Department of Education; common statewide definition; "students with limited or interrupted formal education." Requires the Department of Education to develop and adopt a common statewide definition for the term "students with limited or interrupted formal education" and to require local school divisions to report on the number of students who fall under such definition as part of the required data collection and reporting on average daily membership for the purposes of documenting any changes in such numbers over time. The bill requires that the Board of Education evaluate the supports and programs available to "students with limited or interrupted formal education" in local school divisions to determine whether the calculations for the school quality indicators within the Board's Regulations Establishing the Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia are appropriate or whether changes in methodology could be made to more comprehensively measure the academic and nonacademic achievement of such student population.
Patron: Surovell
Virginia Community College System; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Scholarship Pilot Program. Directs the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to establish and administer a two-year Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Scholarship Pilot Program, beginning in 2020, for the purpose of providing access to postsecondary educational opportunities to students living in poverty. The Program would provide scholarships to select comprehensive community colleges in the maximum amount of $4,000 per year to 200 selected students who meet TANF eligibility requirements. The Program would be funded by the unexpended balance in federal TANF block grant funds. The bill directs VCCS to report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 1 of each year of the Program regarding the effectiveness of and other information about the Program. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Patron: Marsden
Board of Pharmacy; pharmaceutical processors; cannabis dispensing facilities. Defines "cannabis dispensing facilities" and allows the Board of Pharmacy to issue up to five permits for cannabis dispensing facilities per health service area. The bill requires the Board to establish a ratio of one pharmacist for every six pharmacy interns, technicians, and technician trainees for pharmaceutical processors and cannabis dispensing facilities. The bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to require that, after processing and before dispensing cannabidiol oil and THC-A oil, a pharmaceutical processor make a sample available from each homogenized batch of product for testing at an independent laboratory located in Virginia that meets board requirements. The bill requires that the Board promulgate regulations that include an allowance for the sale of devices for administration of dispensed products and an allowance for the use and distribution of inert product samples containing no cannabinoids for patient demonstration exclusively at the pharmaceutical processor or cannabis dispensing facility, and not for further distribution or sale, without the need for a written certification. The bill also requires the Board to adopt regulations for pharmaceutical processors that include requirements for (i) processes for safely and securely cultivating cannabis plants intended for producing cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil; (ii) a maximum number of marijuana plants a pharmaceutical processor may possess at any one time; (iii) the secure disposal of plant remains; (iv) dosage limitations, which shall provide that each dispensed dose of cannabidiol oil or THC-A not exceed 10 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol; and (v) a process for registering cannabidiol oil and THC-A oil products. The bill requires the Board of Pharmacy to promulgate required regulations with 280 days.
Patron: Edwards
State Board of Education; technical professional licenses; military science endorsement. Directs the State Board of Education to amend its regulations to require that persons seeking a technical professional license with an endorsement to teach military science have either the appropriate credentials issued by the United States military or a recommendation from a Virginia employing educational agency.
Patron: Hashmi
Physicians; medical specialty board certification options. Prohibits requiring maintenance of certification from physicians licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth, as a prerequisite to hospital medical staff membership, employment, malpractice liability insurance coverage, network status, or reimbursement for services provided to a person covered by a health insurance policy.
Patron: Lucas
Certificate of public need; definition of "medical care facility." Adds to the list of medical care facilities for which a certificate of public need is required any facility located in Planning District 20 that has common ownership with an affiliated licensed hospital located within 35 miles of the facility and that includes, as part of the facility, a dedicated emergency department as defined in 42 C.F.R. § 489.24(b) that is subject to the requirements of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.
Patron: Norment
Virginia Military Institute. Provides that Virginia Military Institute (the Institute) shall be grounded in a strict code of honor and high academics, shall uphold a strict military structure, and shall remain solely an undergraduate degree-granting institution of higher education. All cadets shall participate in one of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs at all times while attending the Institute. The bill provides that the Adjutant General, who is a member of the board of visitors (the board), shall serve as an ex officio nonvoting member. Current law states that the Adjutant General shall serve ex officio. The bill removes the requirement that the board get the prior written consent of the Governor in order to exercise its powers regarding gifts, grants, devises, and bequests. The bill states that the board shall prescribe the terms upon which all cadets, and not just pay cadets, may be admitted, their number, the course of their instruction, and the nature and duration of their service. The bill provides that the Institute, rather than the board, may admit annually as state cadets, upon evidence of fair moral character, individuals selected from the Commonwealth at large who are at least 16 but not more than 25 years old. The bill replaces the current provision allowing the Institute to admit military scholarship cadets to allow the Institute to admit Virginia National Guard scholarship cadets and removes the annual cap of 40 such scholarships. The bill expands who can confer degrees to include the superintendent and removes the authority of the board to confer honorary degrees or diplomas of distinguished merit.
Patron: Stanley
Public schools; alternative school discipline process. Allows a school board to adopt an alternative school discipline process to provide a principal and parties involved in an incident involving assault, or assault and battery without bodily injury, that occurs on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored event an option to enter into a mutually agreed-upon process between the involved parties as an alternative to reporting such incident to law enforcement. The bill provides that a principal in a school division with such an alternative accountability process may attempt to engage the parties involved in such an incident in the process prior to reporting such incident to the local law-enforcement agency and prohibits, if provided for by the school board, a principal from reporting a party who successfully completes the alternative school discipline process.
