Del. Mark L. Keam

Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. Reorganizes provisions of the Code related to the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is relocated in the Code and the Respite Care Grant Program is eliminated. The bill also calls for additional education services to be provided by the Department with respect to Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.

Family life education; Standards of Learningand curriculum guidelines; contemporary community standards; review.Requires the Board of Education, in conducting its regular reviewand revision of the Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelinesfor family life education, to consult relevant stakeholders representingthe interests of students, parents, health care providers, faithcommunities, and other public interest groups to ascertain and ensurethat such standards and guidelines reflect contemporary community standards. The bill requires the next such review and revision tobe completed no later than June 30, 2021. The bill requires eachschool board to conduct a review of its family life education curriculaat least once every seven years.

Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.

Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority; industrial hemp marketing plan; report. Directs the Board ofDirectors and Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia Economic DevelopmentPartnership Authority to develop a marketing plan for industrialhemp. The bill requires the Authority to report to the Chairmen ofthe House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resourcesand the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and NaturalResources by November 30, 2020, on its marketing plan and its progresstoward meeting the goals and objectives stated in the marketing plan.

State Corporation Commission; retirement of coal-fired or natural gas-fired electric generation facilities. Requires the State Corporation Commission to determine the amortization period for recovery of any appropriate costs due to the early retirement of any coal-fired or natural gas-fired electric generation facilities owned or operated by any Phase I or Phase II Utility. The bill requires the Commission, in making such determination, to (i) perform an independent analysis of the remaining undepreciated capital costs; (ii) establish a recovery period that best serves ratepayers; and (iii) allow for the recovery of any carrying costs that the Commission, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate.

Health insurance; coverage for autism spectrum disorder. Requires health insurers, corporations providing health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder under insurance policies, subscription contracts, or health care plans issued in the individual market or small group markets. The existing requirement that such coverage be provided for policies, contracts, or plans issued in the large group market is not affected. The provision applies with respect to insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans delivered, issued for delivery, reissued, or extended on or after January 1, 2021. This bill incorporates HB 1043 and is identical to SB 1031.

Coal ash ponds; private wells and public water supply wells; resident notification. Requires a utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to complete a survey of all private wells and public water supply wells within 1.5 miles of each of its ponds by October 1, 2020, and to notify residents via mail and a local newspaper posting that the survey will be conducted.

Department of Emergency Management; responsibilitiesof political subdivisions; provision of emergency preparedness informationto individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities, orother special needs. Directs the Department of Emergency Management(the Department) to ensure that the model school crisis and emergencymanagement plan developed by the Board of Education in consultationwith the Department is designed to include and reach individualswith limited English proficiency, disabilities, and other specialneeds. The bill also directs the Department to develop an emergencyresponse plan to (i) address the needs of such individuals in theevent of a disaster, including the provision of competent interpretationservices and translated documents, and (ii) assist and coordinatewith local agencies in developing similar emergency response plansfor such individuals. The bill requires that every local and interjurisdictionalemergency management agency include in its emergency operations planprovisions to ensure that adequate and timely emergency relief assistance,including competent interpretation services and translated documents,is provided to such individuals. The bill requires the governingbody of each locality that is required to establish an alert and warningplan to ensure that such plan provides adequate and timely warningsfor such individuals. The bill contains technical amendments.

Industrial hemp; federal regulations; adoption in Virginia. Directs the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to conform the regulations of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to any federal regulation adopted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, that materially expands opportunities for growing, producing, or dealing in industrial hemp in the Commonwealth. The bill exempts such regulatory amendments by the Board from the Administrative Process Act. The bill contains an emergency clause.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; student advisory committee; Director of the Council. Changes the appointing authority for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's student advisory committee from the Council to the Director of the Council. The bill also directs the student advisory committee to report to the Director rather than to the Council.