Epinephrine permitted in certain public places. Allows public places to make epinephrine available for administration. The bill allows employees of such public places who are authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine to possess and administer epinephrine to a person present in such public place believed in good faith to be having an anaphylactic reaction. The bill also provides that an employee of such public place who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine and who administers or assists in the administration of epinephrine to a person present in the public place believed in good faith to be having an anaphylactic reaction, or is the prescriber of the epinephrine, shall not be liable for any civil damages for ordinary negligence in acts or omissions resulting from the rendering of such treatment. The bill directs the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Health Professions, to develop policies and guidelines for the recognition and treatment of anaphylaxis in public places. Such policies and guidelines shall be provided to the Commissioner of Health no later than July 1, 2021.
Sponsored bills
Correctional facilities; use of isolated confinement.Prohibits the use of isolated confinement in state correctionalfacilities and juvenile correctional centers, defined in the billas confinement of a prisoner or juvenile to a cell, alone or withanother prisoner or juvenile, for 20 hours or more a day for an adultor for 17 hours or more a day for a juvenile, other than for thepurpose of providing medical or mental health treatment. The bill provides for exceptions for when isolated confinement may be permittedin state correctional facilities and juvenile correctional centers.The bill also requires the Board of Corrections to promulgate andestablish standards placing limits on the use of isolated confinementin local correctional facilities that are consistent with the standardsapplicable to state correctional facilities.
School boards; distribution of excess food. Allows public school boards to distribute excess food to students eligible for the School Breakfast Program or National School Lunch Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or to students who the school board determines are otherwise eligible to receive excess food. A school board is also allowed to develop a policy for distributing excess food, saving it for later, or donating it.
Department of Education; Holocaust and GenocideEducation Advisory Committee; report. Requires the Departmentof Education to establish and appoint such members as it deems appropriateto a Holocaust and Genocide Education Advisory Committee for thepurpose of (i) assessing the current state of instructional requirements,curricula, standards, and teacher training relating to the Holocaustand other historical genocides and reporting its findings, includingany recommendations for changes to such instructional requirements, curricula, standards, and teacher training, to the Board of Education,the Governor, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Educationand the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than July1, 2021; and (ii) guiding the Department of Education in developinga robust model curriculum and teacher training module for providingage-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust and other historicalgenocides as a method of providing anti-bias education for publicschool students in the Commonwealth that include case studies and instructional lessons on (a) the historical underpinnings of theHolocaust and other genocides in the context of how lower levelsof hate, ridicule, and dehumanization led to larger acts of violenceand state-sponsored discrimination and violence; (b) the impact ofand the tools for responding to different forms of racism, bigotry,and discrimination; and (c) slavery and other forms of historicaldehumanizing injustice.
Sales tax exemption; gun safes. Establishes an exemption from retail sales tax for a gun safe with a selling price of $1,500 or less. The bill defines "gun safe" as a safe or vault that is (i) commercially available, (ii) secured with a digital or dial combination locking mechanism or biometric locking mechanism, and (iii) designed for the storage of a firearm or of ammunition for use in a firearm. Under the bill, "gun safe" does not include a glass-faced cabinet. This bill is identical to SB 268.
Virginia Fair Housing Law; unlawful discriminatory housing practices; source of funds. Adds discrimination on the basis of a person's source of funds to the list of unlawful discriminatory housing practices. The bill creates an exemption for an owner or owner's managing agent, provided that such owner does not own more than four rental dwelling units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units in the Commonwealth at the time of the alleged discriminatory housing practice. The bill allows an owner or owner's managing agent to deny or limit a person's rental or occupancy of a rental dwelling unit based on the person's source of funds for that unit if such source is not approved within 15 days of the person's submission of the request for tenancy approval. The bill defines "source of funds" as any source that lawfully provides funds to or on behalf of a renter or buyer of housing, including any assistance, benefit, or subsidy program, whether such program is administered by a governmental or nongovernmental entity. This bill incorporates HB 357.
Local regulation of certain transportation companies.Extends from January 1, 2020, to October 1, 2020, the prohibitionon offering motorized skateboards or scooters, bicycles, or electricpower-assisted bicycles for hire in any locality that has not enactedany licensing ordinance, regulation, or other action regulating suchbusiness. The bill clarifies that localities are authorized to createor amend such ordinances, regulations, or actions even after anysuch business is operating in the locality and exercise authorityotherwise authorized by law. The bill contains an emergency clause.
School meal policies. Requires each localschool board to adopt policies that prohibit school board employeesfrom requiring a student who cannot pay for a meal at school or whoowes a school meal debt to throw away or discard a meal after ithas been served to him.
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.
Offshore oil and gas drilling; prohibition on leases; policy. Prohibits the granting of a lease, easement, or permit on the beds of the coastal waters of the Commonwealth that would allow any infrastructure for conveying to shore oil or gas produced from offshore drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area and removes any oil or gas lease granted on such beds from the mandate that such lease include a royalty payment requirement. The bill removes policy statements supporting federal efforts to permit oil and gas development 50 miles or more off the Atlantic shoreline. This bill incorporates HB 1016.