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2020 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Higher Education

Locke (Chair), Petersen, Cosgrove, Chafin, Hashmi

Date of Meeting: February 17, 2020
Time and Place: 30 min. after Adj., Subcommittee Room 2, 5th Fl. Pocahontas Bldg.

H.B. 103

Patron: Lindsey

Certain institutions of higher education; transcript notations; expungement. Requires each institution of higher education that is required by law to include a prominent notation on the academic transcript of each student who has been suspended for, has been permanently dismissed for, or withdraws from the institution while under investigation for an offense involving sexual violence under the institution's code, rules, or set of standards governing student conduct to adopt a policy for the expungement of such notation for good cause shown and after a period of three years.

H.B. 104

Patron: Lindsey

Public institutions of higher education; non-academic student codes of conduct. Requires each public institution of higher education, with the exception of the Virginia Military Institute, to adopt non-academic student codes of conduct. The bill mandates that students and student organizations that participate in the non-academic student codes of conduct process as a complainant or respondent shall have the responsibilities and rights afforded to them by the institution's codes of conduct and related policies and procedures. The bill states that the codes of conduct shall describe and define the responsibilities and rights of all enrolled students and student organizations and outline each step in the institution's procedures for responding to and resolving allegations of violations. The bill outlines procedures that the codes of conduct shall include when an accused student or student organization faces the potential sanctions of suspension or expulsion.

H.B. 375

Patron: Willett

Postsecondary schools; enrollment agreements; disputes; arbitration. Prohibits any postsecondary school that is required to be certified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia from conditioning the enrollment of a student who receives state funds pursuant to this title on (i) entering into an agreement that requires the student to arbitrate any dispute between the student and the school, regardless of whether the agreement permits the student to opt out of the requirement to arbitrate any such dispute in the future; or (ii) entering into an agreement that requires the student to resolve a dispute on an individual basis and waive the right to class or group actions. The bill requires each postsecondary school that does not receive state funds pursuant to this title and requires any student to submit to arbitration to resolve disputes with the school pursuant to the student's enrollment agreement to (a) permit the student to report the dispute to any other individual or entity before the arbitration proceeding is initiated or completed; (b) report each student dispute to the Council before the arbitration proceeding is initiated; (c) report to the Council certain information about each arbitration proceeding that results from a student dispute, including the nature of the dispute, any defense or counterclaim by the school, and the disposition of the dispute; (d) report to the Council annual aggregated data on arbitration proceedings that result from student disputes, including the number, nature, and disposition of such proceedings; and (e) disclose to students, upon enrollment, data on the frequency and nature of arbitration proceedings at the postsecondary school as previously reported to the Council, in a format determined by the Council.

H.B. 447

Patron: Murphy

Active duty military personnel or activated or temporarily mobilized reservists or guard members; dependents; eligibility for in-state tuition and other educational benefits. Requires the condition of continuous enrollment in a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education currently imposed on dependents of active duty military personnel or activated or temporarily mobilized reservists or guard members in order to be eligible for in-state tuition and other educational benefits afforded to Virginia students to be waived if the dependent verifies that a break of no longer than one year was required in order to support a spouse or parent on orders for a change of duty assignment or location.

H.B. 456

Patron: Murphy

Public institutions of higher education; veterans; withdrawal; tuition refund. Requires each public institution of higher education to provide a refund of the tuition and mandatory fees paid by any veteran student for any course from which he is forced to withdraw, for the first time, due to a service-connected medical condition during a semester, as certified in writing to the institution by a physician licensed to practice medicine who treated the veteran student for such medical condition.

H.B. 457

Patron: Murphy

Degree-granting postsecondary schools; distance learning reciprocity agreements; consumer protection. Requires any degree-granting postsecondary school providing distance learning to residents of the Commonwealth from a location outside of the Commonwealth to be certified to operate in the Commonwealth or be a participant in any interstate reciprocity agreement to which the Commonwealth belongs, in accordance with the Council's authority under relevant law, for the purpose of consumer protection. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.

H.B. 715

Patron: Reid

Governing boards of public institutions of higher education; increases in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees; notice. Prohibits the governing board of any public institution of higher education from approving an increase in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees without providing students and the public notice of the date, time, and location of the meeting at which public comment on such planned increase is permitted at least 10 days prior to such meeting.

