Del. Mark L. Keam

Absentee voting; no excuse required. Permits any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot in any election in which he is qualified to vote. The bill removes the current list of statutory reasons under which a person may be entitled to vote by absentee ballot and removes references to those reasons from other sections of the Code. This bill incorporates HB 25, HB 208, and HB 209.

Research and development in the Commonwealth. Creates the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (the Authority) to oversee and support research, development, and commercialization, as well as related investment and seed-stage funding, in the Commonwealth. The Authority is governed by an 11-member Board, consisting of the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, six nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Governor, and four nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Joint Rules Committee. Existing grant, loan, and investment funds currently administered by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority and the Virginia Research Investment Committee, repealed under the bill, would be consolidated under the Authority, and the Authority would be responsible for developing an Innovation Index for the Commonwealth. The bill contains technical amendments. This bill is identical to SB 576.

Memorials for war veterans. Provides that a locality may remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover any monument or memorial for war veterans on the locality's public property, not including a monument or memorial located in a publicly owned cemetery, regardless of when the monument or memorial was erected, and removes certain criminal and civil penalties. Current law makes it unlawful to disturb or interfere with such monuments or memorials or to prevent citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation, and care of such monuments or memorials. Prior to removing, relocating, contextualizing, or covering any such publicly owned monument or memorial, the local governing body shall publish notice of such intent in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality. The notice shall specify the time and place of a public hearing at which interested persons may present their views, not less than 30 days after publication of the notice. After the completion of the hearing, the governing body may vote whether to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monument or memorial. If the governing body votes to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monument or memorial, the local governing body shall first, for a period of 30 days, offer the monument or memorial for relocation and placement to any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield. The local governing body shall have sole authority to determine the final disposition of the monument or memorial. The bill authorizes the local governing body to call for an advisory referendum prior to voting on such motion. The bill repeals an 1890 act of assembly related to the placement of a statue in the City of Alexandria and does not apply to a monument or memorial located on the property of a public institution of higher education within the City of Lexington. The bill also provides that the Board of Historic Resources shall promulgate regulations governing the manner in which any monument or memorial may be contextualized. This bill incorporates HB1625 and is identical to SB 183.

Drinking water supplies; maximum contaminant levels. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations establishing maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in public drinking water systems for (i) perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonate, and for such other perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances as the Board deems necessary; (ii) chromium-6; and (iii) 1,4-dioxane. The bill requires such MCLs to be protective of public health, including the health of vulnerable subpopulations, and to be no higher than any MCL or health advisory adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the same contaminant. The bill directs the Department of Health to report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions on the status of research related to MCLs by November 1, 2020, and submit a final report by October 1, 2021, detailing the MCL regulations established by the Department of Health. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.

Electric utilities; right to shop. Authorizes individual retail customers of electric energy to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed competitive supplier of electric energy, including any incumbent electric utility. Currently, such customers may purchase electric power from such suppliers, other than an incumbent electric utility that is not the incumbent electric utility serving the exclusive territory in which the customer is located, only if their incumbent electric utility does not offer an approved tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy. The measure also provides that a cooperative utility customer eligible to take service under a tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy is prohibited from purchasing electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from a licensed supplier, except such customer is authorized to continue purchasing renewable energy pursuant to the terms of a power purchase agreement in effect on the date the cooperative serving it filed with the Commission such tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy for the duration of such agreement. The provisions of the bill will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly.

Public schools; lock-down drills; frequency;exemptions. Requires every public school at which sixth gradeis the highest grade taught to hold at least one lock-down drillafter the first 60 days of the school session and every public schoolat which seventh grade or any grade above seventh grade is taughtto hold at least two lock-down drills after the first 60 days ofthe school session, in addition to the two lock-down drills requiredto be held during the first 20 days of the school session at eachsuch school. Current law requires each public school to hold at leasttwo lock-down drills after the first 20 days of the school session.The bill requires kindergarten students to be exempt from mandatoryparticipation in lock-down drills during the first 60 days of theschool session and requires the principal at each relevant school to implement such exemption by either (i) conducting teacher-onlydrills or otherwise providing suitable training for kindergartenteachers or (ii) notifying each parent of a kindergarten studentat least five school days in advance of each planned lock-down drilland permitting each such parent to opt his child out of participationin such lock-down drill.

