Del. Keith Hodges

Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act;directors; Mathews County. Provides that the Mathews County boardof supervisors may appoint one employee of the locality onto the board of directors for the Economic Development Authority of theCounty of Mathews. Under current law, no locality's economic developmentauthority director may be an officer or employee of the relevant locality with certain exceptions for towns with a population of lessthan 3,500 and Buchanan and Frederick Counties.

Joint Commission on Health Care; sunset. Repeals the sunset provision for the Joint Commission on Health Care.

Pharmacies; freedom of choice. Requiresthat no carrier, health maintenance organization, or pharmacy benefitsmanager shall prohibit a covered individual from selecting the pharmacy of his choice to furnish retail, mail order, or specialty pharmaceuticalbenefits under the covered individual's policy. The bill providesthat no pharmacy that meets the terms and conditions of participationshall be precluded from obtaining a direct service agreement or participatingprovider agreement and that any request for such agreement by a pharmacyshall be acted upon by a carrier, health maintenance organization,or pharmacy benefits manager within 30 days of receiving the request.Under current law, some of these requirements apply to health maintenanceorganizations; those requirements are expanded in the bill.

Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency; study topics. Directs the Commonwealth Center for RecurrentFlooding Resiliency to (i) undertake certain topics of study to assistthe Commonwealth and achieve the mission of the Center, (ii) overseethe development of a Flood Resiliency Clearinghouse Program, (iii)research and provide recommendations for solutions that manage bothwater quality and flooding and emphasize nature-based solutions,and (iv) make final recommendations for solutions to be approvedfor flood mitigation that are deemed appropriate for permitting bycertain agencies of the Commonwealth.

Facilitate the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine; emergency. Facilitates the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. The bill requires the Department of Health (the Department) to establish a program to enable eligible health care providers to volunteer to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of the Commonwealth during a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the Governor. The bill defines "eligible health care provider" and provides that the program shall include (i) a process by which an eligible health care provider may register to participate in the program and (ii) the training requirements for participating eligible health care providers related to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, including training on the intramuscular injection of the COVID-19 vaccine and contraindications and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. The bill specifies requirements that the Department shall ensure that each site at which COVID-19 vaccinations are administered by eligible health care providers satisfies. The bill also requires the Department to establish a process by which entities, including medical care facilities, hospitals, hospital systems, corporations, businesses, pharmacies, public and private institutions of higher education, localities, and any other professional or community entity operating in the Commonwealth, may volunteer their facilities as sites at which the COVID-19 vaccine may be administered to residents of the Commonwealth. The bill permits a public institution of higher education or a private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to volunteer to provide assistance to the Department and local health departments for data processing, analytics, and program development related to the COVID-19 vaccine through the use of its employees, students, technology, and facilities. The bill also permits localities with fire departments, emergency medical services departments, and volunteer rescue squads to establish and staff vaccine administration clinics. The bill provides civil and criminal immunity to individuals and professional entities acting pursuant to the bill and contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to HB 2333.

Commending Darrell W. Warren, Jr.

Commending the T.C. Williams School of Lawat the University of Richmond.

Celebrating the life of Michael Wayne Woods.

Celebrating the life of Lonnie Perrin, Sr.