School boards; mental health awareness training; full-time school bus drivers. Permits any school board to require each school bus driver employed on a full-time basis in the local school division to complete mental health awareness training at least once. The bill requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to consider condensing and abbreviating the existing mental health first aid training program into a two-hour module that any school board may utilize in order to train full-time school bus drivers.
Advanced practice registered nurses; authorization to practice without a practice agreement; service in military or employment with Department of Veterans Affairs. Permits advanced practice registered nurses who practiced autonomously for at least three years as part of either military service or employment with the Department of Veterans Affairs to practice without a practice agreement.
Immunization requirements for children; hepatitis B vaccine. Removes the hepatitis B vaccine from the list of required immunizations for children in the Commonwealth, removes the extended conditional enrollment period for students requiring more than two doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, and directs the Board of Health to amend its regulations to remove provisions requiring children to receive the hepatitis B vaccine.
Workers' compensation; presumption for certain cancers; sheriffs and deputy sheriffs. Expands the workers' compensation presumption of compensability for certain cancers causing the death or disability of certain employees who have completed five years of service in their position to include sheriffs or deputy sheriffs.
Line of Duty Act; transitional coverage. Requires the Department of Human Resource Management to acquire and provide temporary transitional health insurance coverage to disabled persons, eligible spouses, and eligible dependents during the period of transition into the LODA (Line of Duty Act) Health Benefits Plans. Current law authorizes but does not require the Department to acquire and provide such temporary transitional health insurance coverage to disabled persons, eligible spouses, and eligible dependents during such period.
State retiree health benefits program; reenrollment in program. Allows a state retiree who elects to participate in the state retiree health plan but later discontinues participation one opportunity to return to participation in the plan, provided that such return to participation occurs within five years after the date of such employee's retirement. Under current law, a state retiree who elects to participate in the state retiree health plan but later discontinues participation is barred from participating in the plan.
State pharmacy benefits manager; contractual provisions; report. Requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services' contract with the state pharmacy benefits manager to (i) require that that ingredient-cost reimbursement is based on the national average drug acquisition cost, or if unavailable, the wholesale acquisition cost minus a discount set by the Department, plus a professional dispensing fee, determined by the Department; (ii) require real-time or near real-time transparency in drug costs, rebates collected and paid, dispensing fees paid, administrative fees, and all other charges, fees, costs, and holdbacks, claim denials appeals, and network participation; (iii) prohibit the state pharmacy benefits manager from steering Medicaid recipients to affiliated pharmacies through differential cost-sharing, restrictive network design, or the mandatory use of a mail order pharmacy provider; (iv) require the state pharmacy benefits manager to (a) meet network adequacy standards established by the Department; (b) allow any willing pharmacy to participate in the pharmacy network; (c) verify that all contracted pharmacies are actively accepting Medicaid recipients; (d) submit annual reports containing certain information; (e) disclose to the Department pricing and maximum acquisition cost methodologies; and (f) allow invoice-based or national average drug acquisition cost-based appeals and require an adjustment of rates network-wide when an appeal is upheld; and (v) include enforcement mechanisms and monetary penalties for noncompliance. Additionally, the bill requires Department to annually calculate the savings generated by the use of the state pharmacy benefits manager and to annually increase its dispensing fee by the amount of such savings. The bill requires the Department to annually (1) publish and make available on its website its annual and total savings achieved, the annual and total amount applied to dispensing fees increases, and the updated dispensing fees and (2) report to the General Assembly on the state pharmacy benefits manager's compliance, national average drug acquisition cost compliance, pharmacy reimbursement trends, network adequacy compliance, and dispensing fee sufficiency.
Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Fund. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to utilize point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration systems to remove or significantly reduce concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonate, and other established and emerging contaminants of concern that meet or exceed maximum contaminant levels or health advisory levels for the same contaminant adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or, in the in the absence of an EPA health advisory for such contaminant, a contaminant level determined by the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water. The bill also establishes the Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Program Fund to allow the Department to test and treat contaminated drinking water through grants for the use of eligible treatment or filtration systems in private residential wells. This bill is a recommendation of the State Water Commission.
Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Provides for a referendum at the November 3, 2026, election to approve or reject an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia relating to the right to make one's own decisions related to reproductive health care, including access to abortion. The amendment protects patients and their doctors and nurses from being punished for making such decisions. The amendment allows the state to place restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient's life or physical or mental health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive. This bill is identical to HB 781.
Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Provides for a referendum at the November 3, 2026, election to approve or reject an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia relating to the right to make one's own decisions related to reproductive health care, including access to abortion. The amendment protects patients and their doctors and nurses from being punished for making such decisions. The amendment allows the state to place restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient's life or physical or mental health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive. This bill is identical to SB 449.
