Del. Terry Austin

Commending the Riverheads High School footballteam.

Commending Daphne Tamara Fulson.

Commending the Honorable M. Kirkland Cox.

New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority; creation. Authorizes the creation of a regional passenger rail station authority in Planning District 4 to assist in the creation and maintenance of passenger rail in the region. The authority would be authorized to enter into revenue sharing agreements and to issue revenue bonds. The authority would be governed by a board consisting of members of each participating locality and institution of higher education.

Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board; established;report. Creates the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board to create a unified visionregarding STEM education initiatives, language, and measures of successto promote a culture of collaboration for STEM programming in theCommonwealth. The Board shall develop the infrastructure for creatingSTEM Regional Hubs and naming STEM Champions in communities acrossthe Commonwealth. Additionally, the Board shall report annually tothe Governor and the General Assembly on STEM challenges, goals,and successes across the Commonwealth.

Charter; City of Covington; consolidated schooldivision; salaries. Amends the charter for the City of Covingtonto help facilitate the consolidation of the school divisions of theCity of Covington and Alleghany County. The bill sets out the salaryof a school board member of such consolidated school district andshall become effective on July 1, 2022, provided that the consolidationof the City of Covington and Alleghany County school divisions isapproved by the Board of Education prior to that date.

Sales tax; exemption for personal protectiveequipment; emergency. Establishes a retail sales and use taxexemption for personal protective equipment, defined in the bill.The exemption would be available to any business that has in placea COVID-19 safety protocol that complies with the Emergency TemporaryStandard promulgated by the Virginia Department of Labor and Industryand that meets other criteria. The exemption would sunset one dayafter the first day following the expiration of the last executiveorder issued by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic andthe termination of the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard andany permanent COVID-19 regulations adopted by the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Board of Education; membership; geographic representation.Requires the nine-member Board of Education to include at leastfive members, appointed by the Governor, who each reside in differentsuperintendent's regions in the Commonwealth.

Facilitate the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine; emergency. Facilitates the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. The bill requires the Department of Health (the Department) to establish a program to enable eligible health care providers to volunteer to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of the Commonwealth during a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the Governor. The bill defines "eligible health care provider" and provides that the program shall include (i) a process by which an eligible health care provider may register to participate in the program and (ii) the training requirements for participating eligible health care providers related to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, including training on the intramuscular injection of the COVID-19 vaccine and contraindications and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. The bill specifies requirements that the Department shall ensure that each site at which COVID-19 vaccinations are administered by eligible health care providers satisfies. The bill also requires the Department to establish a process by which entities, including medical care facilities, hospitals, hospital systems, corporations, businesses, pharmacies, public and private institutions of higher education, localities, and any other professional or community entity operating in the Commonwealth, may volunteer their facilities as sites at which the COVID-19 vaccine may be administered to residents of the Commonwealth. The bill permits a public institution of higher education or a private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to volunteer to provide assistance to the Department and local health departments for data processing, analytics, and program development related to the COVID-19 vaccine through the use of its employees, students, technology, and facilities. The bill also permits localities with fire departments, emergency medical services departments, and volunteer rescue squads to establish and staff vaccine administration clinics. The bill provides civil and criminal immunity to individuals and professional entities acting pursuant to the bill and contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to HB 2333.