Left in Appropriations
Requires, beginning January 1, 2018, the inclusion of a regulatory penalty statement in any legislation that imposes a requirement on a business or entity engaged in a regulated activity where, under the basic law of the agency responsible for regulating the activity, the agency has the authority by regulation to establish a graduated scale of monetary or civil penalties in accordance with mandatory maximum or minimum penalties set forth in its basic law for enumerated violations. The regulatory penalty statement shall be printed on the face of each bill, but shall not be codified, and shall indicate that the legislation authorizes the (Name of Agency) to establish a graduated scale of monetary or civil penalties for violations. The bill provides that (i) prior to submission to the Registrar of Regulations, an agency affected by legislation shall, by September 1, provide a written report to the standing committee to which matters relating to the content of the planned regulation are most properly referable describing the subject matter and intent of the planned regulation; (ii) the standing committee shall meet on the planned regulation and shall file with the agency and the Governor any objection to the planned regulation by November 1; (iii) if an objection is filed, the promulgation of the planned regulation shall be suspended, with the concurrence of the Governor, until the end of the next regular legislative session; and (iv) if no objection is filed or the Governor does not concur, the agency may promulgate the regulation in accordance with the Administrative Process Act. The bill also requires general notice of the provisions of this requirement to be posted on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall and published in the Virginia Register of Regulations by the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules to advise agencies of their obligations under the bill.
Prohibits any person from acting as a qualified education loan servicer without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission and establishes procedures pertaining to such licenses. Banks and credit unions are exempt from the licensing provisions. The servicing of a qualified education loan encompasses (i) receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a qualified education loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; (ii) applying the payments of principal and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts received from a qualified education loan borrower, as may be required pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; and (iii) performing other administrative services with respect to a qualified education loan. Qualified education loan servicers are prohibited from, among other things, (a) misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a qualified education loan, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower's obligations under the loan; (b) knowingly misapplying or recklessly applying qualified education loan payments to the outstanding balance of a qualified education loan; and (c) failing to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the loan servicer regularly reports information to such a credit bureau. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018.
Left in Appropriations
Left in Privileges and Elections
Left in General Laws and Technology
Creates a two-phase process to sunset certificate of public need (COPN) requirements for many categories of medical care facilities and projects, with the requirement for a certificate of public need (i) for all medical care facilities other than nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals and beds, imaging centers, organ or tissue transplant services, certain open heart surgery services, certain neonatal services, and certain medical care facilities located in a locality with a population density of at least 200 people per square mile as reported by the United States Bureau of the Census in the 2010 census report that is contiguous with at least one other locality with such population density, or has a population of at least 75,000 people repealed effective July 1, 2017, and (ii) imaging centers repealed effective January 1, 2018. The bill also creates a new permitting process for categories of facilities and projects exempted from the certificate of public need process that requires the Commissioner of Health to issue a permit but requires the Commissioner to condition a permit (a) on the agreement of the applicant to provide a specified level of care at a reduced rate to indigents, accept patients requiring specialized care, or facilitate the development and operation of primary medical care services in designated medically underserved areas of the applicant's service area and (b) on compliance of the applicant with quality of care standards. The bill also eliminates regional health planning agencies and makes numerous changes to the COPN process for facilities and projects that will still be subject to the requirement of a certificate. The bill contains technical amendments.
Provides that any entity intending to locate a public or private detention home, group home, or other residential care facility in a locality shall give the chief administrative officer of that locality and the president of any home owner's association for the neighborhood in which such public or private detention home, group home, or other residential care facility is to be located at least 90 days written notice prior to the issuance of the license. The bill also states that no initial license to operate a public or private detention home, group home, or other residential care facility shall be granted if (i) the facility is to be located within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school and (ii) the residents of such facility may include persons who, on the basis of a prior record of criminal charges involving harm to persons or property or a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity for crimes involving harm to persons or property, may constitute a clear and present threat to the health or safety of other individuals, except when such service is provided by a hospital licensed by the Board of Health or the Commissioner or is owned or operated by an agency of the Commonwealth. Other provisions of the bill relate to the validity of restrictive covenants that prohibit owners from using, or renting a dwelling for another entity to use, their premises to house a person or persons who, on the basis of a prior record of criminal convictions involving harm to persons or property or a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity involving harm to persons or property, may constitute a clear and present threat to the health or safety of other individuals in the neighborhood.
Requires each individual who is elected or appointed to a school board to (i) submit to fingerprinting and provide personal descriptive information to be forwarded along with his fingerprints by the school board through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of obtaining criminal history record information and (ii) provide written consent and the necessary personal information for the school board to obtain a search of the registry of founded complaints of child abuse and neglect maintained by the Department of Social Services and to take reasonable steps to obtain information from each state in which the individual has resided within the prior five years to determine whether such individual is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse and neglect in any such state. The bill precludes any individual who is found to have been (a) convicted of a felony or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child in the Commonwealth or an equivalent offense in another state or (b) the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse and neglect in the Commonwealth or another state from serving on any school board. The bill requires each entity that administers the school board election or appointment process for each local school division to notify each prospective school board member of the foregoing requirements.
Left in Appropriations
Amends the town's boundary description and reflects the town's change of municipal elections from May to November.
Requires all proposed and final regulations promulgated by any regulatory board within the Department on or after July 1, 2017, to contain a sunset provision such that the regulations shall expire within five years of their effective date. The bill provides that on or before July 1, 2021, the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation (the Board) shall review the regulations on such timetable as determined by the Board to enable it to make specific determinations outlined in the bill. The bill requires that by July 1, 2021, the Board shall submit a report of its findings, including any recommendations, to the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (the Commission), which shall exercise the powers granted to it under the Administrative Process Act and the Commission's enabling law. Any recommendations of the Commission for the continuation, modification, suspension, or rescission of any such regulation shall be submitted to the Governor and the General Assembly by October 15, 2021.
