Chesapeake Bay; wastewater treatment; Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program. Requires the State Water Control Board to adopt by June 30, 2022, regulations establishing a Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program (ENRC Program), consisting of a number of total nitrogen and total phosphorous waste load allocation reductions assigned to particular water treatment facilities with schedules for compliance. The bill provides that the ENRC Program shall operate in lieu of certain Chesapeake Bay waste load regulations. The bill directs the Board to modify affected discharge permits to incorporate the provisions of the ENRC Program and requires certain compliance plans due from treatment works by February 1, 2023, to address the requirements of the ENRC Program. The bill provides that the funding of certain design and installation costs for implementing nutrient upgrades pursuant to the ENRC Program shall be eligible for grants from the Water Quality Improvement Fund. The ENRC Program is required to proceed regardless of whether such grants will exceed the available funds in the Fund for a given fiscal year. The bill lists the projects and the total nitrogen or total phosphorus waste load allocation reductions that specified facilities are to complete. The bill provides that when grants to finance nutrient removal technology reach a sum sufficient to fund the completion of the ENRC Program at all publicly owned treatment works, certain General Assembly committees shall review funding needs and mechanisms. Finally, the bill directs the State Water Control Board to convene a stakeholder group during the adoption of regulations required to carry out the provisions of the bill and provides that such adoption by the Board shall be exempt from certain procedures of the Administrative Process Act. The bill provides that the priority projects and waste load allocation reductions that it sets forth shall be deemed to implement goals of the Chesapeake Bay Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan.
Sponsored bills
Practice of certified nurse midwives. Eliminatesthe requirement that certified nurse midwives practice pursuant toa practice agreement and provides that certified nurse midwives shall practice in accordance with regulations of the Boards of Medicineand Nursing and consistent with the Standards for the Practice ofMidwifery set by the American College of Nurse-Midwives and shallconsult and collaborate with and refer patients to such other healthcare providers as may be appropriate for the care of the patient.
Fines and costs; accrual of interest; deferralor installment payment agreements. Provides that no interestshall accrue on any fine or costs imposed in a criminal case or ina case involving a traffic infraction (i) for a period of 180 daysfollowing the date of the final judgment imposing such fine or costs;(ii) during any period the defendant is incarcerated; and (iii) fora period of 180 days following the date of the defendant's releasefrom incarceration if the sentence includes an active term of incarceration.Current law prohibits interest from accruing on such fines or costsfor a period of 40 days from the date of the final judgement imposing such fine or costs or during any period the defendant is incarcerated. The bill also removes the requirement thata defendant be unable to make payment of a fine, restitution, forfeiture, or penalty and costs within 30 days of sentencing in order to beeligible to enter into a deferred or installment payment agreementand allows any defendant to enter such payment agreements. The billremoves the one-time fee not to exceed $10 that a court may assesswhen a defendant is unable to make payment within 90 days of sentencingand provides that no fee shall be assessed in connection with a defendant'sparticipation in a deferred or installment payment agreement. Thebill removes the requirement that a defendant make a down paymentupon entering a deferred, modified deferred, or installment paymentagreement.
Board of Education; temporary extension of certain licenses. Requires the Board of Education to grant a two-year extension of the license of any individual licensed by the Board whose license expires on June 30, 2021, in order to provide the individual with sufficient additional time to complete the requirements for licensure.
Sales and use tax exemption for data centers. Reduces to four new jobs, for purposes of qualifying for the sales and use tax exemption for data centers, the job creation requirement for a data center in a distressed locality. Under current law, such data centers must create at least 25 new jobs. The bill lowers the amount of investment needed to qualify for the exemption from $150 million to $1.9 million for data centers that qualify for the reduced jobs requirement. The bill also redefines what criteria are used to identify a distressed locality such that a locality qualifies as distressed if it has an unemployment rate that is greater than the statewide unemployment rate and it also has a poverty rate that exceeds the statewide poverty rate. The bill requires all data centers claiming the exemption to submit an annual report detailing certain information to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority (the Authority). Finally, the requires the Department of Taxation (the Department), in collaboration with the Authority to publish a biennial report on the exemption. Such report by the Department shall not include any unaggregated or other information that could be used to identify a business or individual.
Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program. Directs the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish and administer the Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program (the Program). The bill provides that any dairy farmer that has a resource management plan or nutrient management plan and participates in the federal margin coverage program for dairy producers at the tier I level as contained in the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 is eligible to participate in the Program. Under the bill, each year a Program participant will receive a refund of its annual premium payment paid into the federal program. Such reimbursement shall be provided on a first-come, first-served basis and shall be subject to availability of funds expressly appropriated for the purposes set forth in the chapter. The Commissioner shall submit an annual report no later than December 1 of each year to the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources assessing the effectiveness of the Program.
Victims of human trafficking; affirmative defenseto prosecution for certain offenses. Provides an affirmativedefense to prosecution for prostitution and keeping, residing in,or frequenting a bawdy place if, at the time of the offense leadingto such charge, such person was a victim of human trafficking, asdefined in the bill, and (i) was coerced to engage in the offensethrough the use of force or intimidation of another, (ii) such offensewas committed as part of a commercial sex trafficking scheme, or (iii) such offense was committed at the direction of an operator of a commercialsex trafficking scheme. The bill provides that a victim of humantrafficking may raise such affirmative defense regardless of whether any other person has been arrested for, prosecuted for, charged with,or convicted of an offense.
Rare Disease Council and Rare Disease Council Fund; report. Creates the Rare Disease Council for the purpose of (i) advising the Governor and the General Assembly on the needs of individuals with rare diseases in the Commonwealth; (ii) identifying challenges that such individuals face, including delays in obtaining a diagnosis or the receipt of a misdiagnosis, shortages of medical specialists who can provide treatment, and lack of access to therapies and medication used to treat rare diseases; (iii) funding research related to rare diseases and the development of new treatments for rare diseases; and (iv) funding for supports for persons with rare diseases in the Commonwealth. The bill also creates the Rare Disease Council Fund to be used for the purpose of (a) funding research related to rare diseases and the development of new treatments for rare diseases and supports for persons with rare diseases in the Commonwealth and (b) supporting the work of the Rare Disease Council.
Prescription drug price transparency. Requires every health carrier, pharmacy benefits manager, wholesale drug distributer, and drug manufacturer to report information about prescription drug prices to the Department of Health and requires the Department to make such information available on its website. The bill also provides that, beginning January 1, 2022, a health plan enrollee's defined cost sharing for each prescription drug shall be calculated at the point of sale based on a price that is reduced by an amount equal to at least 80 percent of all rebates received, or to be received, in connection with the dispensing or administration of the prescription drug. The bill also requires the Bureau of Insurance to (i) identify all statutory and regulatory provisions from which health plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) are exempted and (ii) determine the financial impact, if any, of application of such statutory and regulatory provisions such health plans, and to report its finding to the Chairman of the House Committees on Health, Welfare and Institutions and Labor and Commerce and the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor and Education and Health by October 1, 2021
Virginia Agriculture Food Assistance Programand Fund; established. Requires the Commissioner of Agricultureand Consumer Services (the Commissioner) to establish the VirginiaAgriculture Food Assistance Program (VAFA Program) for Virginia farmersand food producers to donate, sell, or otherwise provide agricultureproducts to charitable food assistance organizations. The bill also creates the Virginia Agriculture Food Assistance Fund to disbursemoneys to such charitable food assistance organizations to reimbursefarmers or food producers for any costs associated with harvesting,processing, packaging, or transporting agriculture products donatedto such charitable food assistance organizations. The bill authorizesthe Commissioner to adopt guidelines and regulations to carry outthe VAFA Program.