Fiduciaries; good faith reliance on certificate of qualification. Provides that any individual or entity conducting business in good faith with a personal representative who presents a currently effective certificate of qualification may presume that the personal representative is properly authorized to act as to any matter or transaction. The bill further provides that if such individual or entity refuses to accept a certificate of qualification for a personal representative or a guardian or conservator who has been appointed for an incapacitated person, such individual or entity is subject to (i) a court order mandating acceptance of the certificate of qualification and (ii) liability for reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in any action or proceeding that confirms the validity of the certificate of qualification or mandates acceptance of the certificate of qualification. The bill further provides that any individual or entity shall either accept or reject a certificate of qualification of such personal representative or such guardian or conservator no later than seven business days after presentation of such certificate. The bill specifies certain circumstances under which an individual or entity is not required to accept such a certificate for a transaction.
Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act; manufactured home park; termination due to sale of park; notice. Provides that where the sale of a manufactured home park is due to a change in the use of all or any part of a manufactured home park by the landlord, including conversion to hotel, motel, or other commercial use, planned unit development, rehabilitation, or demolition, a 180-day written notice is required to terminate the rental agreement. The bill also requires a manufactured home park owner who offers or lists the park for sale to a third party to provide written notice to (i) the Department of Housing and Community Development, which shall make the information available on its website within five days of receipt, and (ii) each tenant of the manufactured home park at least 90 days prior to accepting an offer. The bill provides that tenants who have been evicted from a manufactured home park have 90 days after a judgment has been entered in which to rent the manufactured home to a subtenant, contingent on the subtenant's making a rental application to the manufactured home park owner within such 90-day period and approval by the home park owner of such rental application from the subtenant. This bill incorporates HB 1163 and HB 1229.
Misclassification of employees as independent contractors; Department of Taxation to investigate and enforce; civil penalties. Prohibits an employer from classifying an individual as an independent contractor if he is an employee. An individual shall be considered an employee of the party that pays the remuneration for purposes of Titles 40.1 (Labor and Employment), 58.1 (Taxation), 60.2 (Unemployment Compensation), and 65.2 (Workers' Compensation) unless it is demonstrated that such individual is an independent contractor. The Department of Taxation shall determine whether an individual is an independent contractor by applying Internal Revenue Service guidelines. Violators are subject to civil penalties and debarment from public contracts. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.
Department of General Services; Division of Engineering and Buildings; custody, control, and supervision of the Virginia War Memorial Carillon. Places full custody, control, and supervision of the Virginia War Memorial Carillon in the Division of Engineering and Buildings by repealing provisions of the Code that give the City of Richmond responsibility for the upkeep of the Carillon and authority over its use.
State Board of Corrections; rename as the State Board of Local and Regional Jails; powers and duties. Authorizes the Director of the Department of Corrections to develop and establish operating procedures to maintain prisoners residing in state correctional facilities and under the supervision of Department of Corrections probation and parole, including establishing regulations for human research, prescribing rules to govern home/electronic incarceration programs, and prescribing rules regarding the wages paid to persons participating in programs under the supervision of probation and parole. The bill requires the State Board of Corrections, upon determining that a local correctional facility is not in compliance with the minimum standards for construction, equipment, administration, or operation of local correctional facilities, to provide written notice of such determination to the local correctional facility. The bill also renames the State Board of Corrections as the State Board of Local and Regional Jails (the Board), authorizes the Board to appoint and employ an executive director, and requires the Board to report annually to the General Assembly and the Governor on the results of inspections and audits of local, regional, or community correctional facilities and the reviews of the deaths of inmates that occur in any local, regional, or community correctional facility.
Department of Health Professions; conversion therapy prohibited. Prohibits any health care provider or person who performs counseling as part of his training for any profession licensed by a regulatory board of the Department of Health Professions from engaging in conversion therapy, as defined in the bill, with any person under 18 years of age and provides that such counseling constitutes unprofessional conduct and is grounds for disciplinary action. The bill provides that no state funds shall be expended for the purpose of conducting conversion therapy with a person under 18 years of age, referring a person under 18 years of age for conversion therapy, or extending health benefits coverage for conversion therapy with a person under 18 years of age. This bill is identical to HB 386.
