Teaching or promotion of certain concepts in public elementary and secondary education; declaration as unlawful and discriminatory practice. Declares it an unlawful and discriminatory practice for any local school board or employee or contractor thereof to teach any public elementary or secondary school student to believe or promote to any such student as valid the belief that (i) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex; (ii) an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; (iii) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual's race or sex; (iv) an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by the individual's race or sex; or (v) an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex, but permits any local school board or employee or contractor thereof to teach to any public elementary or secondary school student content that includes the past or present belief, by any individual or group, in any such concept.
Department of Planning and Budget; Regulatory Budget Program; report. Directs the Department of Planning and Budget, under the direction of the Secretary of Finance, to establish a continuous Regulatory Budget Program with the goal of setting a two-year target for each executive branch agency subject to the Administrative Process Act to (i) reduce regulations and regulatory requirements, (ii) maintain the current number of regulations and regulatory requirements, or (iii) allow regulations and regulatory requirements to increase by a specific amount over a two-year period. The bill requires the Secretary of Finance to report to the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules on the status of the Program no later than October 1 of each odd-numbered year. Finally, the bill provides that the Department, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, shall, by March 1, 2023, issue guidance for agencies regarding the Program and how an agency can comply with the requirements of the Program.
Provision of abortion; right to informed consent. Requires physicians and authorized nurse practitioners to followcertain procedures and processes to effect a pregnant woman's informedwritten consent prior to the performance of an abortion.
Health insurance; coverage for donated human breast milk. Requires health insurers, corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for expenses incurred in the provision of pasteurized donated human breast milk. The requirement applies if the covered person is an infant under the age of six months, the milk is obtained from a human milk bank that meets quality guidelines established by the Department of Health, and a licensed medical practitioner has issued an order for an infant who satisfies certain criteria. The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024. The measure also requires the state plan for medical assistance services to include a provision for payment of medical assistance services incurred in the provision of pasteurized donated human breast milk. The bill requires the Department of Health to establish quality guidelines for human milk banks that operate, sell, distribute, or collect milk in Virginia by July 1, 2023. The provisions of the bill other than the requirement for the Department of Health to establish quality guidelines have a delayed enactment of July 1, 2023. This bill is a recommendation of the Health Insurance Reform Commission.
Students who receive home instruction; participation in interscholastic programs. Prohibits public schools from joining an organization governing interscholastic programs that does not deem eligible for participation a student who (i) receives home instruction; (ii) has demonstrated evidence of progress for two consecutive academic years; (iii) is in compliance with immunization requirements; (iv) is a person of school age for whom public school is free; (v) has not reached the age of 19 by August 1 of the current academic year; (vi) is an amateur who receives no compensation but participates solely for the educational, physical, mental, and social benefits of the activity; (vii) complies with all disciplinary rules and is subject to all codes of conduct applicable to all public high school athletes; and (viii) complies with all other rules governing awards, all-star games, maximum consecutive semesters of high school enrollment, parental consents, physical examinations, and transfers applicable to all high school athletes. The bill provides that no local school board is required to establish a policy to permit students who receive home instruction to participate in interscholastic programs. The bill permits reasonable fees to be charged to students who receive home instruction to cover the costs of participation in such interscholastic programs, including fees to cover the costs of additional insurance, uniforms, and equipment and fees for facility upkeep and facility maintenance. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2027.
Department of Education; school boards; guidelinesfor the provision of counseling services in public schools. Requiresthe Department of Education to develop and each local school boardto adhere to guidelines for the provision of counseling servicesin public schools, which shall include (i) provisions for parentalconsent; written parental notification; parental involvement, asappropriate; and confidentiality; (ii) procedures by which a parentmay limit or prohibit his child's participation; (iii) appropriateexceptions to the procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibithis child's participation such as imminent need, health, or safetyor maintaining order in the school; and (iv) any other provision deemednecessary by the Department.
Department of Corrections; earned sentence credits. Repeals the four-level classification system for the awarding andcalculation of earned sentence credits currently set to go into effecton July 1, 2022. Under current law, a maximum of 4.5 sentence credits may be earned for each 30 days served.
Family life education programs; student participation; summaries. Prohibits any public elementary or secondary schoolstudent from participating in any family life education program withoutthe prior written consent of his parent. The bill requires the summarythat is required to be posted and distributed to parents for eachsuch program to include contact information for the individual oroffice responsible for maintaining printed and audio-visual programmaterials.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable John HowsonRust, Jr.
Paid sick leave; home health workers providing agency-directed services. Requires employers to provide paid sick leave to home health workers who provide agency-directed services. Under current law, employers are only required to provide paid sick leave to home health workers who provide consumer-directed services. The bill provides that "employer" includes the Commonwealth, any of its agencies, institutions, or political subdivisions, and any public body. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; training requirement for barbers and cosmetologists.Provides that the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology shall requirecompletion of no more than 1,000 hours of training in the field forwhich the applicant seeks initial licensing.
Board of Education; high school graduation;alternative pathways to the advanced studies diploma; associateddiploma seals. Directs the Board of Education to establish pathwaysto the advanced studies high school diploma, and associated diplomaseals for students who successfully follow and demonstrate excellence on such pathways, that require advanced coursework in career and technical education in lieu of world language courses or any otherrequired course that the Board deems appropriate. The bill requiressuch pathways and diploma seals to become effective for the 2023-2024school year and to be available to any student, regardless of theschool year during which the student enters ninth grade.
