Use of transportation funds. States that it is the policy of the Commonwealth that revenues dedicated to transportation purposes shall not be used or redirected for any non-transportation purpose. Any attempt to repurpose funds dedicated to transportation as of July 1, 2019, shall be deemed invalid and shall not be effectuated.
School Divisions of Innovation; local assessments. Allows a local school board, when applying for its school division to be designated as a School Division of Innovation, to apply to the Board of Education to replace the Virginia Studies and Civics and Economics Standards of Learning assessments with local assessments that include performance-based assessments. The bill requires any such application to (i) demonstrate that the proposed local assessment requires that students demonstrate the knowledge and skills required by the relevant Standards of Learning and that students demonstrate one or more of the skills and qualities of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, or citizenship and (ii) provide evidence of the local school board's capacity to administer and score performance-based assessments.
Health insurance; association health plans. Provides that for policies of group accident and sickness insurance issued to an association, members of such an association may include (i) a self-employed individual and (ii) an employer member (a) with at least one employee that is domiciled in the Commonwealth or (b) that has a principal place of business that does not exceed the boundaries of a metropolitan area that is at least partially in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that for such policies issued to an association that covers at least 51 members and employees of employer members of such association on the first day of the plan year the policies shall be considered a large group market plan and are required to meet various provisions in the bill. The bill provides that to determine the size of an association all of the members and employees of employer members are aggregated and treated as employed by a single employer.The bill requires an insurer issuing a policy to an association to (1) treat all of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy as a single risk pool; (2) set premiums based on the collective group experience of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy; (3) vary premiums by age, except that the rate shall not vary by more than 5 to 1 for adults; (4) not vary premiums based on gender; (5) not establish discriminatory rules based on the health status of an employer member, an individual employee of an employer member, or a self-employed individual for eligibility or contribution.The bill requires the Commissioner of Insurance to, within 90 days of the enactment of the bill, apply to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services for a state innovation waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, to implement the provisions of the bill. The provisions of the bill regarding association health plans will become effective 30 days following the date the Commissioner of Insurance notifies the Governor and the Chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor of federal approval of such waiver.
Conveyance of right-of-way usage to certain nonpublic service companies. Allows a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization to obtain a land use permit from the Department of Transportation to use rights-of-way to operate a wholesale open-access fiber network. This bill is identical to SB 792.
Telemarketing; financial exploitation; agency communication. Directs the Attorney General to establish ongoing communication with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services and the Department of Social Services to ensure that adults 60 years of age or older or 18 years of age or older and incapacitated have access to information regarding the prevention of potential patterns of financial exploitation.
Absentee voting; counting military and overseas absentee ballots received after close of polls on election day. Provides that absentee ballots cast by military and overseas absentee voters that are (i) received after the close of the polls on any election day but before 5:00 p.m. on the fourth business day before the State Board of Elections meets to ascertain the results of the election and (ii) postmarked on or before the date of such election are to be counted if the voter is found entitled to vote. The bill provides that a postmark includes any other official indicia of confirmation of mailing by the United States Postal Service or other postal or delivery service. Under current law, such ballots cast by military and overseas absentee voters would be counted in this manner regardless of the date of any postmark, but only if the absentee ballot had been requested on or before, but not sent by, the deadline for making absentee ballots available.
Forfeiture of property used in connection with the commission of crimes; finding of guilt required. Requires that any action for the forfeiture of property used in connection with the commission of a crime be stayed until the person whose property is the subject of the forfeiture action has been found guilty of the crime authorizing the forfeiture, regardless of whether he has been sentenced. The bill provides that property may be forfeited even though no finding of guilt is made if (i) the forfeiture is ordered by the court pursuant to a plea agreement or (ii) the owner has not submitted a written demand for the return of the property within 21 days from the date the stay terminates. This bill incorporates HB 225.
Foster care; termination of parental rights; independent living needs assessments; supervisory spans of control. Requires local boards of social services and child-placing agencies, if the child has been in the custody of a local board or child-placing agency for 15 of the most recent 22 months and no petition for termination of parental rights has been filed with the court, to include in the petition for a permanency planning hearing the reasons why a petition to terminate parental rights has not been filed and the reasonable efforts made regarding reunification or transfer of custody to a relative. The bill requires that local boards and child-placing agencies provide information to birth parents regarding the parent's option to voluntarily terminate parental rights, and that the Commissioner of Social Services develop clear guidance documents regarding the manner in which such information should be relayed. The bill requires the Board of Social Services to promulgate regulations related to termination of parental rights, independent living needs assessments and plans, and reporting requirements for local boards and child-placing agencies. The bill requires the Commissioner to (i) provide training to local boards and child-placing agencies regarding common errors made related to termination of parental rights and (ii) establish a work group to assess the feasibility and costs of establishing supervisory spans of control for foster care supervisors. The work group shall report its findings by November 30, 2020.
Provisional voting; persons voting in splitprecincts. Provides that any voter who is assigned to a precinctthat is split between two or more election districts and who believeshe was given a ballot for the district of which he is not a qualifiedvoter may request, prior to casting the ballot, and shall be permittedto cast a provisional ballot for the district of which he believeshe is a qualified voter and for the district in which the pollbookindicates he is registered. The bill requires the ballots to besealed in envelopes labeled with the corresponding district numberand then sealed in the green envelope provided for all provisionalballots. At the meeting to determine the validity of all provisionalballots offered in the election, the electoral board shall verifyin which district the voter is qualified and count that ballot.
Hospitals; emergency treatment for substanceuse-related emergencies; services. Requires the Board of Healthto amend regulations governing hospitals to require each hospitalthat provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing asubstance use-related emergency to (i) complete a comprehensive assessmentto identify appropriate medical interventions necessary for the treatmentof the individual; (ii) complete a comprehensive behavioral healthassessment to determine whether additional treatment may be appropriate;(iii) initiate pharmacotherapy for treatment of drug or alcohol dependence,where appropriate; and (iv) provide the patient with naloxone orother opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal. Such regulationsshall also require each hospital that provides emergency treatment to an individual experiencing a substance use-related emergencyto establish and implement a protocol for connecting such patientsreceiving emergency treatment with appropriate community-based providersof behavioral health services upon discharge.
