Del. Keith Hodges

Virginia Health Benefit Exchange; marketing. Requires the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange to prepare an annual marketing plan that includes consumer outreach, licensed health insurance agents, and navigator programs. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. This bill is identical to SB 469.

Department of Environmental Quality; publicationof local Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area information. Requireslocalities in Tidewater Virginia to submit, and the Department of Environmental Quality to publish on its website, criteria and elementsadopted by the locality concerning Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas.

Charter; Town of Urbanna. Extends the termfor the elected mayor of the Town of Urbanna in Middlesex Countyfrom two years to four years and spells out specific responsibilitiesof the office. The bill also staggers and extends the terms for councilmembers from two years to four years.

Board of Education; stakeholder group; evaluation of and recommendations for certain current and proposed policies and performance standards for public elementary and secondary schools. Requires the Board of Education to collaborate with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Secretary of Education to evaluate, to implement where possible, and to otherwise make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the following goals: (i) promoting excellence in instruction and student achievement in mathematics; (ii) increasing the number of academic year Governor's Schools in the Commonwealth and maintaining standards of excellence for students in all such schools; (iii) preserving the Advanced Studies Diploma as an option for students in public high schools in the Commonwealth; (iv) increasing the transparency and honesty of performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth and ensuring that such measures do not obscure or conceal disparities in performance among student groups and reduce or eliminate disparities among student groups; (v) ensuring that performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools prioritize the attainment of grade-level proficiency and growth during the course of a school year and from school year to school year in reading and mathematics for all students, especially in grades kindergarten through five; (vi) ensuring that the Commonwealth's proficiency standards on Standards of Learning assessments in reading and mathematics are rigorous in comparison with assessments administered by other states and national assessments in reading and mathematics; and (vii) restoring a strong accreditation system that promotes meaningful accountability year-over-year. The bill requires the Secretary of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, no later than November 30, 2022, to report to the chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health the results of such evaluation and recommendations to achieve such goals.

Drug Control Act; Schedule I; Schedule II; Schedule IV; Schedule V. Adds certain chemicals to the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule. This bill is identical to SB 759.

Life cycle of renewable energy facilities; report. Directs the State Corporation Commission, in consultation with the Department of Energy and the Department of Environmental Quality, to create a task force to analyze the life cycle of renewable energy facilities in the Commonwealth. The State Corporation Commission shall report the findings of the task force to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources no later than May 1, 2023. This bill is identical to SB 499.

Human trafficking training for law-enforcement personnel. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish training standards for law-enforcement personnel regarding the recognition, prevention, and reporting of human trafficking. This bill is identical to SB 467.

Bail for a person accused of a crime that is an act of violence; notice to attorney for the Commonwealth. Requires a magistrate to transmit within 24 hours a copy of the checklist for bail determination form to the attorney for the Commonwealth when a magistrate conducts a bail hearing for a person arrested on a warrant or capias for an act of violence. The bill also provides that transmission of such copy to the attorney for the Commonwealth may be by facsimile or other electronic means. This bill is identical to SB 614.

Health workforce development; Special Advisor to the Governor for Health Workforce Development; Virginia Health Workforce Development Fund. Creates the position of Special Advisor to the Governor for Health Workforce Development (the Special Advisor) in the Office of the Governor and creates the Virginia Health Workforce Development Fund to (i) provide incentives for the removal of barriers to educating and training health workforce professionals that include increasing eligible faculty, clinical placements, and residencies; (ii) incentivize the production of health workforce credentials, degrees, and licensures based on a rigorous analysis of the need by the Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment; (iii) address regulatory barriers to entering into and staying in health professions; and (iv) provide education and training for health and health science professionals to align education and training initiatives with existing and evolving health workforce needs. The bill also requires the Special Advisor to review and evaluate the structure and organization of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (the Authority) and make recommendations regarding the long-term administrative structure and funding of the Authority to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2022. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2026.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable FloraLonette Davis Crittenden.