Del. Cia Price

Department of Education; review physical accessibility challenges in public schools; report. Requires the Departmentof Education, in consultation with each school board, the VirginiaBoard for People with Disabilities, and such other stakeholders asit deems appropriate, to review the extent to which (i) public elementaryand secondary school buildings and grounds in the Commonwealth presentphysical accessibility challenges and barriers for individuals withdisabilities, including challenges and barriers that may preventsuch individuals from fully participating in school activities; (ii) such schools have begun or plan to address and eliminate such challengesand barriers; and (iii) state agencies can assist such schools toaddress and eliminate such challenges and barriers and fully complywith all applicable state and federal laws. The bill requires theDepartment of Education to report its findings and any associated recommendations to the Board, the Governor, the General Assembly,and each local school board no later than November 1, 2024.

Temporary detention; certified evaluators; report.Authorizes hospitals with a psychiatric emergency department to employ certain trained individuals to perform evaluations to determinewhether a person meets the criteria for temporary detention for behavioralhealth treatment. The bill defines psychiatric emergency departmentas an emergency department of a hospital licensed by the Department of Health that is physically attached to a hospital with adult andadolescent inpatient psychiatric beds and adult detoxification bedslicensed by the Department of Behavioral Health and DevelopmentalServices. The bill requires participating hospitals with psychiatricemergency departments to annually report the number of temporary detentionorder evaluations completed, the number of temporary detention orderspetitioned, the number of individuals evaluated for temporary detention who were determined to not meet the criteria for temporary detention,and the number of individuals under a temporary detention order admittedto a state facility to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Educationand Health, the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions,and the Behavioral Health Commission. The bill has an expirationdate of July 1, 2026.

Sales tax; additional local tax for schools;City of Newport News. Adds the City of Newport News to the listof localities that are authorized to impose an additional local salestax at a rate not to exceed one percent in order to provide revenuefor the construction or renovation of schools.

State plan for medical assistance services; violence prevention services benefit; work group. Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to include a provision for payment of medical assistance for violence prevention services, defined in the bill, provided by a qualified violence prevention professional to an individual who receives medical treatment for an injury sustained as a result of community violence, defined in the bill, who is determined by a health care provider to be at risk of repeat injury or retaliation. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to convene a work group to advise the Board on the design and implementation of the violence prevention services benefit and specifies that the work group include representatives from the Department and violence intervention programs, medical providers, survivors of community violence, and other members as deemed appropriate by the Department. The bill requires the Department to post on its website the date upon which violence prevention services may be provided and billed pursuant to the provisions of the bill.

Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2027. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2026. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.

Celebrating the life of Karen Harrison Jones.

Commending the Suffolk Alumnae Chapter of DeltaSigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Health insurance; coverage for diabetes.Requires that each insurer providing coverage for diabetes shallinclude benefits for FDA-approved insulin, continuous blood glucosemonitoring, and regular foot care and eye care exams in additionto equipment, supplies, and self-management training and education.The bill allows for such self-management training and education tobe provided either in-person outpatient or through telemedicine. Under the bill, such coverage for self-management training and educationshall include up to three outpatient visits upon an individual receivingan initial diagnosis of diabetes and up to two medically necessaryvisits to a qualified provider upon a significant change in the patient'ssymptoms or medical condition. The bill also repeals certain provisionsof law related to cost-sharing for insulin and provides that thecoverage required by the bill shall be exempt from any deductibleor cost-sharing payment requirement. The provisions of the bill applyto insurance policies, contracts, and plans issued for delivery,reissued, extended, or amended on and after January 1, 2025.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Provides that everyindividual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom andthat the right to make and effectuate one's own decisions about allmatters related to one's pregnancy cannot be denied, burdened, orotherwise infringed upon by the Commonwealth, unless justified bya compelling state interest and achieved by the least restrictive means. The amendment prohibits the Commonwealth from penalizing,prosecuting, or otherwise taking adverse action against an individualfor exercising the individual's right to reproductive freedom or foraiding another individual in the exercise of such right, unless justifiedby a compelling state interest.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);qualifications of voters; right to vote; persons not entitled tovote. Provides that every person who meets the qualificationsof voters set forth in the Constitution of Virginia shall have thefundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth and that such rightshall not be abridged by law, except for persons who have been convictedof a felony and persons who have been adjudicated to lack the capacityto understand the act of voting. A person who has been convictedof a felony shall not be entitled to vote during any period of incarcerationfor such felony conviction, but upon release from incarceration forthat felony conviction and without further action required of him,such person shall be invested with all political rights, includingthe right to vote. Currently, in order to be qualified to vote a personconvicted of a felony must have his civil rights restored by theGovernor or other appropriate authority. The amendment also providesthat a person adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction aslacking the capacity to understand the act of voting shall not be entitled to vote during this period of incapacity until his capacityhas been reestablished as prescribed by law. Currently, the Constitutionof Virginia provides that a person who has been adjudicated to bementally incompetent is not qualified to vote until his competencyis reestablished.