Del. Josh Cole

Removal of dangerous roadside conditions; local option. Authorizes any locality, by ordinance, to require the owner of any property located adjacent to a right-of-way maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation to remove any and all trees, tree limbs, shrubs, high grass, or other substance that might dangerously obstruct the line of sight of a driver, be involved in a collision with a vehicle, or interfere with the safe operation of a vehicle. This bill is identical to HB 284.

Provisional voting; persons voting in splitprecincts. Provides that any voter who is assigned to a precinctthat is split between two or more election districts and who believeshe was given a ballot for the district of which he is not a qualifiedvoter may request, prior to casting the ballot, and shall be permittedto cast a provisional ballot for the district of which he believeshe is a qualified voter and for the district in which the pollbookindicates he is registered. The bill requires the ballots to besealed in envelopes labeled with the corresponding district numberand then sealed in the green envelope provided for all provisionalballots. At the meeting to determine the validity of all provisionalballots offered in the election, the electoral board shall verifyin which district the voter is qualified and count that ballot.

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.

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.

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.

Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.

Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area;hydraulic fracturing prohibited. Prohibits hydraulic fracturing,as defined in the bill, in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater ManagementArea.

Coal ash ponds; private wells and public water supply wells; resident notification. Requires a utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to complete a survey of all private wells and public water supply wells within 1.5 miles of each of its ponds by October 1, 2020, and to notify residents via mail and a local newspaper posting that the survey will be conducted.

Merchants' capital tax; separate classification; retailers. Provides that the merchants' capital of any retailer reported as inventory that is located in a structure that contains at least 200,000 square feet, with at least 200,000 square feet used solely to store such inventory, shall, along with certain wholesalers, be considered a separate classification and may be taxed at a lower rate than other classifications of merchants' capital. Under current law, only merchants' capital of wholesalers meeting a similar threshold of 100,000 square feet constitutes a separate class of property.

Correctional facilities; use of isolated confinement.Prohibits the use of isolated confinement in state correctionalfacilities and juvenile correctional centers, defined in the billas confinement of a prisoner or juvenile to a cell, alone or withanother prisoner or juvenile, for 20 hours or more a day for an adultor for 17 hours or more a day for a juvenile, other than for thepurpose of providing medical or mental health treatment. The bill provides for exceptions for when isolated confinement may be permittedin state correctional facilities and juvenile correctional centers.The bill also requires the Board of Corrections to promulgate andestablish standards placing limits on the use of isolated confinementin local correctional facilities that are consistent with the standardsapplicable to state correctional facilities.