Casino gaming; eligible host cities; limitson local referendums. Adds Petersburg to the list of cities eligibleto host a casino in the Commonwealth. The bill also provides thatthe governing body of any eligible host city that holds a local referendumon the question of whether casino gaming should be permitted in suchcity that subsequently fails shall be prohibited from holding anotherlocal referendum on the same question for a period of five yearsfrom the date of the last referendum.
Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices;certain restrictive provisions in contract or written agreement.Provides that it is a violation of the Consumer Protection Actfor a supplier in connection with a consumer transaction to use anyprovision in any contract or written agreement that restricts a consumer'sright to file a civil action to resolve a dispute that arises inconnection with a consumer transaction that does not involve interstatecommerce. The bill provides that such provisions are void and unenforceable.
Powers of local governments; additional powers; energy efficiency of buildings. Requires the Board of Housing and Community Development to adopt optional building energy efficiency standards and allows localities to adopt and enforce these standards. The bill allows localities to require disclosure of energy use intensity (EUI) information to prospective buyers, lessees, and lenders at the point of sale, and to require an energy audit for the building prior to the completion of the sale if there is insufficient available data or upon request. The bill allows localities to implement energy benchmarking, requiring utilities to collect and report energy use data for covered buildings to owners, and to require utilities to maintain 12 months of aggregated data for any building with an active utility account. The bill permits localities to create a scorecard program using Energy Star Portfolio Manager and require owners to disclose data to it, subject to program guidelines. The bill allows localities to incentivize owners, operators, and agents of certain buildings to report EUI information and reduce EUI amounts. The bill allows localities to set EUI requirements for certain buildings and develop local incentive programs.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; meetingsconducted through electronic meetings. Amends existing provisions concerning electronic meetings by keeping the provisions for electronic meetings held in response to declared states of emergency, repealingthe provisions that are specific to regional and state public bodies,and allowing public bodies to conduct all-virtual public meetingswhere all of the members who participate do so remotely and thatthe public may access through electronic communications means. Definitions,procedural requirements, and limitations for all-virtual public meetings are set forth in the bill, along with technical amendments.
Treatment of transgender students; model policies.Eliminates the requirement that each school board adopt policiesthat are consistent with the model policies developed by the Departmentof Education concerning the treatment of transgender students in publicelementary and secondary schools. The bill also removes the requirement for such model policies to include information, guidance, procedures,and standards relating to the use of school facilities, requiresthe Department to amend its model policies to remove any such information,guidance, procedures, or standards, and requires the Department tomake such amended model policies available to each school board nolater than the beginning of the 2022 - 2023 school year.
Libraries; assessment for costs in civil actions; disbursement for law libraries. Increases from $4 to $7 the maximum assessment a county, city, or town may make as part of the costsincident to each civil action filed in the courts located withinits boundaries. Such funds are disbursed by a locality's governingbody for the establishment, use, and maintenance of its law library.
Minimum staffing standards for nursing homesand certified nursing facilities; administrative sanctions; Long-TermCare Services Fund. Requires nursing homes to meet a baselinestaffing level based on resident acuity in alignment with the Centersfor Medicare and Medicaid Services staffing level recommendations.The bill requires nursing homes to collect and submit to the Departmentof Health certain data related to staffing. The bill gives the Commissionerof Health the power to impose administrative sanctions on nursinghomes and directs the Board of Health to promulgate regulations relatedto the criteria and procedures for imposition of administrative sanctionsor initiation of court proceedings for violations of the bill. Thebill provides that nursing homes shall only be subject to administrativesanctions upon initial funding for the state share of the cost toimplement the provisions of the bill. The bill establishes the Long-TermCare Services Fund for the purpose of making grants to assist inthe provision of activities that protect or improve the quality ofcare or quality of life for residents, patients, and consumers oflong-term care services.
