Del. Sally Hudson

Department of Human Resource Management; employeehealth insurance; pharmacy benefits; reverse auction process.Directs the Department of Human Resource Management to utilize areverse auction process to award pharmacy benefit manager contractsfor pharmacy benefits offered under the state employee health insuranceplan.

Right to unionize. Repeals the provisionsof the Code of Virginia that, among other things, prohibit any agreementor combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organizationwhereby (i) nonmembers of the union or organization are denied the right to work for the employer, (ii) membership in the union or organizationis made a condition of employment or continuation of employment bysuch employer, or (iii) the union or organization acquires an employmentmonopoly in any such enterprise.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable FrankDuVal Hargrove, Sr.

Vehicle safety inspection; exhaust system.Prohibits the issuance of a safety inspection approval sticker toa vehicle that is not equipped with an exhaust system in good workingorder.

Virginia Digital Service established; duties.Establishes the Virginia Digital Service with an executive director to be appointed by the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth.The bill requires the Service to recruit a team of at least 15 senior-levelengineers, designers, product managers, technologists, and othertop technical talent to work with civil servants to modernize andimprove digital services for citizens across government agencies. The team members shall serve under two-year contract terms withthe option for the contract to be renewed for two additional years.The Service shall initiate projects and consult with agencies withthe goal of enhancing digital services, which are the technologyproducts that enable public services, and the capacity of the agencyto support those services long term.

Custodial interrogation of a child; advisementof rights. Requires that prior to any custodial interrogationof a child by a law-enforcement officer, the child and, if no attorneyis present and if no exception to the requirement that the child'sparent, guardian, or legal custodian be notified applies, the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian shall be advised that (i) thechild has a right to remain silent; (ii) any statement the childmakes can and may be used against the child; (iii) the child hasa right to an attorney and that one will be appointed for the childif the child is not represented and wants representation; and (iv)the child has a right to have his parent, guardian, custodian, orattorney present during any questioning. The bill states that ifa child indicates in any manner and at any stage of questioning duringa custodial interrogation that he does not wish to be questionedfurther, the law-enforcement officer shall cease questioning. Thebill also requires, before admitting into evidence any statementmade by a child during a custodial interrogation, that the court find that the child knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waivedhis rights and states that no admission or confession made by a child younger than 16 years of age during a custodial interrogation maybe admitted into evidence unless it was made in the presence of thechild's parent, guardian, custodian, or attorney.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; closedmeetings; privacy of witnesses in law-enforcement administrativeinvestigations. Provides that a public body may hold a closedmeeting to protect the privacy of an individual in administrativeor disciplinary hearings related to allegations of wrongdoing byemployees of a law-enforcement agency where such individual is acomplainant, witness, or the subject of the hearing.

Electric utilities; adjustment of rates.Provides that if the State Corporation Commission (the Commission)determines that the regulation of rates of investor-owned incumbentelectric utilities under certain procedures of the Virginia ElectricUtility Regulation Act results in rates that are not just and reasonable,then the Commission may, in any triennial review, adjust such ratesto ensure that such rates (i) are just and reasonable and (ii) providethe utility the opportunity to recover its costs and earn its authorizedrate of return.

Elections; conduct of election; ranked choicevoting; primaries for elected offices. Permits parties to decideto hold a primary for any office by ranked choice voting and changesfrom discretionary to mandatory the provision that the State Boardof Elections promulgate regulations for their proper and efficientadministration.

Elections; conduct of election; ranked choicevoting; locally elected offices. Allows elections for any localor constitutional office to be conducted by ranked choice voting.Under current law, only elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council are allowed to be conducted by rankedchoice voting.