Temporary location of district courts for AugustaCounty and the City of Staunton. Permits the Augusta CountyGeneral District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and the City of Staunton Juvenile and Domestic Relations DistrictCourt to sit and exercise full authority in Augusta County on theproperty on which sits the building formerly used as the Beverley Manor Elementary School. The bill provides that such courts shallcontinue to sit in such place until other court facilities have beenbuilt and fitted for occupation by such courts or until some otherplace or places are designated by order of the chief judge of theTwenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit.
Health care services; explanation of benefits. Requires health carriers and Medicaid managed care organizations to provide an explanation of benefits to covered persons or recipients. The measure requires the State Corporation Commission to adopt regulations that establish alternative methods of delivery of the explanation of benefits that permit the receipt of an explanation of benefits by an alternative method, provided that such alternative method is in compliance with the provisions of federal regulations regarding the right to request privacy protection for protected health information. The measure requires health carriers and Medicaid managed care organizations to take all reasonable actions to ensure that their internal processes and systems prohibit the identification or description of sensitive health care services in their explanations of benefits. The measure requires a health carrier that requires a covered person to make a request for confidential communications in writing in accordance with federal law to accept the form of the explanation of benefits approved by the Commission. The measure also requires the Commission to define "sensitive health care services." The measure will take effect 90 days after the Commission has adopted the required regulations. The measure is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care.
Maximum allowable rates of special regulatory taxes; public service companies. Increases the maximum allowable rates of several taxes, known as special regulatory taxes, that apply to public service companies such as those that provide water, heat, light, or power. The bill increases the maximum allowable rate of the gross receipts tax from 0.2 percent to 0.26 percent, increases the maximum allowable rates of three electricity consumption taxes that are measured per kilowatt hour, and increases the maximum allowable rate of the natural gas consumption tax from $0.0020 per cubic foot to $0.0026 per cubic foot.
Real estate settlements; kickbacks and other payments; remedies; civil penalties. Relocates from Chapter 9 (Real Estate Settlements) to Chapter 10 (Real Estate Settlement Agents) within Title 55.1 the existing provision that prohibits persons from paying or receiving a kickback, rebate, commission, thing of value, or other payment pursuant to an agreement to refer business incident to a settlement. This relocation authorizes the State Corporation Commission to impose penalties, issue injunctions, and require restitution in cases where a person who does not hold a license from the appropriate licensing authority has violated the provision. The measure also adds to Chapter 10 of Title 55.1 provisions that (i) authorize a court to assess civil penalties of not more than $5,000 per violation of the chapter and (ii) authorize the recovery of costs and reasonable expenses and attorney fees.
Public school accreditation; triennial review. Eliminates the ability of a school that only maintains a passingrate on Virginia assessment program tests or additional tests approvedby the Board of Education of 95 percent or above in each of the fourcore academic areas for two consecutive years to apply for and receivea waiver of accreditation from the Department of Education, whichwaiver confers full accreditation for a three-year period. Current law provides high-performing schools a separate pathway to obtainthree-year accreditation.
Group homes; licensure; certain information required. Requires every applicant for licensure or renewal of a license to establish, conduct, maintain, or operate or continue to operate a group home at which services for individuals with mental health or substance use disorder are offered to submit to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, together with such application, financial information; information about services and staffing; and a statement of (i) the legal name of the applicant and, if the applicant is an association, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation, the names and addresses of its officers, agents, sponsors, partners, shareholders, or members and (ii) the legal name under which the applicant, any entity that operates group homes that is affiliated with or under common ownership or control with the applicant, and any entity that operates group homes and that is affiliated with or under common ownership or control with any officer, agent, sponsor, partner, shareholder, or member of the applicant to which a license to operate a group home has been issued in any other state, together with a list of the states in which such licenses have been issued and the dates for which such licenses were issued. The bill also provides that in the case of an application for licensure as a children's residential facility, such application shall contain information regarding any complaints, enforcement actions, or sanctions against a license to operate a children's residential facility held by the applicant in another state and that the investigation into such application conducted by the Department of Social Services shall include consideration of any complaints, enforcement actions, or sanctions against a license to operate a children's residential facility held by the applicant in another state.
