Revises the membership of the Secure Commonwealth Panel, renamed the Secure and Resilient Commonwealth Panel, and requires the Panel to create an Emergency Management Awareness Group consisting of the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology. The bill requires the Group to meet during a state of emergency to review critical information concerning such situation to facilitate communication between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. The bill dissolves the Virginia Emergency Response Council and transfers its duties to the Panel. The bill contains technical amendments.
Authorizes a pharmaceutical processor, after obtaining a permit from the Board of Pharmacy (the Board) and under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, to manufacture and provide cannabidiol oil and THC-A oil to be used for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. The bill sets limits on the number of permits that the Board may issue and requires that the Board adopt regulations establishing health, safety, and security requirements for permitted processors. The bill provides that only a licensed practitioner of medicine or osteopathy who is a neurologist or who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy may issue a written certification to a patient for the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil. The bill also requires that a practitioner who issues a written certification for cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, the patient issued such certification, and, if the patient is a minor or incapacitated, the patient's parent or legal guardian register with the Board. The bill requires further that a pharmaceutical processor shall not provide cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil to a patient or a patient's parent or legal guardian without first verifying that the patient, the patient's parent or legal guardian if the patient is a minor or incapacitated, and the practitioner who issued the written certification have registered with the Board. Finally, the bill provides an affirmative defense for agents and employees of pharmaceutical processors in a prosecution for the manufacture, possession, or distribution of marijuana. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Requires that victims of sexual assault be advised by the investigating law-enforcement agency of their rights regarding physical evidence recovery kits. The bill requires the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services of the Virginia Department of General Services and law-enforcement agencies to store a physical evidence recovery kit for an additional 10 years following a written objection to its destruction from the victim. The bill requires the law-enforcement agency to notify the victim at least 60 days prior to the intended date of destruction of the kit and provides that no victim of sexual assault shall be charged for the cost of collecting or storing a kit.
Provides that information contained in engineering and construction drawings and plans for any single-family residential dwelling submitted for the purpose of complying with the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.) or the Statewide Fire Prevention Code (§ 27-94 et seq.) shall be confidential and shall not be subject to disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), except to the applicant or the owner of the property upon the applicant's or owner's request.
Provides that certain communications regarding a critical incident to a peer support team member are included in the critical incident stress management team privilege. Under current law, the privilege applies only to members of a critical incident stress management team. The bill specifies that a peer support team shall be headed by a Virginia-licensed clinical psychologist, Virginia-licensed psychiatrist, Virginia-licensed clinical social worker, or Virginia-licensed professional counselor with at least five years of experience as a mental health consultant who works directly with emergency medical services personnel or public safety personnel to meet the accreditation standards. Finally, the bill defines a critical incident as an incident that induces an abnormally high level of negative emotions in response to a perceived loss of control and is often related to a threat to the well-being of emergency medical services personnel or public safety personnel or to the well-being of another individual for whom such personnel has some obligation of personal or professional concern.
Approved by Governor-Chapter 578 (effective 7/1/17)
Provides that the Virginia Historical Society shall plan and lead the commemoration of the centennial anniversary of women's right to vote in 2020. The bill creates a 12-member task force to assist the Virginia Historical Society, in collaboration with the Library of Virginia, the Department of Education, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, the VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives, and interested civic and community organizations, in planning, developing, and performing programs and activities appropriate to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The provisions of the bill expire on January 1, 2021.
Approved by Governor-Chapter 587 (effective 7/1/17)
Removes the condition that a building must be for public use in order for the Class 1 misdemeanor for maliciously activating a building's fire alarm to apply. The bill authorizes any locality to provide by ordinance that a person convicted of maliciously activating a fire alarm shall be liable for the reasonable expense in responding to such a fire alarm. Current law allows such an ordinance to impose liability for the reasonable expense of an emergency response to an imitation version of a weapon of terrorism, fire bomb, other explosive device, bomb threat, or incitement of a bomb threat. The bill increases the maximum amount that a locality or volunteer emergency medical services agency may recover under such an ordinance from $1,000 to $2,500. This bill is identical to
Creates the Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority to improve the transportation into, from, within, and through Southwest Virginia; assist in regional economic development; and generally enhance highway safety in the affected localities through development of a proposed Coalfields Expressway. The bill regulates the membership and duties of the Authority.
Authorizes the Department of State Police to submit fingerprints and accompanying records to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to be advised through the FBI's Next Generation Identification Rap Back service when an individual subject to a criminal background check as a condition of licensure, certification, employment, or volunteer service with an agency or entity is arrested for, or convicted of, a criminal offense not reported to the Department that would disqualify that individual from such licensure, certification, employment, or volunteer service.
Renames the Transportation Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee the Transportation Public-Private Partnership Steering Committee (the Steering Committee) and provides that the Deputy Secretary of Transportation shall serve as the chairman of the Steering Committee. The bill provides that, under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995, a responsible public entity may grant approval for the development and/or operation of a transportation facility by a private entity if that private entity can develop and/or operate the transportation facility for less cost than the Department of Transportation (VDOT) or the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT). The bill requires the chief executive officer of the responsible public entity to certify in writing to the Governor and the General Assembly that there has been no material change to the finding that a public-private partnership is in the best interest of the public since the finding was issued and that the public contribution requested by the private entity does not exceed the maximum public contribution. The bill clarifies that the finding of public interest by the Steering Committee shall be made after receipt of responses to the request for qualifications and prior to the issuance of the first draft request for proposals. The bill requires the responsible public entity, when such entity is VDOT or DRPT, to ensure competition through the procurement process and develop a public sector analysis of the cost for the responsible entity to develop and/or operate the transportation facility. The bill requires VDOT or DRPT and the Steering Committee to review the public sector analysis prior to the initiation of any procurement. The bill adds to the information required to be included in the finding of public interest a description of the benefits expected to be realized by the responsible public entity and a public sector analysis demonstrating that the private sector can deliver the project for less cost than the responsible public entity. This bill is identical to
