Firearm transfers; criminal history record information checks; penalty. Requires a background check for any firearm transfer and directs the Department of State Police (the Department) to establish a process for transferors to obtain such a check from licensed firearms dealers. A transferor who sells a firearm to another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that a transferee who receives a firearm from another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill exempts transfers (i) between immediate family members; (ii) that occur by operation of law; (iii) by the executor or administrator of an estate or by the trustee of a testamentary trust; (iv) at firearms shows in accordance with law; (v) that are part of a buy-back or give-back program; (vi) of antique firearms; (vii) that occur at a shooting range, shooting gallery, or any other area designed for the purpose of target shooting, for use during target practice, a firearms safety or training course or class, a shooting competition, or any similar lawful activity; or (viii) that are temporary transfers that (a) occur within the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm or (b) are necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The bill removes the provision that makes background checks of prospective purchasers or transferees at firearms shows voluntary. The bill also provides that the Department shall have three business days to complete a criminal history record information check before a firearm may be transferred. The bill establishes an appropriation for the fiscal impact of the bill and authorizes the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget to allocate such appropriation among the agencies and programs impacted by the bill. This bill incorporates HB 355.
Sponsored bills
Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); apportionment; Virginia Redistricting Commission. Provides for a referendum at the November 3, 2020, election to approve or reject amendments to the Constitution of Virginia establishing the Virginia Redistricting Commission and providing for the reapportionment of the Commonwealth to be done by such Commission. If approved by the voters, the amendments would become effective on November 15, 2020.
Virginia Health Benefit Exchange. Creates the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange, which will be established and operated by a new division within the State Corporation Commission (SCC). The Exchange shall facilitate the purchase and sale of qualified health plans and qualified dental plans to qualified individuals and qualified employers. The Exchange shall make qualified plans available to qualified individuals and qualified employers by July 1, 2023, unless the SCC postpones this date. The measure authorizes the SCC to review and approve accident and sickness insurance premium rates applicable to health benefit plans in the individual and small group markets and health benefit plans providing health insurance coverage in the individual market through certain non-employer group plans. The Exchange will be funded by an assessment on health insurers, which is limited to three percent of total monthly premiums, except the SCC may, after a public hearing, adjust the rate as necessary to ensure the Exchange is fully funded. A health plan will not be required to cover any state-mandated health benefit if federal law does not require it to be covered as part of the essential benefits package. The essential health benefits are items and services included in the benchmark health insurance plan, which is the largest plan in the largest product in the Commonwealth's small group market as supplemented in order to provide coverage for the items and services within the statutory essential health benefits categories. The SCC may contract with other eligible entities and enter into memoranda of understanding with other agencies of the Commonwealth to carry out any of the functions of the Exchange, including agreements with other states or federal agencies to perform joint administrative functions. Such contracts are not subject to the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.). The measure repeals a provision enacted in 2013 that prohibits an agent, employee, officer, or agency of the Commonwealth from taking any action to establish a health benefit exchange.The measure requires the Department of Taxation to include on the appropriate individual tax return forms a checkoff box or similar mechanism for indicating whether the individual, or spouse in the case of a married taxpayer filing jointly, or any dependent of the individual (i) is an uninsured individual at the time the return is filed and (ii) voluntarily consents to the Department of Taxation providing the individual's tax information to the Department of Medical Assistance Services for purposes of affirming that the individual, the individual's spouse, or any dependent of the individual meets the income eligibility for medical assistance. Finally, the measure requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group that includes representatives from the SCC, the Department of Medical Assistance Services, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Taxation and a consumer advocate to develop systems, policies, and practices to leverage state income tax returns to facilitate the enrollment of eligible individuals in insurance affordability programs through the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange established in this measure. The Secretary shall report the work group's recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by September 15, 2020. This measure is identical to SB 732.
Virginia Retirement System; retired law-enforcement officers employed as school security officers. Allows a retired law-enforcement officer to continue to receive his service retirement allowance during a subsequent period of employment by a local school division as a school security officer, so long as he has a break in service of at least 12 calendar months between retirement and reemployment, did not retire under an early retirement program, and did not retire under the Workforce Transition Act of 1995. The provisions of the act shall expire on July 1, 2025. The bill incorporates HB 986, HB 1368 and HB 1493.
Special license plate; Air Medal. Creates a special license plate for persons awarded the Air Medal or for unremarried surviving spouses of such persons. An annual $10 fee, in addition to the prescribed cost of state license plates, will be charged for each set of such plates issued.
Firearms; removal from persons posing substantial risk; penalties. Creates a procedure by which any attorney for the Commonwealth or law-enforcement officer may apply to a general district court, circuit court, or juvenile and domestic relations district court judge or magistrate for an emergency substantial risk order to prohibit a person who poses a substantial risk of injury to himself or others from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm. Upon service of an emergency substantial risk order, the person who is subject to the order shall be given the opportunity to voluntarily relinquish any firearm. An emergency substantial risk order shall expire on the fourteenth day following issuance of the order. The bill requires a court hearing in the circuit court for the jurisdiction where the order was issued within 14 days from issuance of an emergency substantial risk order to determine whether a substantial risk order should be issued. Seized firearms shall be retained by a law-enforcement agency for the duration of an emergency substantial risk order or a substantial risk order or, for a substantial risk order and with court approval, may be transferred to a third party 21 years of age or older chosen by the person from whom they were seized. The bill allows the complainant of the original warrant to file a motion for a hearing to extend the substantial risk order prior to its expiration. The court may extend the substantial risk order for a period not longer than 180 days. The bill provides that persons who are subject to a substantial risk order, until such order has been dissolved by a court, are guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor for purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm; are disqualified from having a concealed handgun permit; and may not be employed by a licensed firearms dealer. The bill also provides that a person who transfers a firearm to a person he knows has been served with a warrant or who is the subject of a substantial risk order is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill creates a computerized substantial risk order registry for the entry of orders issued pursuant to provisions in the bill. This bill is identical to SB 240.
Health insurance; cost-sharing payments for prescription insulin drugs. Prohibits health insurance companies and other carriers from setting an amount exceeding $30 per 30-day supply that a covered person is required to pay at the point of sale in order to receive a covered prescription insulin drug. The measure also prohibits a provider contract between a carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy from containing a provision (i) authorizing the carrier's pharmacy benefits manager or the pharmacy to charge, (ii) requiring the pharmacy to collect, or (iii) requiring a covered person to make a cost-sharing payment for a covered prescription insulin drug in an amount that exceeds such limitation. This bill incorporates HB 1403.
Health benefit plans; special exception. Repeals a provision of the Code of Virginia authorizing health carriers to sell, issue, or offer for sale any health benefit plan that would otherwise not be permitted to be sold, issued, or offered for sale due to conflict with the requirements of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), to the extent that the(a) the appropriate federal authority has suspended enforcement of provisions of the PPACA or (b) the requirements of the PPACA are amended by any federal law.
Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill incorporates HB 1138 and is identical to SB 935.
Department of Education; Department of Health;guidelines for use of digital devices in public schools. Requiresthe Department of Education, in collaboration with the Departmentof Health and medical professional societies, to develop and implementhealth and safety best practice guidelines for the use of digitaldevices in public schools no later than the 2021 - 2022 school year.