Public schools; instructional time; competency-based education. Requires the Board of Education to provide local school boards maximum flexibility to waive existing instructional clock hour requirements by developing alternative instructional time models in accordance with the Board's regulations and guidelines relating to instructional time waivers. The bill directs the Board, when revising its regulations and adopting Standards of Accreditation, to provide flexibility for school boards to develop programs that provide for acceleration, remediation, and multiple pathways to graduation that permit students to demonstrate competency at different rates. The bill also requires the Board to update, by December 1, 2024, its Guidelines for Graduation Requirements: Local Alternative Paths to Standard Units of Credit (Alternatives to the 140-Clock-Hour Requirement) to include guidance regarding (i) waiver pathway options to allow students time within the school day to complete work-based learning opportunities; (ii) advanced learning opportunities focused on problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and citizenship skills; (iii) content that provides technical knowledge, skills, and competency-based applied learning; (iv) a method for approving alternative programs, including dual enrollment courses as specified in the bill; (v) other instructional time models adopted to meet instructional hour requirements through a variety of learning modalities; and (vi) offering instructional and learning opportunities including innovative, advanced, and enrichment programs for the full school year. Finally, the bill requires the Board to submit to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education by November 1, 2024, a report on its progress in implementing the provisions of the bill. This bill incorporates HB 663 and HB 1081.
Alpha-gal syndrome; Board of Health; reportable disease list. Directs the Board of Health to adopt regulations to include alpha-gal syndrome on the list of diseases that shall be required to be reported in accordance with the Code of Virginia. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025.
Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors,Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects; quorum andsignature requirements. Reduces from nine to six the number ofmembers of the Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, LandSurveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects(the Board) constituting a quorum. The bill lowers the quorum requirementof two engineers, two architects, and two land surveyors to one engineer,one architect, and one land surveyor. Finally, the bill removes therequirement that licenses issued by the Board be signed by at leastfour members of the Board.
Russell County Industrial Development Authority; appointments. Clarifies that the board of supervisors of Russell County may appoint nine members to its industrial development authority, which shall consist of two members from the governing body of a town that has used its borrowing capacity to borrow $2 million or more for industrial development and such other members as the board of supervisors shall agree upon. Under current law, two of the members must come from a town that has used its borrowing capacity to borrow $2 million or more for industrial development. This bill is identical to SB 727.
Fentanyl and other opioids; awareness of andeducation relating to risks. Requires the ninth day of May ofeach year to be designated and known as "Fentanyl Awareness Day"in recognition of the need to raise awareness of the risks to healthand safety that are posed by fentanyl and on which the Commonwealth,the governing body of each locality, and each school board shallseek to leverage all available resources to raise awareness of suchrisks. The bill also requires the Department of Education, in consultationwith such stakeholders and experts as it deems necessary or appropriate,to develop and distribute to each school board age-appropriate and evidence-based education materials concerning the risks to healthand safety that are posed by opioids, with a particular focus onthe risk of death that is posed by fentanyl. The bill also requireseach school board, in observance of Fentanyl Awareness Day, to ensurethat such materials are distributed to or incorporated into instructionalprograms for students enrolled in the local school division.
Advisory Council on Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections and Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome; sunset. Extends from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2028, the sunset of the Advisory Council on Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections and Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; public institutions of higher education; policies for establishing eligibility for accommodations; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in consultation with representatives of public institutions of higher education, disability advocacy organizations, students enrolled at public institutions of higher education, higher education disability accommodation professionals, and a subject matter expert, to (i) study the processes by which each public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth determines the eligibility for accommodations of an admitted or enrolled student with a temporary or permanent disability, (ii) identify in such processes any potential barriers to establishing eligibility, and (iii) make recommendations on reducing any such barriers and on the development and establishment of a uniform accommodations eligibility determination in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 21.
Board of Housing and Community Development; stakeholder advisory group; report. Directs the Board of Housing and Community Development (the Board) to convene a stakeholder advisory group including fire code officials to evaluate and recommend revisions to the Uniform Statewide Building Code to permit Group R-2 occupancies to be served by a single exit, provided that the building has not more than six stories above grade plane. The bill requires the stakeholder advisory group to submit its findings and recommendations to the Board and to the Chairmen of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology no later than December 1, 2024. This bill is identical to HB 368.
Motor vehicle value; J.D. Power OfficialUsed Car Guide. Adds the J.D. Power Official Used CarGuide to the list of publications from which the retail valueof an automobile is admissible as evidence of fair market value ofsuch automobile in any civil or criminal case in which the priceof an automobile is in issue.
Chief Medical Examiner; Maternal Mortality ReviewTeam; work group; expansion plan; report. Directs the Officeof the Chief Medical Examiner and the Maternal Mortality Review Teamto convene a work group to expand the work of the Maternal MortalityReview Team. The bill directs the work group to develop criteriaand procedures related to the collection of maternal morbidity data.The bill specifies that the Maternal Mortality Review Team's expansionplan shall include certain plans for data collection, data review, and development and implementation of policies and recommendations.The work group is required to report its findings and provide itsplan to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations andHealth, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Financeand Appropriations and Education and Health by December 1, 2025.
Interference with commercial fishing vessel;penalties. Provides that a person who approaches a commercialfishing vessel without the consent of the owner or person in chargeof such vessel with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass thecaptain or crew of such vessel or interfere with the operations ofsuch vessel is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill makes ita Class 6 felony to communicate to another person by any means any threat to (i) kill or do bodily injury to a person or persons engagedin the activity of commercial fishing on the waters of the Commonwealthor (ii) bomb, burn, destroy, or in any manner damage any commercialfishing vessel, and increases this penalty to a Class 5 felony ifsuch threat places the captain or crew in reasonable apprehensionof death or bodily injury. The bill makes it a Class 6 felony tointentionally or recklessly damage, injure, tamper with, deface,or destroy a commercial fishing vessel or any associated gear. Finally,the bill deems a person to be ineligible for any hunting or fishinglicense for a certain period of time if such person is found guiltyof an offense set out in the bill.
Health insurance; coverage for doula care services. Requires health insurers, corporations providing health care subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations whose policy, contract, or plan includes coverage for obstetrical services to provide coverage for doula care services provided by a state-certified doula. The bill requires such coverage to include coverage for at least eight visits during the antepartum or postpartum period and support during labor and delivery. The bill provides that health insurance carriers are (i) not required to pay for duplicate services actually rendered by both a state-certified doula and another health care provider and (ii) prohibited from requiring supervision, signature, or referral by any other health care provider as a condition of reimbursement for doula care services, except when those requirements are also applicable to other categories of health care providers. Such provisions of the bill are subject to a reenactment clause. The bill also requires the Health Insurance Reform Commission to consider coverage for doula care services in its review of the essential health benefits benchmark plan and to include such coverage in its recommendation to the General Assembly unless a compelling reason for excluding such coverage is identified. This bill is identical to SB 118.
