Rep. Wendy Gooditis

Virginia Residential Property Disclosures Act;Real Estate Board; residential property disclosure statement form.Requires the residential property disclosure statement form developedby the Real Estate Board and maintained on its website to includea statement signed by the parties acknowledging that the purchaser has been advised of the disclosures listed in residential propertydisclosure statement. Under current law, the form that contains thestatement to be signed by the parties is not required to be includedwith the residential property disclosure statement form.

Electric cooperatives; board of directors; accessto meetings; required disclosures. Requires that each Virginiaelectric cooperative hold direct elections for its board of directors,either in person or by mail, or by electronic communication meansif authorized by its articles of incorporation, and prohibits proxyvoting. The bill requires that meetings of the board of directorsbe open to members of the cooperative, viewable both in person andthrough online streaming, and that recordings of the meetings beposted on an official website for viewing by members of the cooperative,with certain exceptions for confidential matters. Thebill also requires the board of directors of an electric cooperativeto make certain disclosures to its members annually. These disclosuresmust include the cooperative's position on legislative and regulatoryissues, the amount of money spent on lobbying by the cooperative,and the names of lobbying organizations that the cooperative supportsand be posted online or distributed through a member publication.

Personal care services; requirements for managed care organizations. Requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services (the Department) to include in every contract between the Department and a managed care organization a provision that (i) authorizations or reauthorizations of consumer-directed or agency-directed personal care service hours for individuals receiving services through the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus waiver shall be required no more frequently than once every 12 months unless warranted by a substantial change in the medical needs of the service recipient and (ii) the managed care organization shall not remove a provider that provides consumer-directed or agency-directed personal care services for individuals receiving services through the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus waiver from its provider network without cause, and shall provide a written statement setting forth such cause to the provider prior to such removal. The bill also requires the Department to seek federal approval to amend the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus waiver and, upon receipt of such approval, amend the implementing regulations to provide that authorizations and reauthorizations of consumer-directed or agency-directed personal care service hours for individuals receiving services through the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Plus waiver shall be required no more frequently than once every 12 months unless warranted by a substantial change in the medical needs of the service recipient.

Workers' compensation; domestic service employees.Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domesticservice, defined in the bill, are not excluded from the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.

Health insurance; coverage for donated humanbreast milk. Requires health insurers, corporations providinghealth care coverage subscription contracts, and health maintenanceorganizations to provide coverage for expenses incurred in the provisionof pasteurized donated human breast milk. The requirement appliesif the covered person is an infant under the age of six months, themilk is obtained from a human milk bank that meets quality guidelinesestablished by the Department of Health, and a licensed medical practitionerhas issued an order for an infant who satisfies certain criteria.The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered,issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2023. Themeasure also requires the state plan for medical assistance servicesto include a provision for payment of medical assistance servicesincurred in the provision of pasteurized donated human breast milk.This bill is a recommendation of the Health Insurance Reform Commission.

Minimum standards for local correctional facilities and lock-ups; individuals in need of behavioral health or developmental services. Requires the State Board of Local and Regional Jails (the Board) to establish minimum standards for identification and care of individuals with developmental disabilities in local correctional facilities and procedures for enforcing such minimum standards, including requirements for (i) screening of individuals committed to local correctional facilities for developmental disabilities, (ii) referral of individuals committed to local correctional facilities for whom a screening indicates reason to believe the person may have a developmental disability to an appropriate provider for an assessment to determine whether the individual has a developmental disability and is in need of developmental services, and (iii) transfer of an individual determined to have a developmental disability and to be in need of developmental services from a local correctional facility to a facility at which appropriate developmental services are provided within 72 hours of completion of the assessment. The bill also requires the Board to amend standards governing the delivery of behavioral health services in local correctional facilities and lock-ups to provide that if an individual is assessed as being in need of behavioral health services, such individual shall be transferred from the local correctional facility or lock-up to a behavioral health facility within 72 hours of the assessment. Currently, standards governing behavioral health services in local correctional facilities and lock-ups require that if a person is assessed as being in need of behavioral health services, the local correctional facility or lock-up shall provide such services.

Hunting with steel-jawed traps; prohibition;penalty. Prohibits the use of steel-jawed traps when hunting;a violation of the prohibition is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.

Health insurance; coverage for the diagnosisof and treatment for infertility and standard fertility preservationservices. Requires health insurance policies, subscription contracts,and health care plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and for standard fertility preservation procedures,defined in the bill.

Electric cooperatives; net energy metering foragricultural customer-generators; report. Removes the July 1,2019, sunset provision of the net energy metering program for agricultural customer-generators interconnected with electric cooperatives. Thebill provides that, for the purposes of net metering, an agricultural customer-generator may aggregate energy generated on noncontiguousparcels of land if the parcels are (i) owned and operated by thesame agricultural customer-generator and (ii) located within a reasonabledistance of the customer's original interconnection site. The billdirects the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry to convene a workgroupfor the purpose of assessing policy concerns related to the implementationof small-scale solar energy projects designed to meet the onsite energy needs of agricultural operations in the Commonwealth, and directsthe workgroup to report its recommendations to the House Committeeon Agriculture, Chesapeake & Natural Resources and the Senate Committeeon Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources by December 1, 2022.

Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundableincome tax credit for taxable years 2022 through 2026 for expensesincurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member,defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activitiesof daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percentof eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver up to $1,000. Inorder to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) notreceive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expendituresand (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than$100,000 for an individual or $200,000 for married persons. The billrequires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claimingthe credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forwardby the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable yearfor which the credit was issued. The bill is a recommendation ofthe Joint Commission on Health Care.