Board of Medicine; Board of Nursing; jointlicensing of advanced practice registered nurses and licensed certifiedmidwives. Moves the professions of advanced practice registerednurses and licensed certified midwives from being licensed jointlyby the Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing to being licensedby the Board of Nursing only.
Public high schools; personnel; college andcareer specialist required. Requires each school board to employat least one college and career specialist, as defined in the bill,in each public high school in the local school division. The billprovides that each such individual shall be employed in additionto and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions,specialized student support positions, or support services positions.
Public elementary and secondary schools; compulsory attendance policies and procedures; educational neglect defined.Revises the policies and procedures relating to addressing thenonattendance or nonenrollment of a child subject to compulsory educationrequirements by expanding the definition of "abused or neglectedchild" to include educational neglect and, therefore, requiring anyteacher, attendance officer, or other person employed by such child'sschool, to report such neglect to the appropriate authority in accordancewith pertinent law. The bill defines "educational neglect" as thefailure or refusal to provide necessary education for a child whois subject to compulsory attendance in accordance with relevant lawand is enrolled in a public school and has missed 10 percent or moreof the academic year, including by (i) causing or allowing the childto become chronically absent, defined as any student who has missed10 percent or more of the academic year for any reason, includingexcused and unexcused absences, or (ii) failing or refusing to enrolla child in any school who is not otherwise exempt from school attendanceif (a) such failure or refusal to enroll continues after the schoolnotifies and institutes proceedings against the parent and (b) thetime elapsed between the institution of proceedings and the continuednoncompliance to date exceeds 10 percent of the academic year.
Employment of school protection officers inpublic schools. Permits any local law-enforcement agency to employin any public elementary or secondary school in the local schooldivision, pursuant to an agreement with the local school board, aschool protection officer, defined in the bill as a retired law-enforcement officer hired by the local law-enforcement agency on a part-timebasis to provide limited law-enforcement and security services topublic elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth. Thebill requires each such school board and local law-enforcement agencyto enter into a memorandum of understanding that sets forth the powersand duties of school protection officers. The bill requires the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services to establish compulsory training standardsfor school protection officers and requires the collection of certaindata relating to the activities of such officers.
Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; application review timelines. Requires each regulatoryboard within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulationto adopt a timeline of each stage that a completed application forlicensure, certification, or registration will undergo as it is reviewedby such board. The bill also requires that such regulatory boardapprove any completed application within 30 days of its receipt unless such board has reasonable certainty that such applicationincludes grounds for denial.
Intercollegiate athletics, student-athletes;compensation and representation for name, image, or likeness.
Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; autonomous agent. Authorizes regulatory boards topromulgate regulations for an applicant requesting licensure of anautonomous agent that is owned or operated by such applicant. Autonomous agent is defined in the bill as software or hardware that operatesindependently, without real-time human intervention, and is capableof performing tasks that, when executed by a human, would requirelicensure by a regulatory board.
Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. Entersthe Commonwealth into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, the purpose of which is to facilitate the mobility of teachers acrossthe member states, with the goal of supporting teachers through anew pathway to licensure. The Compact is presently in effect, asit has reached the enactment threshold of 10 state members.
Medical Ethics Defense Act established.Establishes the right of a medical practitioner, health care institution,or health care payer not to participate in or pay for any medicalprocedure or service that violates such medical practitioner's, healthcare institution's, or health care payer's conscience, as those termsand conditions are defined in the bill. The bill provides protectionsfor medical practitioners who disclose violations of the bill or reportviolations of laws or ethical guidelines for the safe provision ofany medical procedure or service. The bill also provides a privateright of action for any party harmed by violations of the bill.
Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements;requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board thatenters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board thatgoverns a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharingof educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifiesfor adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually on thebasis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguousschool division that caps such adjusted basic aid payment at an amountequal to the basic aid payment appropriated to such locality by the2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also permits, notwithstandingthe requirement set forth in relevant law that a school divisionhas 65 percent or more of its local taxes coming from real estatetaxes in order for the school board that governs such school divisionto be eligible to enter into such cost-savings agreements with acontiguous school division, the Bath County School Board to enterinto such cost-savings agreements with the Augusta County SchoolBoard, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forthin relevant law apply to any such agreement.
Consumer protection; failure to honor servicewarranty. Prohibits a supplier in connection with a consumertransaction from failing to honor a service warranty of another supplierafter acquiring the business of such other supplier. A violationof the provisions of the bill constitutes a violation of the VirginiaConsumer Protection Act.
Affordable dwelling unit ordinances; accessibleunits. Provides that any locality that has adopted an affordabledwelling unit ordinance may require under such ordinance that a set percentage of the units built by a developer are compliant withthe appropriate requirements of the American National Standards forBuilding and Facilities for Type A units or with any other standards adopted as part of regulations promulgated by the U.S. Departmentof Housing and Urban Development providing accessibility and usabilityfor persons with a physical disability.