Death with Dignity Act; penalties. Allows an adult who has been determined by an attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal condition to request medication for the purpose of ending his life in a humane and dignified manner. The bill requires that a patient's request for medication to end his life be given orally on two occasions, that such request be in writing, that such request be signed by the patient and two witnesses, and that the patient be given an express opportunity to rescind his request. The bill requires that before a patient is prescribed medication to end his life, the attending physician must (i) confirm that the patient is making an informed decision, (ii) refer the patient to a capacity reviewer if the physician is uncertain as to whether the patient is making an informed decision, (iii) refer the patient to a consulting physician for confirmation or rejection of the attending physician's diagnosis, and (iv) inform the patient that he may rescind the request at any time. The bill provides that neither a patient's request for medication to end his life in a humane and dignified manner nor his act of ingesting such medication shall have any effect upon a life, health, or accident insurance policy or an annuity contract. The bill makes it a Class 2 felony (a) to willfully and deliberately alter, forge, conceal, or destroy a patient's request, or rescission of request, for medication to end his life with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death or (b) to coerce, intimidate, or exert undue influence on a patient to request medication for the purpose of ending his life or to destroy the patient's rescission of such request with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death. Finally, the bill grants immunity from civil or criminal liability and professional disciplinary action to any person who complies with the provisions of the bill and allows health care providers to refuse to participate in the provision of medication to a patient for the purpose of ending the patient's life.
High school interscholastic athletic competition; prevention of hate speech and ethnically or racially insensitive expressions. Requires the organization governing high school athletics and academic activities for public and approved nonboarding nonpublic high schools (the organization), with such funds as may be appropriated by the General Assembly for such purpose pursuant to the general appropriation act, to develop (i) rules and standards for the prevention of inequities involving the use of hate speech or ethnically or racially insensitive expressions during athletic and academic competitions sponsored by the organization's member schools, (ii) procedures for the enforcement of and penalties for the violation of such rules and standards, and (iii) training materials on such rules and standards. The bill requires each member school of the organization to abide by and implement such rules, standards, procedures, and penalties and ensure that each student who will participate in high school interscholastic athletic or academic competition, the parent of each such student, and each individual, whether paid or unpaid, who coaches a team that will participate in high school interscholastic athletic or academic competition receives and reviews such training materials. The bill requires the organization to make part of the process to become a registered official in good standing for any association offering services to the organization an education and training requirement that is consistent with the training materials developed by the organization. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.
Public schools; regional charter school divisions. Authorizes the Board of Education (the Board) to establish regionalcharter school divisions consisting of at least two but not morethan three existing school divisions in regions in which each underlyingschool division has (i) an enrollment of more than 3,000 studentsand (ii) one or more schools that have accreditation denied statusfor two out of the past three years. The bill requires such regional charter school divisions to be supervised by a school board thatconsists of eight members appointed by the Board and one member appointedby the localities of each of the underlying divisions. The bill authorizesthe school board, after a review by the Board, to review and approvepublic charter school applications in the regional charter schooldivisions and to contract with the applicant. The bill requires thatthe state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding of theunderlying school district in which the student resides be transferredto such school.
Fair Housing Law; exemptions; tenant's sourceof funds. Exempts an owner that, individually or through a businessentity, owns more than a 10 percent interest in more than 10 rentaldwelling units in the Commonwealth from the provisions of the FairHousing Law that prohibit discrimination against a person based onsuch person's source of funds. Current law exempts owners that ownmore than 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling unitsin the Commonwealth.
School boards; school resource officers; employment;threat assessment. Requires each school board to enter into acollaborative agreement with the local law-enforcement agency toemploy at least one school resource officer in each public elementaryand secondary school in the local school division. The bill providesthat no school board shall be granted any full or partial waiverfrom such staffing requirements and that no school board that failsto fully comply with such staffing requirements is eligible for anygrant or waiver from the Commonwealth, Board of Education, or Departmentof Education. The bill also requires each division superintendentto include on the threat assessment team established for each publicelementary and secondary school in the local school division at leastone school resource officer employed in the school.
