Del. Shelly Simonds

Wage or salary history inquiries prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits a prospective employer with 25 employees or more from (i) requiring as a condition of employment that a prospective employee provide or disclose the prospective employee's wage or salary history, (ii) attempting to obtain the wage or salary history of a prospective employee from the prospective employee's current or former employers, (iii) requesting a prospective employee to complete an application for employment that includes a question inquiring about the prospective employee's wage or salary history, or (iv) asking a prospective employee in an employment interview any question intended to obtain information about the prospective employee's wage or salary history. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $100 per violation. This bill incorporates HB 326 and HB 802.

Virginia Minority Business Commission; report. Establishes a 13-member legislative Commission to promote the growthand competitiveness of Virginia minority-owned businesses. The bill provides that the Commission sunsets on July 1, 2023.

Prescription drug price transparency; penalties.Requires pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefits managers, andhealth carriers to submit reports containing certain information concerningprescription drug costs to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Insurance (theCommissioner). The measure requires pharmaceutical drug manufacturers' reportsto include information on the current wholesale acquisition cost informationfor FDA-approved drugs sold in or into the Commonwealth by the pharmaceuticaldrug manufacturer. The bill also requires such manufacturers to submit a reportfor drugs with a wholesale acquisition cost of at least $50 for a 30-day supplywhen their wholesale acquisition cost increases by 25 percent or more over thepreceding three calendar years or 10 percent or more over the precedingcalendar year. The measure requires pharmacy benefits managers to report dataon the aggregated rebates, fees, price protection payments, and any otherpayments collected from pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and the aggregateddollar amount of rebates, fees, price protection payments, and any otherpayments collected from pharmaceutical drug manufacturers that were healthbenefit plan issuers or enrollees at the point of sale of a prescription drug.The measure requires health carriers to report the names of the 25 mostfrequently prescribed drugs across all plans, percent increase in annual netspending for drugs across all plans, percent increase in premiums attributableto drugs across all plans, percentage of specialty drugs with utilizationmanagement requirements across all plans, and premium reductions that wereattributable to specialty drug utilization management. The measure requires theCommissioner to publish the aggregated data from these reports on a website.The measure authorizes the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) to (i)call public hearings and to subpoena prescription drug manufacturers, pharmacybenefits managers, and health carriers to explain their reports; (ii) conductaudits of data submitted to it; (iii) require these entities to submit acorrective action plan to correct deficiencies in reporting; and (iv) imposepenalties of $30,000 per day on any prescription drug manufacturer, pharmacybenefits manager, or health carrier that fails to make a good faith effort tosubmit a required report within two weeks after receiving written notice fromthe Commission.

Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when a licensed audiologist prescribes such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2021.

Tree conservation ordinance; Chesapeake BayPreservation Act locality; designated trees. Adds "Chesapeake Bay watershed tree," as defined in the bill, to the types of treethat a locality with a tree conservation ordinance is authorizedto designate individually for preservation. Current law allows individualdesignation of heritage, memorial, specimen, and street trees. The bill contains technical amendments.

Expungement of police and court records.Provides that a court that enters a nolle prosequi for a criminalcharge or dismisses such charge for any reason may, upon motion ofthe person charged, enter an order requiring the expungement of thepolice and court records relating to the charge.

Prescription drug price transparency. Requiresevery health carrier, pharmacy benefits manager, wholesale drug distributer, and drug manufacturer to report information about prescription drugprices and related information to the Department of Health and requiresthe Department to make such information available on its website.

Students in grades six, seven, and eight; computer science or introduction to technology course required. Requires each student in grades six, seven, and eight, starting in the 2025–2026 school year, to complete at least one semester-long or year-long computer science elective course or introduction to technology course that is aligned with the appropriate Standards of Learning and may include the following content: examining systems and resources of technology, solving problems in technology, introducing microcontrollers, exploring the designed world, computing systems, networks and the Internet, cybersecurity, data and analysis, algorithms and programming, and the impacts of computing. The bill provides that no such student shall be required to complete an end-of-course assessment for any such course. The bill requires the Board of Education to amend or create Standards of Learning as necessary to implement the foregoing provisions and requires the Department of Education to confer with certain organizations to ensure that the proper training is available to the teachers of such courses.

Virginia Energy and Economy Transition Council established. Establishes the Virginia Energy and Economy Transition Council, consisting of 30 members, to develop plans to assist the Commonwealth in transitioning from the use of fossil fuel energy to renewable energy by 2050. The bill provides that the Council sunsets on July 1, 2023.

Prescription Drug Affordability Board and Office of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board; established. Establishes the Prescription Drug Affordability Board to study, review, and regulate the cost of prescription drugs in the Commonwealth, in consultation with a stakeholder work group appointed by the Board. The bill also establishes the Office of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board to provide staffing and administrative support to the Board.