Rep. Chris L. Hurst

Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);marriage; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; recognition ofsame-sex marriages. Repeals the constitutional provision definingmarriage as only a union between one man and one woman, as well asthe related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of theUnited States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the Commonwealthand its political subdivisions and its agents are required to issuemarriage licenses, recognize marriages, and treat all marriages equallyunder the law, regardless of the gender of the two parties to themarriage. The amendment further provides that religious organizationsand clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuseto perform any marriage.

Marijuana; legalization of cultivation, manufacture, sale, possession, and testing; penalties. Establishes a regulatory scheme for the regulation of marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities, and retail marijuana stores by the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill also grants localities the authority to enact ordinances establishing additional licensing requirements for marijuana establishments located within such locality and allows the home cultivation of marijuana for personal use under certain circumstances. The bill imposes a tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuana products sold by a retail marijuana store at a rate of 9.7 percent (for a total sales tax of 15 percent) and provides that 67 percent of the revenues collected from the tax be deposited into the general fund and 33 percent of the revenues be deposited into a "Retail Marijuana Education Support Fund" to be used solely for purposes of public education. Finally, the bill establishes several new criminal penalties related to marijuana, as well as modifies some existing criminal penalties. This bill was incorporated into HB 2312.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable MamyeE. BaCote.

Commending Virginia's Crossroads.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; requiredrelease of law-enforcement disciplinary records; exceptions.Requires the release of law-enforcement disciplinary records relatedto completed disciplinary investigations. The bill defines "law-enforcement disciplinary records" as any record created in furtherance of alaw-enforcement disciplinary proceeding or any other administrativeor judicial proceeding, whether such proceeding takes place in theCommonwealth or in another jurisdiction. The bill allows for theredaction of certain personal contact information of the law-enforcementofficer, complainant, and witness or their families; social securitynumbers; and certain medical information of the law-enforcement officerand complainant.

Prescription drug price transparency; penalties.Requires pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefits managers, andhealth carriers to submit reports containing certain information concerningprescription drug costs to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Insurance (theCommissioner). The measure requires pharmaceutical drug manufacturers' reportsto include information on the current wholesale acquisition cost informationfor FDA-approved drugs sold in or into the Commonwealth by the pharmaceuticaldrug manufacturer. The bill also requires such manufacturers to submit a reportfor drugs with a wholesale acquisition cost of at least $50 for a 30-day supplywhen their wholesale acquisition cost increases by 25 percent or more over thepreceding three calendar years or 10 percent or more over the precedingcalendar year. The measure requires pharmacy benefits managers to report dataon the aggregated rebates, fees, price protection payments, and any otherpayments collected from pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and the aggregateddollar amount of rebates, fees, price protection payments, and any otherpayments collected from pharmaceutical drug manufacturers that were healthbenefit plan issuers or enrollees at the point of sale of a prescription drug.The measure requires health carriers to report the names of the 25 mostfrequently prescribed drugs across all plans, percent increase in annual netspending for drugs across all plans, percent increase in premiums attributableto drugs across all plans, percentage of specialty drugs with utilizationmanagement requirements across all plans, and premium reductions that wereattributable to specialty drug utilization management. The measure requires theCommissioner to publish the aggregated data from these reports on a website.The measure authorizes the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) to (i)call public hearings and to subpoena prescription drug manufacturers, pharmacybenefits managers, and health carriers to explain their reports; (ii) conductaudits of data submitted to it; (iii) require these entities to submit acorrective action plan to correct deficiencies in reporting; and (iv) imposepenalties of $30,000 per day on any prescription drug manufacturer, pharmacybenefits manager, or health carrier that fails to make a good faith effort tosubmit a required report within two weeks after receiving written notice fromthe Commission.

Deputy sheriffs; minimum salary. Providesthat the minimum salary for all deputy sheriffs, both law enforcementand non-law enforcement, shall be set at the compensation board minimumplus a 20 percent supplement. The bill provides that in any localitydesignated as high or above average according to the Commission onLocal Government's Fiscal Stress Index as of July 1, 2020, the Commonwealthshall pay the entire sum of the difference between the current salarypaid in such locality and the compensation board minimum plus the20 percent supplement.

Prescription drug price transparency. Requiresevery health carrier, pharmacy benefits manager, wholesale drug distributer, and drug manufacturer to report information about prescription drugprices and related information to the Department of Health and requiresthe Department to make such information available on its website.