Funeral directors and embalmers; Board to promulgate regulations for licensure. Directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to promulgate regulations that establish requirements of licensure for funeral directors and embalmers.
Health insurance; cost-sharing payments for prescription insulin drugs. Prohibits health insurance companies and other carriers from setting an amount exceeding $30 per 30-day supply that a covered person is required to pay at the point of sale in order to receive a covered prescription insulin drug. The measure also prohibits a provider contract between a carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy from containing a provision (i) authorizing the carrier's pharmacy benefits manager or the pharmacy to charge, (ii) requiring the pharmacy to collect, or (iii) requiring a covered person to make a cost-sharing payment for a covered prescription insulin drug in an amount that exceeds such limitation. This bill incorporates HB 1403.
Nonpayment of wages; private action; liability for payment of wages due under construction contracts; penalties. Provides that an employee has a private cause of action, individually, jointly, with other aggrieved employees as a collective action, on behalf of similarly situated employees as a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act against an employer who fails to pay wages to recover the amount of wages due plus interest at eight percent annually from the date the wages were due, an additional amount as liquidated damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If the court finds that the employer knowingly failed to pay wages, the court shall award the employee reasonable attorney fees and costs and the employer is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation. If the court finds that the employer's failure to pay wages was willful and with intent to defraud the employee, the court shall award the employee triple the amount of wages due and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The measure also provides that any construction contract entered into on or after July 1, 2020, shall be deemed to include a provision under which the general contractor and the subcontractor are jointly and severally liable to pay the wages due to the subcontractor's employees. If the wages due to the subcontractor's employees are not paid, the general contractor is subject to criminal and civil penalties for which an employer is liable for failing or refusing to pay wages. The measure requires the subcontractor to indemnify the general contractor for wages, damages, interest, penalties, or attorney fees owed as a result of the subcontractor's failure to pay the wages unless the subcontractor's failure to pay wages was because of the general contractor's failure to pay moneys due to the subcontractor. The measure also provides that the lack of privity between the general contractor and the employees of the subcontractor is not a defense in an action against the general contractor arising from nonpayment of wages to the subcontractor's employees. This bill incorporates HB 482.
State plan for medical assistance; perinatal birth workers. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to convene a work group to (i) evaluate the potential costs and benefits, including potential reductions in maternal and infant mortality rates, of amending the state plan for medical assistance services to include a provision for the payment of medical assistance for antepartum, intrapartum, or postpartum services provided to a pregnant person or to a person who is up to one year postpartum for labor and delivery support by a certified doula and at least four visits during the antenatal period and at least seven visits during the postpartum period with a certified doula and (ii) develop recommendations related to an appropriate reimbursement rate for such services provided by certified doulas. The work group shall report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by December 1, 2020.
Department of Education; guidance and resources; applied behavior analysis services. Requires the Department of Education to develop and publish no later than November 16, 2020, guidance and resources relating to the provision of applied behavior analysis services in public schools for students who are in need of such services.
Voluntary Registry for People with Special Communication Needs; vehicle registration. Directs the Department of MotorVehicles to include on the application for registration of a motorvehicle an option for the owner to indicate and provide evidence thathe or a member of his immediate family has a disability that canimpair communication. The bill directs the Superintendent of StatePolice to keep and maintain the Voluntary Registry for People withSpecial Communication Needs (the Registry). The bill provides thatthe Department of State Police shall make the Registry informationavailable to law-enforcement agencies through the Virginia CriminalInformation Network (VCIN) and ensure that any search of motor vehicleinformation includes an indication that the registered owner or amember of his immediate family is included in the Registry. The billexempts any information provided on such completed form and in theRegistry from being subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill incorporates HB 1138 and is identical to SB 935.
Health insurance; nondiscrimination; gender identity or transgender status. Prohibits a health carrier from denying or limiting coverage or imposing additional cost sharing or other limitations or restrictions on coverage, under a health benefit plan for health care services that are ordinarily or exclusively available to covered individuals of one sex, to a transgender individual on the basis of the fact that the individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded is different from the one to which such health services are ordinarily or exclusively available. The measure also prohibits a health carrier from (i) subjecting an individual to discrimination under a health benefit plan on the basis of gender identity or being a transgender individual or (ii) requiring that an individual, as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under a health benefit plan, pay a premium that is greater than the premium for a similarly situated covered person enrolled in the plan on the basis of the covered person's gender identity or being a transgender individual. The measure requires health carriers to assess medical necessity according to nondiscriminatory criteria that are consistent with current medical standards.
Coal ash ponds; well monitoring program; drinking water well testing. Requires each utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond, to commission an independent well water test on behalf of the owner of any well located within 1.5 miles of such coal ash pond by January 1, 2021, and requires such test to be conducted once per year during each of the five years following the approval of the closure of the coal ash pond and once every five years thereafter. The bill provides that if any test exceeds groundwater quality standards for constituents associated with coal ash, the Virginia Waste Management Board shall instruct the utility to provide alternative water supplies to the owner of the well. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to consider the results of the tests in its permitting, monitoring, or enforcement proceedings.
Worker cooperatives. Establishes worker cooperatives as a category of cooperative associations. A worker cooperative is a stock corporation that has elected to be governed by provisions established by this measure, which include (i) conducting its business primarily for the mutual benefit of its members, (ii) allowing only current and retired employees to be members, (iii) limiting voting rights to current employees, (iv) providing that each employee is entitled to one vote, (v) prohibiting any person from owning more than one membership share, (vi) requiring at least two-thirds of employees to own membership shares, and (vii) requiring that net earnings be paid or credited to members in accordance with the ratio that each member's amount of work performed during a period bears to the total amount of work performed by all members during that period.
