Income tax subtraction; National Guard.Increases from $3,000 to $5,000 the income tax subtraction for wagesor salaries of a member of the National Guard of the Commonwealth. The bill also expands the military ranks that qualify for the subtractionfrom O3 and below to O6 and below.
Required immunizations; regulations. Providesthat a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis of eachchild in the Commonwealth shall cause such child to be vaccinatedin accordance with the Regulations for the Immunization of SchoolChildren of the State Board of Health (the Board) and that regulationsof the Board setting forth such requirements shall be subject tothe Administrative Process Act. Currently, a parent, guardian, orperson standing in loco parentis of a child shall cause such childto be vaccinated in accordance with the Immunizations Schedule developedand published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, American Academy ofPediatrics, and American Academy of Family Physicians, and any regulationsof the Board setting forth requirements related to vaccines are exemptfrom the Administrative Process Act. Thebill also provides that no regulation of the Board of Health settingforth requirements related to vaccines shall become effective untilafter the next regular session of the General Assembly following thedate on which the final adopted regulation is published in the VirginiaRegister of Regulations.
Health insurance; association health plan for real estate salespersons. Provides that a licensed insurer may issue a policy of group accident and sickness insurance to an association of real estate salespersons (association), which association shall be deemed the policyholder, and that such association health plan is not considered to be insurance and is not subject to the existing requirements for insurance if certain requirements are met. The bill requires that (i) all members of the association be eligible for coverage and membership, including employer members with at least one employee that is domiciled in the Commonwealth or self-employed individuals; (ii) membership in the association not be conditioned on any health status–related factor; (iii) the coverage offered through the association be available to all members regardless of any health status–related factor; (iv) the association not make health insurance coverage offered through the association available other than in connection with a member of the association; and (v) premiums for the policy be paid from funds contributed by the association or associations, or by employer members, or by both, or from funds contributed by the covered persons or from both the covered persons and the association, associations, or employer members. The bill also requires the association (a) has at the outset a minimum of 100 members; (b) has been organized and maintained in good faith for purposes other than that of obtaining insurance; (c) has been in active existence for at least five years; and (d) has a constitution and bylaws that provide that the association hold regular meetings not less than annually to further purposes of the members, that the association collects dues or solicits contributions from members, and that the members have voting privileges and representation on the governing board and committees.The bill provides that any such policy shall (1) be considered a large group market plan subject to all coverage mandates applicable to a large group market plan, (2) be subject to the group health plan coverage requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (3) be prohibited from denying coverage under the policy on the basis of a pre-existing condition, (4) shall be guaranteed issue and guaranteed renewable, (5) provide essential health benefits and cost-sharing requirements, and (6) offer a minimum level of coverage designed to provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60 percent of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan.The bill requires an insurer issuing such policy to an association to (A) treat all of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy as a single risk pool; (B) set premiums on the basis of the collective group experience of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy; (C) not vary premiums by age, except that the rate shall not vary by more than four to one for adults; (D) not vary premiums on the basis of gender; (E) not vary premiums on the basis of the health status of an individual employee of an employer member or a self-employed individual member; and (F) not establish discriminatory rules based on the health status of an employer member, an individual employee of an employer member, or a self-employed individual for eligibility or contribution.Finally, the bill provides that the State Corporation Commission retains its regulatory authority over any such association health plan and may impose insurance requirements, as it deems appropriate.
Purchase of handguns; limitation on handgunpurchases. Removes the prohibition on any person who is not a licensed firearms dealer from purchasing more than one handgun ina 30-day period. Current law makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for aviolation of this provision, subject to certain exemptions.
Health insurance; short-term limited-durationmedical plans. Repeals prohibitions on the duration, renewaland extension, and availability of short-term limited-duration medicalplans.
Absentee ballots; witness requirement; printedname and residence address. Requires that a witness to a voter's absentee ballot provide, in addition to his signature, his printedname, his date of birth, the last four digits of his social securitynumber, and his residence address.
School principals; incident reports. Requiresthat school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense and report to theparents of any minor student who is the specific object of such actthat the incident has been reported to law enforcement. Under currentlaw, principals are required to make such reports only for such actsthat may constitute a felony offense.
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit; recovery of fraudulentpayments; report. Directs the Attorney General to report annually(i) the number of investigations conducted of providers of medicalassistance services under the state plan for medical assistance alleged to have fraudulently obtained or attempted to obtain payments; (ii)the number of cases in which it is determined that a provider hasfraudulently obtained or attempted to obtain payments and the totalamount of any payments obtained or sought to be obtained; (iii) thenumber of cases in which the Attorney General sought to recover paymentsfraudulently obtained by a provider and the total amount of paymentsdetermined to have been made in such cases; (iv) the number of casesin which recovery of payments fraudulently obtained by a providerwas not sought and the total amount of payments determined to havebeen made in such cases; and (v) for each case in which recoveryof payments fraudulently obtained by a provider is sought, the totalamount of such payments and the amount of such payments actually recovered. Such report shall also be made available to the publicon a website maintained by the Office of the Attorney General.
Commending Virginia Polytechnic Institute andState University.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable JohnHowson Rust, Jr.
