Del. Hala S. Ayala

Free use of toll facilities; teachers, firefighters, and emergency medical services personnel. Authorizes any teacher employed by a public school district, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel to use all toll bridges, toll ferries, toll tunnels, and toll roads in the Commonwealth without the payment of toll while traveling between his place of residence and his place of employment.

Study; Virginia Economic Development PartnershipAuthority to study the emergence and integration of blockchain technologyin the economy of the Commonwealth; report. Requests the VirginiaEconomic Development Partnership Authority to identify blockchaintechnology research and economic development opportunities with thegoal of creating a statewide, comprehensive, and coordinated strategyrelating to blockchain technology. In conducting its study, the VirginiaEconomic Development Partnership Authority shall analyze and consider(i) economic development opportunities in the Commonwealth availablethrough the utilization of blockchain technology; (ii) different types of blockchain technology and the feasibility of economic developmentfor each type; (iii) the creation of a statewide, comprehensive,and coordinated strategy to encourage commercial activity in the blockchain technology sector; (iv) opportunities for deployment ofblockchain technology in state government; and (v) strategies toincentivize the development of blockchain companies in the Commonwealth.The Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority shall submitits report to the Governor and the 2021 and 2022 Regular Sessionsof the General Assembly.

Study; JLARC; teacher salaries and benefits in the Commonwealth; regional competitiveness of such salaries and benefits; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study teacher salaries and benefits in the Commonwealth, including the regional competitiveness of such salaries and benefits, by analyzing the relationship between (i) salaries and benefits provided to teachers in the Commonwealth, states adjoining the Commonwealth, and the District of Columbia and (ii) the recruitment and retention of teachers in each such state and the District of Columbia.

Paid family and medical leave program. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administera paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January 1, 2023. Under the program, benefits are paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for the program isprovided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginningin 2022. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee'saverage weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weeklywage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflectchanges in the statewide average weekly wage. The measure caps theduration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The billprovides self-employed individuals the option of participating inthe program.

Virginia Cyber Initiative Act. Directsthe Virginia Information Technologies Agency to work with publicand private institutions of higher education, state agencies, andbusinesses in the Commonwealth to develop a cyber alliance, to beknown as the Virginia Cyber Initiative, to reduce cyber risks andencourage economic development in the cybersecurity field. The billalso creates the Virginia Cyber Initiative Fund for the purposesof improving cybersecurity and the economy of the Commonwealth through(i) improving cyber infrastructure, (ii) increasing the focus oncyber job-creating research activities, and (iii) expanding cyberjob-creating research activities toward producing more knowledge-basedand high-technology cyber jobs in the Commonwealth.

Office of the Independent Living Community Ombudsman. Establishes, in the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services,the Office of the Independent Living Community Ombudsman, to promoteand protect the interests of residents of independent living communitiesin the Commonwealth. The bill defines "independent living community"as any congregate care housing arrangement reserved for residents55 years of age or older who do not require assistance with activitiesof daily living from staff of the independent living community and that includes the provision of two or more of the following services:meals, transportation, laundry, or housekeeping, when such servicesare provided pursuant to an agreement between the resident and the congregate care housing provider or between the resident and a thirdparty that delivers such services at the premises of the independentliving community.

Election day; extending polling hours. Extends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the time at which polls close on election day. The bill aligns candidate filing deadlines and party nomination deadlines with the closing of polls. This bill was incorporated into HB 1678.

Health insurance; payment to out-of-network providers. Provides that when a covered person receives covered emergency services from an out-of-network health care provider or receives out-of-network services at an in-network facility, the covered person is not required to pay the out-of-network provider any amount other than the applicable cost-sharing requirement. The measure also establishes a standard for calculating the health carrier's required payment to the out-of-network provider of the services, which standard is the lower of the market-based value for the service or 125 percent of the amount that would be paid under Medicare for the service. If such provider determines that the amount to be paid by the health carrier does not comply with the applicable requirements, the measure requires the provider and the health carrier to make a good faith effort to reach a resolution on the appropriate amount of the reimbursement and, if a resolution is not reached, authorizes either party to request the State Corporation Commission to review the disputed reimbursement amount and determine if the amount complies with applicable requirements. The measure provides that such provisions do not apply to an entity that provides or administers self-insured or self-funded plans; however, such entities may elect to be subject such provisions. The measure requires health carriers to make reports to the Bureau of Insurance and directs the Bureau to provide reports to certain committees of the General Assembly. This bill was incorporated into HB 1251.

Black Women's Heritage Month. Designatesthe month of June as Black Women's Heritage Month in Virginia tofocus on and celebrate the myriad achievements and contributionsof African American women throughout the history of the Commonwealthand the United States.

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.