Rep. Ellen McLaughlin

Drinking water; maximum contaminant levels; water treatment systems; Rural Water Supply Program and Fund established. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to utilize point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration to remove or significantly reduce concentrations of contaminants of concern that meet or exceed any maximum contaminant level or health advisory for the same contaminant adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The bill also establishes the Rural Water Supply Program and Fund to allow the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water to test and treat contaminated drinking water for individuals on private wells and small rural public water systems.

Animal Cruelty Conviction List established.Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish no laterthan January 1, 2027, and to maintain the Animal Cruelty ConvictionList and to make the List available to the public on the websiteof the Department of State Police. The bill specifies that the Listinclude the names of persons convicted of certain felony animal crueltyoffenses on or after July 1, 2024. The bill requires persons convictedof any such offense to pay a fee of $50 per conviction to fund themaintenance of the List. The bill also requires the Department toremove a person's name and information from the List 15 years afterits listing if he has no additional felony conviction of any such offense.

State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board; guidelines for the provision of emergency treatment of fire, police, and search and rescue dogs. Requires the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, in consultation with the Board of Veterinary Medicine, to develop guidelines and guidance for the provision of emergency treatment of fire, police, and search and rescue dogs injured in the line of duty and the transportation of such dogs by an emergency medical services vehicle to a veterinary care facility equipped to provide emergency treatment to such dog.

Line of Duty Act; payment of benefits. Increases from $25,000 to $75,000 the death benefit payout under the Virginia Line of Duty Act for a death caused by occupational cancer, respiratory disease, or hypertension or heart disease for those deaths that will occur on or after January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 649.

Public schools; fire drills; timing and frequency. Requires the first of the two fire drills required during the first20 days of each public school session to be conducted during thefirst 10 days of such school session. The bill also requires everypublic school to hold additional fire drills during the remainderof such school session as required by the Statewide Fire PreventionCode, which currently requires such additional fire drills to be conducted on a monthly basis. Current law requires at least two additionalfire drills to be conducted during the remainder of the public schoolsession after the two fire drills required during the first 20 daysof each such school session.

Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority; eligible site for site development grant; minimum acreage requirement. Allows the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to determine a site of at least 50 but less than 100 acres to be eligible to receive a site development grant from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund. The reduced acreage requirement shall apply only to sites which (i) are located in GO Virginia regions 1 or 2, (ii) are located in a locality or region in which topographic or environmental factors constrain the availability of viable sites for economic development, (iii) present a unique economic development opportunity based on infrastructure, logistics, or other distinguishable features of the site, or (iv) create an economic development opportunity not currently available in the regional inventory of economic development sites. by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority.

Health insurance; coverage for colorectal cancer screening. Requires health insurers to provide coverage for examinations and laboratory tests related to colorectal cancer screening in accordance with the most recently published recommendations established by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for colorectal cancer screening for which a rating of A or B is in effect with respect to the individual involved. The bill requires such coverage to include coverage of a follow-up colonoscopy after a positive noninvasive stool-based screening test or direct visualization screening test. The bill prohibits such coverage from being subject to any deductible, coinsurance, or any other cost-sharing requirements for services received from participating providers. The provisions of the bill apply to individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies, individual or group accident and sickness subscription contracts, or health care plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in the Commonwealth on and after January 1, 2025.

Center for Rural Virginia; name change. Renames the Center for Rural Virginia as the Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. Center for Rural Virginia. This bill is identical to SB 704.

Commending the Honorable Kathy J. Byron.

Commending the Honorable L. Kaye Kory.