School boards; unexpended local funds; capitalreserve fund permitted. Permits any school board, with the concurrenceof the local governing body, to establish a capital reserve fundas a savings account into which it exclusively deposits the localoperating funds that remain unexpended at the end of the year forfuture school division capital expenditures at no additional costto local taxpayers, subject to certain conditions enumerated in thebill.
Advance Health Care Planning Registry; amendment of regulations. Amends the list of documents that may be submitted to the Advance Health Care Directive Registry to include any other document that supports advance health care planning. The bill also changes the name of the Advance Health Care Directive Registry to the Advance Health Care Planning Registry. The bill directs the Department of Health to amend certain Advance Health Care Planning Registry regulations. This bill is identical to SB 154.
Dental hygienists; remote supervision. Extendsfrom 90 days to 180 days the period during which a dental hygienistpracticing under remote supervision may continue to treat a patient,after which period the supervising dentist shall conduct an examinationor refer the patient to another dentist to conduct an examination. Under current law, a dental hygienist practicing under remote supervisionmay continue to treat a patient for 90 days.
Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices. Makes various changes to requirements governing the business practices of health carriers in the processing and payment of claims. The bill prescribes criteria for what constitutes a "clean claim." The bill prohibits a carrier from imposing any retroactive denial of a previously paid claim or in any other way seeking recovery or refund of a previously paid claim unless the carrier specifies in writing the specific claim or claims for which the retroactive denial is to be imposed or the recovery or refund is sought and the carrier has provided a written explanation of why the claim is being retroactively adjusted. The bill provides that the time limit for a retroactive denial is 12 months; however, a provider and a carrier may agree in writing that recoupment of overpayments by withholding or offsetting against future payments may occur after such 12-month limit. The bill requires carriers, beginning no later than July 1, 2025, to make available an electronic means for providers to determine whether an enrollee is covered by a health plan that is subject to the State Corporation Commission's jurisdiction. The bill provides that the ethics and fairness requirements apply to the carrier and provider, regardless of any vendors, subcontractors, or other entities that have been contracted by the carrier or the provider to perform their duties. The bill provides that if a carrier's claim denial is overturned following completion of a dispute review, the carrier is required to consider the claims impacted by such decision as clean claims and all applicable laws related to the payment of a clean claim apply. The bill prohibits a provider from filing a complaint with the State Corporation Commission for failure to pay claims unless such provider has made a reasonable effort to confer with the carrier in order to resolve the issues related to all claims that are under dispute. Finally, the bill requires all provider contracts, amendments, and notices and certain other communications to be delivered electronically. This bill is identical to SB 425.
Utility work database. Requires the Department of Transportation to establish and maintain a publicly accessible database and map of all utility work that has been approved by the Department and will occur within a highway right-of-way in a residential neighborhood. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.
Legal notices and publications; online-only news publications; requirements. Provides that, where any ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement is required by law to be published in a newspaper, such ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement instead may be published in an online-only news publication subject to certain requirements specified in the bill. The bill sets out a process by which an online-only news publication shall petition the circuit court of the appropriate jurisdiction to publish such ordinances, resolutions, notices, or advertisements and authorizes the court to grant such online-only news publication the authority to publish such ordinances, resolutions, notices, or advertisements for a period of one year. The bill also describes the process by which an online-only news publication may continue renewing such authority to publish in each successive year. This bill is identical to SB 157.
Retail sales and use tax; exemptions for nonprofit entities. Increases from $1 million to $2 million the minimumthreshold for gross revenue of a nonprofit entity that allows theDepartment of Taxation to require such entity to provide a financialaudit before receiving a federal income tax exemption. The bill requiresthat, beginning January 1, 2025, and every five years after thatdate, the $2 million threshold be adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index for food and beverages, all urban consumers (CPI-U) forthe previous five-year period.
Discharge of individuals from state hospitalsor training centers. Provides that after an individual's treatment team determines that the individual is ready for discharge, the Commissionerof Behavioral Health and Developmental Services has the authorityto discharge the individual, with an appropriate plan, after 15 daysover the objection of the community services board or guardian. Thebill requires the Department to promulgate regulations providingfor an expedited discharge process for persons in state hospitalsor training centers that are identified as needing intellectual ordevelopmental disability services and to develop and implement astatewide training program for state hospital employees and communityservices board liaisons designed to improve discharge planning outcomes.
Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill is identical to SB 7.
Henrietta Lacks Commission; sunset date.Changes the sunset of the Henrietta Lacks Commission from July 1,2026, to July 1, 2024.
Summons for unlawful detainer; hearing date; amendments to amount due; subsequent filings. Specifies a process by which a plaintiff, plaintiff's attorney, or agent in an unlawful detainer action may amend the amount due to him in an unlawful detainer action. The bill further provides that if such an amendment is permitted the plaintiff shall not subsequently file additional warrants in debt against the defendant for additional amounts if those amounts could have been included in such amended amount. The bill provides that if the plaintiff requests all amounts due and owing as of the date of the hearing or if the court grants an amendment of the amounts requested, the plaintiff shall not subsequently file additional unlawful detainers or warrants in debt against the defendant for such additional amounts if those amounts could have been included in the amended amount.
Department of Forestry; Forestland and Urban Tree Canopy Conservation Plan required. Requires the Department of Forestry, in coordination with a Technical Advisory Committee composed of stakeholders, to develop a Forestland and Urban Tree Canopy Conservation Plan no later than November 1, 2026, and update such plan at least once every five years thereafter. The bill requires the Department to post and maintain on its website the most recent version of the Plan and to submit the Plan to the Governor and Chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources no later than November 30, 2026, and following any update to such plan. This bill is identical to SB 461.
