Del. Patrick Hope

Prescription drugs; expedited partner therapy; labels. Eliminates the requirement that a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship exist with a contact patient for a practitioner to prescribe expedited partner therapy consistent with the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A pharmacist dispensing a Schedule III through VI drug to a contact patient whose name and address are unavailable shall affix "Expedited Partner Therapy" or "EPT" to the written prescription and the label. The bill repeals the July 1, 2020, sunset on the provision that allows practitioners employed by the Department of Health to prescribe antibiotic therapy to the sexual partner of a patient diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without the physical examination normally required.

Historical African American Cemeteries and Graves Fund. Creates the Historical African American Cemeteries and Graves Fund and provides that any funds that are appropriated to the Department of Historic Resources but not used for the maintenance of graves, in particular the listed historical African American cemeteries, shall be deposited in the Fund. The bill authorizes the Director of the Department to manage and administer the Fund and to disburse moneys in the Fund to maintain additional graves that have been certified by the Department and documented in the Department's cultural resources database.The bill also adds six cemeteries to the list of cemeteries for which qualified organizations may receive funds from the Department. The cemeteries are Cuffeytown Cemetery in the City of Chesapeake, with 52 eligible graves; Newtown Cemetery in the City of Harrisonburg, with 400 eligible graves; Stanton Family Cemetery in Buckingham County, with 36 eligible graves; and three cemeteries in Arlington County: Calloway Cemetery, with 29 eligible graves, Lomax Cemetery, with 66 eligible graves, and Mount Salvation Cemetery, with 29 eligible graves. This bill incorporates HB 379, HB 905, HB 1234, and HB 1593 and is identical to SB 881.

Litter tax; penalty. Adds $100 to the existingpenalty for litter tax delinquency.

Landlord and tenant; victims of family abuse; evidence to mitigate low credit score; damages. Allows an applicant for a lease to recover actual damages, including all amounts paid to the landlord as an application fee, application deposit, or reimbursement for any of the landlord's out-of-pocket expenses that were charged to the applicant, along with attorney fees, if the landlord does not consider evidence of the applicant's status as a victim of family abuse to mitigate any adverse effect of the otherwise qualified applicant's low credit score.

Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Securityand the Office of the Executive Secretary; creation and implementationof policies for people with developmental disabilities. Requiresthe Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to create andimplement policies that recognize and make accommodations for peopleencountering the criminal justice system with developmental disabilities.The bill also requires the Office of the Executive Secretary to createand implement policies that recognize and make accommodations forpeople with developmental disabilities, for use by judges in determiningcase outcomes.

Definition of birth control. Defines "birth control," for the purposes of the regulation of medicine, as contraceptive methods that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationand provides that birth control shall not be considered abortionfor the purposes of Title 18.2 (Crimes and Offenses Generally).

Green Job Creation Tax Credit; sunset date.Extends the sunset date of the green job creation tax credit from January 1, 2021, to January 1, 2026. The bill contains technicalamendments.

Tax credit for participating landlords; eligible housing areas. Expands the definition of "eligible housing area" for the housing choice voucher tax credit to include Virginia census tracts in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Statistical Area in which less than 10 percent of the population lives below the poverty level. Landlords who rent qualified housing units within such areas are eligible for an income tax credit. Current law only applies to such areas within the Richmond and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metropolitan Statistical Areas.The bill establishes a 2025 sunset date on the credit. The bill incorporates HB 1014 and is identical to SB 200.

Acute psychiatric bed registry; informationrequired to be reported. Adds information about the (i) totalnumber 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 most recentupdate and the reason for each such denial to the list of information that must be submitted to the acute psychiatric bed registry (theregistry) 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 of Behavioral 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 itsstructure 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.

Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Resources; work group; process for approval of residential psychiatric placement and services; report. Directs the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Resources to establish a work group to study the current process for approval of residential psychiatric services for children and adolescents and requires the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, and the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the 21st Century by December 1, 2020. This bill is identical to SB 734.