Field investigations permit; archaeologist qualifications; penalty. Establishes standards for education, experience, ability, and other factors for a field supervisor who is identified in an application to the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation for a permit to conduct a field investigation, exploration, or recovery operation involving any object of antiquity on state-controlled land or on a state archaeological site or zone. The bill provides that the Director may consider the field supervisor's performance on any prior permitted investigation in determining whether the person meets such standards. The bill provides that conducting an investigation without a permit or willfully misrepresenting information (i) on a permit application or (ii) collected during a permitted field investigation is a crime punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Department of Social Services; Office of NewAmericans created. Establishes the Office of New Americans withinthe Department of Social Services, as well as an advisory board,to assist immigrant integration within the Commonwealth on an economic,social, and cultural level. The Office shall provide (i) advice andassistance regarding the citizenship application process; (ii) assistancewith securing employment, housing, and services for which such personsmay be eligible; (iii) information to localities and immigration service organizations about state programs that help such personsfind and secure employment, housing, and services for which theymay be eligible; and (iv) information to localities and immigrationservice organizations regarding health epidemics and unlawful predatoryactions, such as human trafficking, gang recruitment, and fraudulentfinancial and other schemes, to which communities of such personsmay be especially vulnerable. The Advisory Board shall report tothe Director of the Office, who will submit to the Governor and theGeneral Assembly an annual executive summary of the interim activityand work of the Board no later than the first day of each regularsession of the General Assembly. The bill renames the Office of NewcomerServices as the Division of Newcomer Services and establishes thedivision as a subdivision of the Office of New Americans.

Charitable gaming; increase in certain maximum allowable prize amounts. Increases the maximum allowable amount for a single bingo door prize from $50 to $250 and the maximum allowable cumulative door prizes in any one bingo session from $250 to $500. The bill also increases the maximum allowable regular bingo or special bingo game prize from $100 to $200 and the prize for a single instant bingo, pull tab, or seal card from $1,000 to $2,000. The bill increases the maximum allowable prize for a bingo jackpot from $1,000 to $2,000 and the total allowable amount of bingo jackpot prizes awarded in any one session from $1,000 to $2,000.  The bill also increases from $100 to $200 the allowable amount of increase of a progressive prize per session in certain progressive bingo games. The bill directs the Charitable Gaming Board to convene a stakeholder work group to review the current limitations on prize amounts and provide any recommendations to the General Assembly by November 30, 2020. The provisions of the bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly.

Virginia Health Benefit Exchange. Creates the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange, which will be established and operated by a new division within the State Corporation Commission (SCC). The Exchange shall facilitate the purchase and sale of qualified health plans and qualified dental plans to qualified individuals and qualified employers. The Exchange shall make qualified plans available to qualified individuals and qualified employers by July 1, 2023, unless the SCC postpones this date. The measure authorizes the SCC to review and approve accident and sickness insurance premium rates applicable to health benefit plans in the individual and small group markets and health benefit plans providing health insurance coverage in the individual market through certain non-employer group plans. The Exchange will be funded by an assessment on health insurers, which is limited to three percent of total monthly premiums, except the SCC may, after a public hearing, adjust the rate as necessary to ensure the Exchange is fully funded. A health plan will not be required to cover any state-mandated health benefit if federal law does not require it to be covered as part of the essential benefits package. The essential health benefits are items and services included in the benchmark health insurance plan, which is the largest plan in the largest product in the Commonwealth's small group market as supplemented in order to provide coverage for the items and services within the statutory essential health benefits categories. The SCC may contract with other eligible entities and enter into memoranda of understanding with other agencies of the Commonwealth to carry out any of the functions of the Exchange, including agreements with other states or federal agencies to perform joint administrative functions. Such contracts are not subject to the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.). The measure repeals a provision enacted in 2013 that prohibits an agent, employee, officer, or agency of the Commonwealth from taking any action to establish a health benefit exchange.The measure requires the Department of Taxation to include on the appropriate individual tax return forms a checkoff box or similar mechanism for indicating whether the individual, or spouse in the case of a married taxpayer filing jointly, or any dependent of the individual (i) is an uninsured individual at the time the return is filed and (ii) voluntarily consents to the Department of Taxation providing the individual's tax information to the Department of Medical Assistance Services for purposes of affirming that the individual, the individual's spouse, or any dependent of the individual meets the income eligibility for medical assistance. Finally, the measure requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group that includes representatives from the SCC, the Department of Medical Assistance Services, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Taxation and a consumer advocate to develop systems, policies, and practices to leverage state income tax returns to facilitate the enrollment of eligible individuals in insurance affordability programs through the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange established in this measure. The Secretary shall report the work group's recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by September 15, 2020. This measure is identical to SB 732.