H.B. 743

Patron: Bulova

Private student loan providers; certain disclosures. Requires any provider of private student loans to disclose to any student attending an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth, prior to issuing a qualified education loan to such student, the contact information for the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman and a summary of the student loan information applicable to private student loans that may be found on the Council's website. The bill provides that any such disclosure may be made in conjunction with or incorporated into another disclosure to such student prior to issuing the qualified education loan. The bill requires the summary to be developed by the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman in consultation with relevant stakeholders. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.

H.B. 913

Patron: Helmer

Institutions of higher education; sexual violence policies; immunity from disciplinary action; certain students who make reports. Requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education and each nonprofit private institution of higher education to include as part of its policy, code, rules, or set of standards governing sexual violence a provision for immunity from disciplinary action based on personal consumption of drugs or alcohol where such disclosure is made in conjunction with a good faith report of an act of sexual violence.

H.B. 992

Patron: Adams, L.R.

A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Declares the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership a political subdivision of the Commonwealth and requires its staff to be treated as state employees for purposes of participation in the Virginia Retirement System, health insurance, and all other employee benefits offered by the Commonwealth to its classified employees.

H.B. 1179

Patron: Tran

Public institutions of higher education; in-state tuition; refugees and individuals with certain Special Immigrant Visas. Provides that an individual is eligible for in-state tuition charges regardless of domicile if he is admitted to the United States as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 within the previous two calendar years or received a Special Immigrant Visa that has been granted a status under P.L. 110-181 § 1244, P.L. 109-163 § 1059, or P.L. 111-8 § 602 within the previous two calendar years, and upon entering the United States, the individual resided in the Commonwealth and continues to reside in the Commonwealth as a refugee or pursuant to such Special Immigrant Visa.

H.B. 1223

Patron: Miyares

Public institutions of higher education; foundations; annual reporting requirements. Requires each public institution of higher education to release an annual report regarding foundations associated with the institution setting forth foundation expenses. The annual report shall include the total annual expenditures by each foundation; the percentage of expenditures used for scholarships or financial aid by each foundation; the percentage of expenditures used for faculty compensation by each foundation; the percentage of expenditures used for program costs by each foundation; the percentage of expenditures used for equipment and technology by each foundation; and the percentage of expenditures used for administrative support by each foundation.

H.B. 1226

Patron: Tran

Collection of debts by hospitals affiliated with public institutions of higher education. Prohibits the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority and the University of Virginia Medical Center from participating in debt collection efforts pursuant to the Virginia Debt Collection Act or the Setoff Debt Collection Act unless all reasonable efforts have been made to determine if the individual with delinquent debt is eligible for financial assistance. The bill requires both hospitals to develop debt collection policies that adhere, at a minimum, to Internal Revenue Service policies regarding financial assistance by tax-exempt hospitals as they were in effect on January 1, 2020.

H.B. 1275

Patron: O'Quinn

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; Veteran Student Transition Grant Fund and Program. Establishes the Veteran Student Transition Grant Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to establish the Veteran Student Transition Grant Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund on a competitive basis to a public institution of higher education, private institution of higher education, or group of such institutions that proposes a new and innovative program or research project relating to improving the transition of veteran students from military to higher education or from higher education to the civilian workforce.

H.B. 1315

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.

H.B. 1335

Patron: Keam

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; student advisory committee; Director of the Council. Changes the appointing authority for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's student advisory committee from the State Council to the Director of the Council. It also directs the student advisory committee to report to the Director rather than to the Council.

H.B. 1529

Patron: Bulova

Governing boards of public institutions of higher education; acceptance of terms and conditions associated with donations, gifts, and other private philanthropic support. Requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to establish a policy for the acceptance of terms and conditions associated with any donation, gift, or other private philanthropic support. The bill requires each such policy to include an administrative process for reviewing, accepting, and documenting terms and conditions associated with (i) gifts that direct academic decision-making and (ii) gifts of $1,000,000 or more that impose a new obligation on the institution of higher education, excluding gifts for scholarships or other financial aid. The bill requires each public institution of higher education to retain documentation of such terms and conditions in compliance with the Virginia Public Records Act and provides that such documentation shall be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.