Declinable preneed funeral guarantee fee; definition. Amends the definition of "declinable preneed funeral guarantee fee" to specify that a declinable preneed funeral guarantee fee, when offered by a seller, shall not exceed 25 percent of the guaranteed preneed supplies and services included in the funeral contract price. Under current law, a declinable preneed funeral guarantee fee, when offered by a seller, shall not exceed 25 percent of the preneed funeral contract price. The bill also directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to amend its regulations to ensure that declinable preneed funeral guarantee fees are used solely to guarantee the cost of preneed supplies and services as described in preneed funeral contracts.
Unemployment insurance; weekly benefit amount; increasing threshold for deduction of wages payable. Provides that each individual eligible for unemployment benefits shall be paid a weekly benefit amount less any part of the wages payable to such individual for such week that is in excess of $100. Currently, each eligible individual shall be paid a weekly benefit amount less any part of the wages payable to such individual for such week that is in excess of $50. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation.
State Corporation Commission regulatory proceeding; reasonable classifications of customers by public utilities. Directs the State Corporation Commission, in an existing proceeding filed after January 1, 2025, but no late than July 1, 2027, to determine whether Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power are using rates, tolls, charges, or schedules that contain reasonable classifications of utility customers.
Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices; obtaining, disclosing, etc., reproductive or sexual health information without consumer consent. Provides that obtaining, disclosing, selling, or disseminating personally identifiable reproductive or sexual health information, as defined in the bill, without the consent of the consumer is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
Workers' compensation; throat cancer. Provides that for the purposes of the workers' compensation presumption as to death or disability from certain types of cancer, throat cancer includes cancer that forms in the tissues of the pharynx, larynx, adenoid, tonsil, esophagus, trachea, nasopharynx, oropharynx, or hypopharynx. This bill applies only to diseases diagnosed on or after July 1, 2025. This bill is identical to HB 1933.
Prescribed pediatric extended care centers; licensure; regulation. Authorizes the State Board of Health to license prescribed pediatric extended care centers, defined as nonresidential health care service centers that provide a link in the continuum of care for medically dependent or technologically dependent children. The bill establishes the scope of services offered by such centers and requirements for operation, management, staffing, facilities, and maintenance and directs the Board to promulgate emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Public schools; interscholastic sports and athletics; guidelines and policies on student-athlete extreme heat safety and protection; development and implementation. Requires the Board of Education to develop, biennially review and update as necessary, and distribute to each local school division guidelines on policies relating to extreme heat safety and protection for student-athletes. The bill requires each school board to develop and update, in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Board of Education, policies on student-athlete extreme heat safety and protection that (i) are consistent with any heat guidelines based on Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) levels developed by an organization or entity whose purpose it is to regulate or govern interscholastic athletics programs in the Commonwealth; (ii) establish tiered heat-acclimatization and modification procedures for outdoor athletics practices or games based on the WBGT levels to reduce the risks associated with extreme heat faced by student-athletes; (iii) require student-athletes to be given unhindered access to hydration at all times; (iv) include procedures relating to preventing, recognizing, and addressing heat-related illnesses; and (v) establish a process for reporting and investigating any instance in which a student-athlete experiences a heat-related illness requiring emergency medical treatment or resulting in death. This bill is identical to HB 1663.
Department of Health Professions; health regulatory boards; regulations; licensure by endorsement. Directs each health regulatory board regulated by the Department of Health Professions to enact regulations to provide a licensure by endorsement pathway for qualified applicants as practitioners of the particular profession or professions regulated by such board. The bill specifies that the Board of Medicine shall be the first health regulatory board to enact regulations to provide a licensure by endorsement pathway. This bill is identical to HB 1861.
Certain unclaimed property presumed abandoned; Volunteer Firefighters' and Rescue Squad Workers' Service Award Fund. Provides that any funds or other property held or payable to a member of the Volunteer Firefighters' and Rescue Squad Workers' Service Award Fund that have remained unclaimed for more than five years after such member's forfeiture of his membership or the dissolution of a volunteer emergency medical services agency or volunteer fire department shall be presumed abandoned for the purposes of the Virginia Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act.
An Act to amend and reenact § 62 and §§ 63, 64, and 114, as severally amended, of Chapter 34 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, which provided a charter for the City of Norfolk, relating to division of fire; classified service.
Department of Medical Assistance Services; remote patient monitoring for patients with chronic conditions; report. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to develop a plan and estimate costs for expanding eligibility criteria under Medicaid for remote patient monitoring for individuals with chronic conditions and to report such plan and cost estimate to the Joint Commission on Health Care by October 1, 2025. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care.
Portable changeable message signs; certain vehicles. Authorizes certain towing, traffic management, and highway maintenance vehicles to be equipped with a portable changeable message sign that may be used without prior authorization from the Department of Transportation, provided that certain conditions are met.
