Virginia Bills

Requires that any arbitration proceeding regarding the exercise of an employer's right of subrogation to an employee's claim against a third party shall be limited solely to arbitrating the amount and validity of the employer's lien and shall not affect the employee's rights in any way. Such arbitration shall not be held unless (i) any contested expenses remaining have been submitted to the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission) for a determination of their validity and the Commission has made such determination of validity prior to the commencement of the arbitration; (ii) prior to the commencement of such arbitration the employer has provided the injured employee and his attorney, if any, with an itemization of the expenses associated with the lien that is the subject of the arbitration; (iii) upon receipt of the itemization of the lien, the employee shall have 21 days to provide a written objection to any expenses included in the lien to the employer, and if the employee does not do so any objections to the lien to be arbitrated shall be deemed waived; and (iv) the employer shall have 14 days after receipt of the written objection to notify the employee of any contested expenses that the employer does not agree to remove from the lien, and if the employer does not do so any itemized expense objected to by the employee shall be deemed withdrawn and not included in the arbitration. This bill is identical to

Broadens eligibility for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program by including students whose Expected Family Contribution, as calculated by the federal government using the family's financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), is no more than $12,000. Currently the program is available only to students whose Expected Family Contribution is no more than $8,000. The bill does not affect additional eligibility requirements for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program. This bill is identical to

Replaces the term "mental retardation" in all of its various iterations with a corresponding iteration of the term "intellectual disability" for purposes of the statutes governing capital cases. The U.S. Supreme Court has held in

Directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to develop and administer an acute psychiatric patient registry to collect, aggregate, and display de-identified information about individuals who meet the criteria for temporary detention to facilitate the timely identification of a facility for temporary detention and treatment of the individual. The bill provides that every state facility, community services board, behavioral health authority, and private provider of mental health services licensed by the Department may participate in the acute psychiatric patient registry and requires that each participating community services board and behavioral health authority update information contained in the acute psychiatric patient registry to include information about a person found to meet the criteria for temporary detention and requires private providers to identify patients for whom they are able to provide temporary detention and treatment and to contact the state facility, community services board, or behavioral health agency having custody of the individual to facilitate the transfer of the patient to the provider for temporary detention and treatment. The provisions of the bill will not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating the purposes of the bill is included in a general appropriation act passed in 2017 by the General Assembly.

Provides that storage of inventory in the Commonwealth is sufficient nexus to require out-of-state businesses to collect sales and use tax on sales to customers in the Commonwealth.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a workgroup that shall include representatives of the Departments of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Health, and Health Professions as well as representatives of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and each of the Commonwealth's medical schools, dental schools, schools of pharmacy, physician assistant education programs, and nursing education programs to develop educational standards and curricula for training health care providers, including physicians, dentists, optometrists, pharmacists, physician assistants, and nurses, in the safe and appropriate use of opioids to treat pain while minimizing the risk of addiction and substance abuse. The workgroup shall report its progress and the outcomes of its activities to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, 2017. The bill contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to

Provides that if a preliminary protective order is issued in an ex parte hearing where the petition for the order is supported by sworn testimony and not an affidavit or a completed form submitted with an emergency protective order request, the court issuing the order shall state in the order the basis on which the order was entered, including a summary of the allegations made and the court's findings.

Removes requirements regarding specific areas of expertise for members appointed to the Board of Veterans Services (the Board) by the Governor. The bill also (i) extends the number of consecutive terms for legislative members from four to six two-year terms for members of the House of Delegates and from two to three four-year terms for members of the Senate; (ii) removes the requirement that the Board be organized into at least three standing committees; and (iii) makes other changes to the administration of the Board and the eligibility for reappointment of nonlegislative citizen members of the Board. This bill incorporates