Authorizes health carriers to offer catastrophic plans on the individual market, and to offer such plans to all individuals. The measure provides that a catastrophic plan is deemed to provide an essential health benefits package and to meet certain requirements of federal law. A catastrophic plan is a high-deductible health care plan that provides essential health benefits and coverage for at least three primary care visits per policy year. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, catastrophic plans satisfy requirements that health benefit plans provide minimum levels of coverage only if they cover individuals who are under 30 years of age or who qualify for a hardship exemption or affordability exemption. The measure requires the Commissioner of Insurance to apply to the federal government for a state innovation waiver allowing the implementation of the provision. The provision will become effective 30 days after the Commissioner notifies certain persons that the request has been approved.
Adds proceedings involving family abuse protective orders to the list of civil proceedings involving alleged abuse and neglect of a child for which a court may order that the testimony of certain child victims or witnesses be taken outside the courtroom via two-way closed-circuit television.
Authorizes the Comptroller of the Commonwealth to disburse appropriated sums to the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for the maintenance of no more than 6,000 Revolutionary War graves set forth on a list submitted annually by the society to the Director of the Department of Historic Resources (the Director). The bill expands the categories of people whose graves may be maintained or marked to include persons rendering service to the Patriot cause in the Revolutionary War. The bill prohibits retroactive disbursements and requires the Director to deposit any funds that have been appropriated for grave maintenance but are not disbursed during the same fiscal year into the Revolutionary War Cemeteries and Graves Fund, which is created by the bill. The bill provides that the Director may use moneys in the Fund to make grants to perform extraordinary maintenance, renovation, repair, or reconstruction of cemeteries or graves or to erect and care for markers, memorials, and monuments.
Creates a retail on-premises beer license for a nonprofit museum exempt from taxation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, located in the Town of Front Royal, and dedicated to educating the consuming public about historic beer products, which authorizes the licensee to sell beer for on-premises consumption in areas approved the by the Board.
Adds misdemeanor violations of §§ 18.2-57 (assault and battery), 18.2-57.2 (assault and battery against a family or household member), 18.2-96 (petit larceny), 18.2-103 (concealing merchandise; altering price tags), 18.2-119 (trespass), 18.2-137 (destruction of property), and 18.2-460 (obstruction of justice) to the list of offenses for which an adult convicted of such offense must have a sample of his blood, saliva, or tissue taken for DNA analysis. The provisions of the bill are contingent upon funding in a general appropriation act. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Authorizes health insurance carriers in the Commonwealth to offer short-term health plans. Short-term health plans are defined as plans with a duration of 364 days or less. Short-term health plans are required to include a specified disclaimer. The bill is contingent on the adoption of federal regulations expanding the availability of short-term health plans.
Directs the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to suspend, delay, or defer the issuance of any permit to provide for the closure of any coal combustion residuals (CCRs) surface impoundment or other CCRs unit that no longer receives CCRs, located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, until July 1, 2019. These limits do not apply to a permit required for an impoundment where CCRs have already been removed and placed in another impoundment on site, are being removed from an impoundment, or are being processed in connection with a recycling or beneficial use project. The measure also requires the owner or operator of such a CCRs surface impoundment or unit to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for entities to conduct recycling or beneficial use projects for the CCRs at such impoundment or unit. The RFP shall require responding entities to provide information from which the owner or operator is able to determine certain, among other things, the cost of the recycling or beneficial use of the CCRs. The owner or operator is required by November 15, 2018, to transmit to the Governor and certain committees and agencies a business plan that that compiles the information collected through the RFP process.
Specifies that for the purpose of Board of Education regulations for the approval of teacher education programs, the term "education preparation program" includes four-year bachelor's degree programs in teacher education.
Directs the State Water Control Board (the Board) not to adopt certain U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) freshwater ammonia water quality criteria (the Criteria) unless the Board includes in such adoption a phased implementation program consistent with the federal Clean Water Act with certain funding and timing considerations. The bill also directs the Department of Environmental Quality to (i) identify any other states that have adopted the Criteria as of July 1, 2018; (ii) identify those procedures for the implementation of the Criteria that will minimize the impact of such implementation on Virginia sewerage systems while complying with the Clean Water Act; and (iii) report its findings to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee by November 1, 2018. The bill provides that the inclusion of the implementation program in the Board's current regulatory action shall not require reproposal of the current action. This bill is identical to
Allows any fire department, pursuant to a local ordinance adopted in accordance with § 19.2-389, to require applicants for employment to submit to fingerprinting and to provide personal descriptive information to be forwarded through the Central Criminal Records Exchange and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of obtaining criminal history record information regarding such applicant. Under current law, the submission of such information is mandatory, not discretionary, and applies only to applicants for employment with the Arlington County Fire Department.
Governor's recommendation received by House
Provides that the prohibition on locating clinics for the treatment of persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or opioid replacements other than opioid replacements approved for the treatment of opioid addiction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school shall not apply to an applicant for a license to operate in its current location if the facility is within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school in Henrico County or the City of Richmond and has been licensed and operated as a facility to provide treatment for persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or other opioid replacements by another provider immediately prior to submission of the application for a license. This bill is identical to
