Pipeline construction permit; amount of civil penalty for violation. Authorizes the State Water Control Board to include civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation, not to exceed $500,000 per order, in any order for a violation of a permit related to the construction of a natural gas transmission pipeline greater than 36 inches inside diameter. Current law limits such penalties to $32,500 per violation and $100,000 per order. The bill requires that at least two written notices of violation have been issued to the person constructing the pipeline, that such violations have not been resolved, and that a hearing has been conducted before the penalty can be assessed.
Sponsored bills
Tanning facilities; use by persons under age 18. Prohibits a tanning facility from allowing individuals under age 18 to use a tanning device at such facility other than a spray tanning device that does not emit ultraviolet light. The bill includes an exception allowing a person licensed by the Board of Medicine to practice medicine or osteopathic medicine to prescribe or use a phototherapy device, as defined in the bill, for any patient regardless of age.
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.
School boards; teachers; planning time and planning periods. Requires each local school board to ensure that each elementary school teacher has an average of one 45-minute period per school day of planning time and that each middle and high school teacher is provided an average of one planning period per school day or the equivalent, which shall be at least 45 minutes or one class period, whichever is longer. The bill permits local school boards and teachers to enter into an appropriate contractual arrangement providing for compensation in lieu of such planning time or period. Under current law, public elementary school teachers are guaranteed at least an average of 30 minutes of planning time per school day during a school week.
Prohibited discrimination; public accommodations, employment, credit, and housing: causes of action; sexual orientation and gender identity. Creates explicit causes of action for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations and employment in the Virginia Human Rights Act. Currently, under the Act there is no cause of action for discrimination in public accommodations, and the only causes of action for discrimination in employment are for (i) unlawful discharge on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lactation, by employers employing more than five but fewer than 15 persons and (ii) unlawful discharge on the basis of age by employers employing more than five but fewer than 20 persons. The bill allows the causes of action to be pursued privately by the aggrieved person or, in certain circumstances, by the Attorney General. The bill prohibits discrimination in public and private employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill also codifies for state and local government employment the current prohibitions on discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, or status as a veteran. Additionally, the bill (a) prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran; (b) prohibits discrimination in credit on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, disability, and status as a veteran; and (c) adds discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran as an unlawful housing practice. The bill makes technical amendments. This bill incorporates HB 3, HB 21, HB 23, HB 217, HB 1050, HB 1200, and HB 1512.
Truck Manufacturing Grant Fund; creation. Creates the Truck Manufacturing Grant Fund to make grant payments to an eligible truck manufacturer that makes a capital investment of at least $397 million at a facility in Pulaski County and creates at least 777 new full-time jobs at the facility. The eligible truck manufacturer would be eligible for an aggregate of $16.5 million in grants paid out over a 10-year period if it meets such performance parameters. This bill is identical to SB 611.
Commending Bob Brown.
Celebrating the life of Robert Allen Garland.
Commending the Roanoke Higher Education Center.
Celebrating the life of E. Bruce Heilman.