Children's online privacy protection. Prohibits any person who operates a website for commercial purposes and who collects or maintains personal information from or about the users of or visitors to such website or online service from releasing personal information collected from minors for any purpose, except where the personal information is provided to a person other than an operator that provides support for the internal operations of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator, excluding any activity relating to targeted marketing directed to minors, and does not disclose or use that personal information for any other purpose. The measure also requires operators to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected from children. A violation is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The measure has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.
Sponsored bills
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.
Transit funding. Raises the existing regional transportation fee, a grantor's tax, from $0.15 per $100 to $0.20 per $100 for localities in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority that are also members of the Northern Virginia Transportation District. The bill requires half of the revenues to be deposited in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Fund and half to be deposited in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Capital Fund. The rate of tax in the other localities will remain at $0.15 per $100, with one-third of the revenues to be retained by the locality to be used for transportation purposes and the other two-thirds to be deposited in the Northern Virginia Transportation District Fund. The bill also raises the existing transient occupancy tax in the localities located in the Northern Virginia Transportation District from $2 to $3, with all of the revenues from the tax being used to support WMATA. This bill incorporates HB 977.
Obtaining records concerning electronic communication service or remote computing service; location data. Expands certain disclosure and search warrant requirements for the purposes of obtaining records concerning an electronic communication service or remote computing service from real-time location data to location data, defined in the bill as any data or information concerning the location of an electronic device that, in whole or in part, is generated, derived from, or obtained by the operation of the device. Under current law, such requirements are limited to real-time location data.
Digital services; protection for minors.Requires the operator of a digital service, which is defined as awebsite, online service, online application, or mobile application,to permit minors to remove, or to request and obtain removal of,content or information posted on a digital service. The measure prohibitsan operator of a digital service directed to minors from marketingor advertising to minors specified products or services that minorsare prohibited from buying. The measure also prohibits marketing or advertising certain products on the basis of personal informationspecific to a minor or knowingly using, disclosing, compiling, orallowing a third party to do so. Violations are prohibited practicesunder the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The measure has a delayedeffective date of January 1, 2021.
Secretary of Education; establishment of Collegeand Career Readiness Steering Committee. Requires the Secretaryof Education to establish a 21-member College and Career ReadinessSteering Committee to (i) develop and oversee implementation of a strategic plan for ensuring that all students in the Commonwealth,and particularly subgroups of students who have been historicallyunderserved, graduate from high school (a) meeting the requirementsfor an advanced studies diploma, (b) having had the opportunityto participate and succeed in pathways that integrate rigorous academicinstruction aligned with the Standards of Learning, including career and technical education, work-based learning, wraparound services,and opportunities to earn credit for postsecondary education whileenrolled in high school, and (c) having had a high school experiencethat is aligned with expectations for postsecondary education andemployer demand and (ii) provide certain recommendations, guidance,leadership, goals, and assistance relating to the implementationof such strategic plan.
Criminal sexual assault; definition of intimateparts. Includes in the definition of "intimate parts," for thepurposes of criminal sexual assault, the chest of a child under theage of 15.
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.
Virginia Information Technologies Agency; Cybersecurity Advisory Council created; report. Creates the Cybersecurity Advisory Council to (i) assist the Chief Information Officer (CIO)of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency with the developmentof policies, standards, and guidelines for assessing security risks,determining appropriate security measures, and performing securityaudits of government electronic information; (ii) make recommendationsto the CIO regarding strategies to strengthen the Commonwealth'scybersecurity; and (iii) analyze and investigate breaches of theinformation technology security of any independent agency or anyagency or other entity within the executive branch, legislative branch,or judicial branch of state government. The bill requires the Councilto submit an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly.
Presidential electors; National Popular Vote Compact. Enters Virginia into an interstate compact known as the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote. Article II of the Constitution of the United States gives the states exclusive and plenary authority to decide the manner of awarding their electoral votes. Under the compact, Virginia agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring within six months of the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term. This bill incorporates HB 199.