Del. Mark H. Levine

Provides that the tax that is imposed on the sales price of motor fuel in Northern Virginia shall be imposed on the regional price of gas, defined and computed as a six-month average price of fuel. The regional price has an initial floor of January 11, 2017. If a newly averaged regional price is higher than the preceding regional price, the tax is imposed on the new regional price, but if a newly averaged regional price is less than the preceding regional price, the higher of the two remains the regional price. If the regional price is at any time equal to or greater than the statewide average wholesale price of unleaded regular gasoline on February 20, 2013, then the tax is imposed on the regional price, which moving forward shall not be less than the statewide average wholesale price of unleaded regular gasoline on February 20, 2013, and shall not be more than a price of $4 per gallon of unleaded regular gasoline. The bill also raises the rate of taxation of motor fuel in Northern Virginia from 2.1% to 3%. The bill also changes the regional gas tax in Hampton Roads from a percentage to a cents-per-gallon tax that decreases as the price of gas increases. The regional gas tax in Hampton Roads would have a floor of $0.05 per gallon and a ceiling of $0.14 per gallon and would be determined on the basis of the average wholesale price of unleaded regular gasoline.

Provides that a woman has a fundamental right to obtain a lawful abortion and that no statute or regulation shall be construed to prohibit the performance of an abortion prior to viability or if necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. The bill also provides that any statute that places a burden on a woman's access to abortion without conferring any legitimate health benefit is unenforceable. The bill expands who can perform first trimester abortions from physicians to any health care providers licensed by the Board of Medicine or the Board of Nursing. The bill eliminates the requirement that second trimester abortions be performed in a licensed hospital. The bill eliminates the requirement that two other physicians certify that a third trimester abortion is necessary to prevent the woman's death or impairment of her mental or physical health as well as the need to find that the woman's health would be substantially and irremediably impaired. The bill eliminates all the procedures and processes, including the performance of an ultrasound, required to effect a woman's informed written consent to the performance of an abortion; however, the bill does not change the requirement that a woman's informed written consent is first obtained. The bill removes language classifying facilities that perform five or more first trimester abortions per month as hospitals for the purpose of complying with regulations establishing minimum standards for hospitals. The bill also removes the prohibition on the sale of health insurance policies that provide coverage for abortions through an exchange established or operated pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The provisions of this bill are in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in