Del. Sam Rasoul

Celebrating the life of William Griffith Thomas.

Commending David E. Bowles.

Commending the Douglas S. Freeman High School"We the People" team.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable GeraldL. Baliles.

Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when a licensed audiologist prescribes such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2021.

Constitutional amendment (second resolution);apportionment; Virginia Redistricting Commission. Establishes the VirginiaRedistricting Commission, a 16-member Commission tasked with establishingdistricts for the United States House of Representatives and for the Senate andthe House of Delegates of the General Assembly. The Commission consists ofeight legislative members and eight citizen members. The legislative membersconsist of four members of the Senate of Virginia and four members of the Houseof Delegates, with equal representation given to the political parties havingthe highest and next highest number of members in their respective houses. Thecitizen members are selected by a selection committee consisting of fiveretired judges of the circuit courts of Virginia, from lists submitted to theselection committee by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the leader in theHouse of Delegates of the political party having the next highest number ofmembers in the House of Delegates, the President pro tempore of the Senate ofVirginia, and the leader in the Senate of the political party having the nexthighest number of members in the Senate. The Commission is required to submit tothe General Assembly plans of districts for the Senate and the House ofDelegates of the General Assembly no later than 45 days following the receiptof census data and plans of districts for the United States House ofRepresentatives no later than 60 days following the receipt of census data, orJuly 1 of that year, whichever occurs later. The measure requires certain votethresholds for plans, depending on the type of district, in order to besubmitted to the General Assembly. No amendments may be made to a plan by theGeneral Assembly, and any plan approved by the General Assembly becomes lawwithout the signature of the Governor. The measure requires additional plans tobe submitted, or additional time to be given to submit a plan, in certaincircumstances, and further provides that districts will be drawn by the SupremeCourt of Virginia if such efforts fail.

Virginia Fair Housing Law; unlawful discriminatory housing practices. Prohibits any locality, its employees, or its appointed commissions from discriminating (i) in the application of local land use ordinances or guidelines, or in the permitting of housing developments, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, elderliness, familial status, or handicap or (ii) in the permitting of housing developments because the housing development contains or is expected to contain affordable housing units occupied or intended for occupancy by families or individuals with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income of the area where the housing development is located or is proposed to be located, unless at the time of the municipal decision, a proposed development will be located in a census tract wherein more than 50 percent of the units serve families or individuals at or below 80 percent of the median income of the area. The bill also requires the Fair Housing Board, after determining the existence of an unlawful discriminatory housing practice and after consultation with the Attorney General, to immediately refer the matter to the Attorney General for civil action.

Expectorating in public places; repeal. Repealsthe crime of expectorating in public places.

Supplementing compensation of public defender.Requires the governing body of any county or city that electsto supplement the compensation of the attorney for the Commonwealth,or any of their deputies or employees, above the salary of any suchofficer, deputy, or employee, to supplement the compensation of thepublic defender, or any of his deputies or employees, in the sameamount as the supplement to the compensation of the attorney for the Commonwealth, or any of his deputies or employees.

Pipeline construction; certification requirement; minimum diameter; stop work orders. Reduces from 36 inches to 24 inches the minimum inside diameter of a natural gas transmission pipeline for which an individual Virginia Water Protection Permit, rather than a general permit, is required to conduct activities in wetlands or state waters or an additional upland activity certification is required to obtain a Clean Water Act Certification. The bill reduces from 15 percent to 10 percent the minimum grade of a slope on which any construction activities will trigger the requirement for such additional upland activity certification. The measure requires the Department of Environmental Quality, within five business days of the issuance of a stop work instruction, to notify the pipeline company of specific corrective measures that shall be completed and approved by the Department before any land-disturbing activity may be resumed. The bill authorizes the State Water Control Board, in addition to the Department, to issue such stop work instructions and adds requirements and restrictions on any further construction once such an instruction is issued.