Del. Ibraheem S. Samirah

Allowing access to firearms by minors; penalty. Provides that any person who recklessly leaves a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any person under the age of 14 is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Current law provides that any person who recklessly leaves a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any child under the age of 14 is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. This bill incorporates HB 72 and HB 463.

Health care providers; screening of patientsfor prenatal and postpartum depression; training. Directs theBoards of Medicine and Nursing to adopt regulations requiring licenseeswho provide primary, maternity, obstetrical, or gynecological healthcare services to complete a training program on prenatal and postnatal depression in women. Such training program shall include informationon risk factors for and signs and symptoms of prenatal and postnatal depression, resources for the treatment and management of prenataland postnatal depression, and steps the practitioner can take tolink patients to such resources. The bill also requires the Boardof Medicine to adopt regulations requiring licensees who provide primary,maternity, obstetrical, or gynecological health care services toscreen all patients who are pregnant or who have been pregnant withinthe previous five years for prenatal or postnatal depression or other depression, as appropriate.

Driver's license suspensions for certain non-driving related offenses. Removes the existing provisions that allow a person's driver's license to be suspended (i) when he is convicted of or placed on deferred disposition for a drug offense, (ii) for non-payment of certain fees owed to a local correctional facility or regional jail, and (iii) for shoplifting motor fuel. This bill is identical to SB 513.

Public school accreditation; triennial review. Eliminates the ability of a school that only maintains a passingrate on Virginia assessment program tests or additional tests approvedby the Board of Education of 95 percent or above in each of the fourcore academic areas for two consecutive years to apply for and receivea waiver of accreditation from the Department of Education, whichwaiver confers full accreditation for a three-year period. Current law provides high-performing schools a separate pathway to obtainthree-year accreditation.

Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.

Electric utilities; fuel cost recovery. Requires an electric utility, as a condition of approval of any request by an electric utility for recovery through its fuel factor of costs incurred under a natural gas capacity contract not previously subject to review in a fuel factor case, to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the utility has (i) determined that the utility cannot meet its service obligations, giving due regard, in the Commission's sole discretion, to reliability of service and the need to maintain reliable sources of supply, without an additional fuel resource; (ii) reasonably identified and determined the date and amount of the new fuel resource it needs; (iii) objectively studied available alternative fuel resource options, as verified by the Commission, including options other than a new natural gas capacity contract or contracts to meet the identified and determined need; and (iv) determined that the natural gas capacity contract or contracts are the lowest-cost available option, taking into consideration fixed and variable costs and a reasonable projection of utilization.

School boards; school meals; availability to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make meals available pursuant to such programs to any student who requests such a meal, regardless of whether such student has the money to pay for the meal or owes money for meals previously provided, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.

Commissioner of Health; study of the occurrence of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorobutyrate (PFBA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and other perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the Commonwealth's public drinking water; report. Directs the Commissioner of Health to convene a work group to study the occurrence of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorobutyrate (PFBA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and other perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as deemed necessary, in the Commonwealth's public drinking water and to develop recommendations for specific maximum contaminant levels for PFOA, PFOS, PFBA, PFHpA, PFHxS, PFNA, and other PFAS, as deemed necessary, for inclusion in regulations of the Board of Health applicable to waterworks.

Telephone privacy protection. Requires atelephone solicitor to immediately disclose who is calling and whatproperty, good, or service is being offered. The measure also prohibitscaller ID spoofing, which is defined in the bill as causing any calleridentification service to transmit caller identification informationthat represents or states that the call originates from a telephonewith an area code assigned to an area in the Commonwealth or froma location in the Commonwealth if the person on whose behalf thetelephone solicitation call is being made does not conduct business from a location in the Commonwealth. Themeasure prohibits a telephone solicitor from making a telephone solicitationcall or the use of an automatic dialing-announcing device in connectionwith making a call to any subscriber who has registered with theVirginia Do Not Call Registry. The measure requires the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to set up by January1, 2021, the Virginia Do Not Call Registry for subscribers who wishto block all solicitation calls and calls that use or are made in connection with automatic dialing-announcing devices.

Workers' compensation; repetitive motion injuries.Provides that a physical injury, including the condition of carpaltunnel syndrome, that results from repetitive motion shall be treatedas an injury by accident for purposes of the Virginia Workers' CompensationAct. The bill also removes a provision that declares carpal tunnelsyndrome to be an ordinary disease of life.