Music therapy; licensure. Requires the Board of Social Work to adopt regulations establishing a regulatory structure to license music therapists in the Commonwealth and establishes an advisory board to assist the Board in this process. Under the bill, no person shall engage in the practice of music therapy or hold himself out or otherwise represent himself as a music therapist unless he is licensed by the Board. This bill is identical to HB 1562.
Personal property tax; farm machinery; classificationof forest harvesting and silvicultural activity equipment. Providesthat for the purposes of local personal property tax exemptions,"farm machinery" includes any machinery designed solely for theplanting, production, or harvesting of any agricultural product, asdefined in § 3.2-6400. The bill removes forest harvesting and silviculturalactivity equipment from the list of property that may be classifiedseparately and taxed at a lower rate than general personal property.Forest harvesting and silvicultural activity equipment that is notexempted from property taxes is also added to the list of propertyseparately classified for valuation purposes, but not for rate purposes.The bill contains a nonseverability clause.
Securities Act; exemption for nonissuer distributions.Exempts certain nonissuer distributions from the registration provisionsof the Securities Act.
Delinquent tax lands; threshold for nonjudicial sale. Raises the assessment threshold at which a local treasurer or other officer responsible for collecting taxes has general authority to sell real property with over three years of delinquent taxes from less than $5,000 to no more than $10,000 and extends such authority to improved as well as unimproved parcels of real property. The bill raises the assessment range at which such officer may sell parcels of real property with over three years of delinquent taxes and that meet certain criteria from at least $5,000 but less than $20,000 to more than $10,000 but no more than $25,000. The bill increases the size of unimproved parcels that may be sold from less than 4,000 square feet to one acre or less.
No-fault divorce; gender-neutral terminology.Replaces the terms "husband" and "wife" with gender-neutral termsin the no-fault divorce statute.
Insurance data security; required programs and notifications. Establishes standards for insurance data security and for the investigation of a cybersecurity event and the notification to the Commissioner of Insurance and affected consumers of a cybersecurity event. The bill requires insurers to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive written information security program based on an assessment of its risk and that contains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the protection of nonpublic information and its information system. The bill requires investigation of potential cybersecurity events and prescribes standards for such investigations. The bill requires that the notification of the occurrence of a cybersecurity event provided by an insurer or other entity to the Commissioner and affected consumers to include certain information prescribed by the bill. The bill requires the Commissioner to adopt rules and regulations regarding data security and authorizes the Commissioner to investigate potential violations.
Acute psychiatric bed registry; informationrequired to be reported. Adds information about the (i) total number of licensed beds, (ii) total number of staffed beds, (iii)current bed utilization, (iv) change in bed utilization since themost recent update, (v) number of beds actually available, (vi) numberof requests for admission received since the most recent update,(vii) number of individuals admitted since the most recent update,and (vii) number of requests for admission denied since the mostrecent update and the reason for each such denial to the list ofinformation that must be submitted to the acute psychiatric bed registry(the registry) daily by each public and private inpatient psychiatricfacility and every public and private residential crisis stabilizationunit in the Commonwealth. The bill also directs the Department ofBehavioral Health and Developmental Services to create a work groupto evaluate the purpose, structure, and effectiveness of the registryand make recommendations for statutory, budgetary, or other actionsnecessary to redefine the purpose of the registry and improve its structure and effectiveness. The work group shall report its findings,conclusions, and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmenof the Senate Committee on Education and Health, House Committeeon Health, Welfare and Institutions, and the Joint Subcommittee toStudy Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the Twenty-FirstCentury by November 1, 2020.
Line of Duty Act; eligible dependents. Provides that children born or adopted after the death or disability of an employee covered by the Line of Duty Act are eligible for health insurance coverage if their birth or adoption occurred after the time of the employee's death or disability, but prior to July 1, 2017. Under current law, such children are not eligible unless they were adopted pursuant to a preadoptive agreement entered into prior to the death or disability. This bill is identical to SB 40.
Nonpayment of wages; investigations. Authorizes the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, if he acquires information during an investigation of a complaint of an employer's failure or refusal to pay wages and that information creates a reasonable belief that other employees of the same employer may not have been paid wages, to investigate whether the employer has failed or refused to make a required payment of wages to other employees. The measure also provides that if the Commissioner finds in the course of such investigation that the employer has committed a violation, the Commissioner may institute proceedings on behalf of any employee against his employer. In such proceedings, the Commissioner is not required to have obtained a written complaint of the violation or the written and signed consent of any employee. This bill is identical to SB 49.
Conformity to Internal Revenue Code. Advances the date by which Virginia conforms to the Internal Revenue Code from December 31, 2018, to December 31, 2019. However, the bill deconforms from a provision of federal law that temporarily reduces the medical expense deduction floor from 10 percent to 7.5 percent. The bill includes an emergency clause and applies to taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2018. This bill is identical to SB 582.
Wage payment statements. Limits the scope of the requirement enacted in 2019 that requires periodic wage payment statements to show the number of hours worked during the pay period. The measure requires the statement (i) to show the number of hours worked if the employee is either (a) paid on the basis of the number of hours worked or (b) paid on the basis of a salary that is less than the standard salary level adopted by the U.S. Department of Labor establishing an exemption from the overtime premium pay requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and (ii) to include sufficient information to enable the employee to determine how the gross and net pay were calculated. The measure contains an emergency clause.
Truck Manufacturing Grant Fund; creation. Creates the Truck Manufacturing Grant Fund to make grant payments to an eligible truck manufacturer that makes a capital investment of at least $397 million at a facility in Pulaski County and creates at least 777 new full-time jobs at the facility. The eligible truck manufacturer would be eligible for an aggregate of $16.5 million in grants paid out over a 10-year period if it meets such performance parameters. This bill is identical to SB 611.
