Family life education; Standards of Learningand curriculum guidelines; contemporary community standards; review.Requires the Board of Education, in conducting its regular reviewand revision of the Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelinesfor family life education, to consult relevant stakeholders representingthe interests of students, parents, health care providers, faithcommunities, and other public interest groups to ascertain and ensurethat such standards and guidelines reflect contemporary community standards. The bill requires the next such review and revision tobe completed no later than June 30, 2021. The bill requires eachschool board to conduct a review of its family life education curriculaat least once every seven years.
Stormwater management; proprietary best management practices. Directs the State Water Control Board to adopt regulations providing for the use of a proprietary best management practice (BMP) only if another state, regional, or national certification program has verified and certified its nutrient or sediment removal effectiveness. The bill requires any proprietary BMP that is included on the Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse website prior to July 1, 2020, to provide documentation to the Department of Environmental Quality showing that its effectiveness has been verified by another state, regional, or national certification program and prohibits any such proprietary BMP that fails to provide such documentation from being used in any stormwater management plan submitted on or after January 1, 2022.
Commonwealth's medical cannabis program; work group to review; report. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to review the Commonwealth's medical cannabis program and issues of critical importance to the medical cannabis industry and patients, including expansion of the medical cannabis program and the medical use of cannabis flowers, and to report its findings and recommendations, including any legislative recommendations, to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than October 1, 2020.
Conservation police officers; external appointment. Removes a provision prohibiting the Director of the Department ofGame and Inland Fisheries from making an external appointment forany sworn law-enforcement position above the rank of conservationpolice officer. Current law requires that all promotions within theDepartment's sworn ranks be made from among existing sworn conservationpolice officers.
Election day; extending polling hours. Extends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the time at which polls close on election day. The bill aligns candidate filing deadlines and party nomination deadlines with the closing of polls. The bill provides that these changes will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly. The bill incorporates HB 1643.
Governing boards of public institutions of higher education; acceptance of terms and conditions associated with donations, gifts, and other private philanthropic support. Requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to establish a policy for the acceptance of terms and conditions associated with any donation, gift, or other private philanthropic support. The bill requires each such policy to include an administrative process for reviewing, accepting, and documenting terms and conditions associated with (i) gifts that direct academic decision-making and (ii) gifts of $1 million or more that impose a new obligation on the institution of higher education, excluding gifts for scholarships or other financial aid. The bill requires each public institution of higher education to retain documentation of such terms and conditions in compliance with the Virginia Public Records Act and provides that such documentation shall be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Pendente lite spousal support; guidelines.Makes current juvenile and domestic relations district court guidelinesfor the presumptive amount of temporary spousal support applicablein cases filed in circuit court. The bill also adjusts the guidelinesto account for changes to the federal tax code that became effectiveon January 1, 2019.
Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.
Sentence reductions; substantial assistanceto prosecution. Allows a convicted person's sentence to be reducedby the sentencing court if the court determines such person providedsubstantial assistance in the furtherance of the investigation orprosecution of another person engaged in an act of grand larcenyof a firearm, criminal street gang participation, or recruitment ofpersons for criminal street gangs. Consideration of sentence reductioncan occur only upon motion of the attorney for the Commonwealth.
Electronic Identity Management Act; federated digital identity systems. Amends the Electronic Identity Management Act to accommodate federated digital identity systems. A federated digital identity system (federation) is defined in the measure as a digital identity system that uses federated identity management to enable the portability of identity information across otherwise autonomous security domains. Federated identity management is defined in the measure as a process that allows the conveyance of identity credentials and authentication information across digital identity systems through the use of a common set of policies, practices, and protocols for managing the identity of users and devices across security domains. The digital identity systems involved in a federation are required to be compliant with the Commonwealth's identity management standards and with the provisions of the governing identity trust framework.
Electric utilities; fuel cost recovery. Requires an electric utility, as a condition of approval of any request by an electric utility for recovery through its fuel factor of costs incurred under a natural gas capacity contract not previously subject to review in a fuel factor case, to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the utility has (i) determined that the utility cannot meet its service obligations, giving due regard, in the Commission's sole discretion, to reliability of service and the need to maintain reliable sources of supply, without an additional fuel resource; (ii) reasonably identified and determined the date and amount of the new fuel resource it needs; (iii) objectively studied available alternative fuel resource options, as verified by the Commission, including options other than a new natural gas capacity contract or contracts to meet the identified and determined need; and (iv) determined that the natural gas capacity contract or contracts are the lowest-cost available option, taking into consideration fixed and variable costs and a reasonable projection of utilization.
School boards; school meals; availability to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make meals available pursuant to such programs to any student who requests such a meal, regardless of whether such student has the money to pay for the meal or owes money for meals previously provided, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.