Patron: Dunnavant
Pharmacists; initiating treatment, dispensing, and administering of controlled substances. Includes in the practice of pharmacy initiating treatment, dispensing, and administering of certain drugs and devices by a pharmacist, provided that such pharmacist initiates treatment with, dispenses, or administers such drugs and devices in accordance with a statewide protocol developed by the Board of Pharmacy in collaboration with the Board of Medicine and Department of Health and set forth in regulations of the Board of Pharmacy. The bill clarifies that an accident and sickness insurance policy that provides reimbursement for a service that may be legally performed by a licensed pharmacist shall provide reimbursement for initiating treatment with, dispensing, or administering drugs and devices by a pharmacist when such initiation of treatment, dispensation, or administration is in accordance with regulations of the Board of Pharmacy. The bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of the bill within 280 days of its effective date. The Board shall report to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions by November 1, 2020, on the status of the regulations. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.
Patron: Vogel
School board member compensation; City of Winchester. Authorizes the City of Winchester to compensate its school board members with an annual salary not to exceed $4,500.
Patron: Obenshain
Online Virginia Network Authority; James Madison University. Adds the President of James Madison University or his designee and one nonlegislative citizen member appointed by James Madison University to the members of the board of trustees of the Online Virginia Network Authority. The bill also adds James Madison University to the institutions of higher education for which the Online Virginia Network, established by the Authority, will facilitate the completion of degrees.
Patron: Deeds
Involuntary commitment; notice and participation. Clarifies the role of individuals identified and requested by a person in the involuntary commitment process to assist him in the process. The bill sets out such authorized individuals' right to receive medical records, notice of hearings, and copies of orders and to participate in hearings and the discharge planning process.
Patron: Deeds
Hospitals; custody of person subject to emergency custody order; regulations. Extends the maximum period of time during which a person may be involuntarily held pursuant to an emergency custody order from eight hours, or in some cases 12 hours, to 24 hours and requires the Board of Health to include in regulations governing hospitals a requirement that every hospital be licensed for and actually capable of accepting from law enforcement the transfer of custody of a person who is the subject of an emergency custody order.
Patron: Kiggans
Higher education; in-state tuition. Provides that if the Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, from January 1 through December 31 of the year immediately preceding the affected academic year, is less than or equal to zero, no governing board of a baccalaureate public institution of higher education shall increase the in-state tuition rate charged to undergraduate students for such academic year. The bill provides that if the CPI-U is greater than zero, (i) the governing board of a baccalaureate public institution of higher education at which the in-state tuition rate charged to undergraduate students does not meet or exceed the average undergraduate tuition rate across all baccalaureate public institutions of higher education may increase the in-state tuition rate in an amount not to exceed the product of the CPI-U and the average undergraduate tuition rate across all baccalaureate public institutions of higher education and (ii) the governing board of a baccalaureate public institution of higher education at which the in-state tuition rate charged to undergraduate students meets or exceeds the average undergraduate tuition rate across all baccalaureate public institutions of higher education may increase the in-state tuition rate at a percentage not to exceed the CPI-U. The bill also provides that the foregoing provisions shall apply to the Virginia Community College System if the tuition charged to any Virginia student at a comprehensive community college meets or exceeds the lowest in-state tuition rate charged to undergraduate students at a baccalaureate public institution of higher education.
Patron: McClellan
Schedule VI controlled substances; hypodermic syringes and needles; limited-use license. Allows the Board of Pharmacy to issue a limited-use license for the purpose of dispensing Schedule VI controlled substances, excluding the combination of misoprostol and methotrexate, and hypodermic syringes and needles for the administration of prescribed controlled substances to a doctor of medicine, osteopathic medicine, or podiatry, a nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant, provided that such limited-use licensee is practicing at a nonprofit facility. The bill requires such nonprofit facilities to obtain a limited-use permit from the Board and comply with regulations for such a permit.
Patron: Suetterlein
Department of Education; federal accountability indicators; PSAT/NMSQT; PreACT. Directs the Department of Education to amend its state plan pursuant to the Every Student Succeeds Act to include the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and the PreACT in the next federal accountability indicators application. The bill directs the Department and the Board of Education to grant verified credit to students who have earned approved scores on these two tests and permit schools to count those students as a "pass."
Patron: Suetterlein
Board of Medicine; medically unnecessary chaperones. Directs the Board of Medicine to amend its regulations to require that patients be notified that they have the right to opt out of the presence of a chaperone during medical examinations, provided that the chaperone is medically unnecessary. The bill also requires the regulations to include a provision permitting health care practitioners to refuse to perform medical services for a patient who refuses the presence of a chaperone.
Patron: Morrissey
Superintendent of Public Instruction; Urban Teacher Fund and Program; established. Establishes the Urban Teacher Fund and Program, to be administered by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the purpose of providing grants to persons employed in urban school divisions with teacher shortages who remain employed by the urban school division for a period of at least five years.
Patron: Suetterlein
COPN; demonstration of public need and compliance with State Medical Facilities Plan. Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, an application for a certificate of public need for the introduction of a specialty-level neonatal special care service in Planning District 5 that (i) contains in the record testimony of a neonatologist, employed or contracted by an incumbent provider of neonatal special care services in the same planning district, that the proposed number of bassinets in the application is clinically appropriate for the neonatal special care service proposed and would be beneficial to health outcomes of infants born at the applicant's facility and (ii) includes the agreement of the applicant to accept standard charity care conditions on the proposed neonatal special care services shall be deemed to (a) demonstrate a public need for such proposed specialty-level neonatal special care service and (b) be consistent with the State Medical Facilities Plan.
Patron: Pillion
Department of Education; School Construction Fund and Program. Establishes the School Construction Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and requires the Department of Education to establish the School Construction Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund, subject to certain conditions, to school boards that leverage federal, state, and local programs and resources to finance the design and construction of new school buildings and facilities or the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities.
Patron: Stanley
Authorization of volunteer school security officers by local school boards and private or religious schools.