Del. Martha M. Mugler

Celebrating the life of the Honorable GeraldL. Baliles.

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.

Alcoholic beverage control; online sales ofspirits by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority.Allows the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic BeverageControl Authority to establish an online sales platform for the saleand delivery of (i) alcoholic beverages other than beer and winenot produced by farm wineries, (ii) mixers, and (iii) certain productslicensed by the Virginia Tourism Corporation to persons located within the Commonwealth.

Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program established. Establishes the Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program, to be administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, for the purpose of annually providing to each Historically Black College or University in the Commonwealth (Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, and Virginia Union University) such sums as are necessary for each such institution to annually provide scholarships on a competitive basis to no more than two students who (i) identify as African American, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Native American or Native Alaskan, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; (ii) are accepted to or enrolled in such institution's education preparation program; and (iii) are eligible for a federal Pell Grant to attend such institution. The bill provides that each such scholarship would consist of the following sums: (a) the cost of tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and textbooks at such institution; (b) the recipient's teacher licensure fees; (c) $5,000 toward teacher professional development activities for the recipient, including coursework, seminars, and conferences; and (d) $10,000 toward mentorship of the recipient by an experienced teacher who is deemed by the relevant school board to be highly effective and able to provide high quality mentorship. The bill requires each student who is awarded a scholarship pursuant to the Program to agree in writing to (1) teach in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth in which at least 75 percent of the enrolled students qualify for free or reduced price lunch or are members of families whose income is below the federal poverty guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon graduation for a period that is at least as long as the period during which the recipient used scholarship funds to attend a Historically Black College or University and (2) be mentored by an experienced teacher, as described in clause (d), during such period of employment.

Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leadersand mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makesseveral changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishmentof units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning andprincipal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board ofEducation to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leaderand teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changesrelating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishingschoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with highconcentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensationadjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board toassign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distributionof experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in thelocal school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacherleaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv)requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk studentsand granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v)lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi)requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing astudent-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boardsto employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) loweringthe ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors inelementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board toprovide at least four specialized student support positions, including schoolsocial workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and other licensed healthand behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; swornmembers of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Adds sworn membersof the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles tothe membership of the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System.

State subsidy of property tax exemptions fordisabled veterans and surviving spouses. Requires the Commonwealthto subsidize local real estate tax relief for disabled veterans andsurviving spouses of members of the armed forces killed in action.The Commonwealth would subsidize localities for the amount of realestate tax revenue lost due to these constitutionally mandated taxrelief programs. The bill requiresthe Auditor of Public Accounts to establish an annual applicationprocess whereby a locality would demonstrate the amount of its realestate tax base that was lost. The Auditor would certify such amountsto the Governor and the General Assembly, and the Governor would include in the Budget Bill a proposed appropriation of the amountof the state subsidy to be provided to localities.

Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit beginning in taxable year 2020 for expenses incurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member, defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activities of daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percent of eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver, but shall not exceed $1,000. In order to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) not receive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expenditures and (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for married persons. Both the caregiver and the eligible family member must be residents of Virginia. The bill requires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claiming the credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forward by the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable year for which the credit was issued. The credit expires beginning with taxable year 2025.

Development and use of accessory dwelling units.Provides that all localities shall allow for the development anduse of one accessory dwelling unit (ADU) per single-family dwelling(SFD), notwithstanding any contrary provision of a zoning ordinance.The bill defines "accessory dwelling unit" or "ADU" as an independentdwelling unit on a single-family lot with its own living, bathroom,and kitchen space that may be within or attached to SFDs or in detachedstructures on lots containing SFDs. ADUs may include basements, attics,flats, guest houses, cottages, and converted structures such as garages and sheds. The bill requires localities to regulate the sizeand design of ADUs through an approval process, as well as regulatefees, parking, and other requirements, provided that the regulations(i) are not so arbitrary, excessive, or burdensome, individuallyor cumulatively, as to unreasonably restrict the ability of propertyowners to utilize or create ADUs and (ii) do not require the propertyowner to occupy the ADU or SFD as his primary residence.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average. Requires public school teachers to be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. The bill requires funding to be provided on an incremental basis pursuant to the general appropriation act to implement such teacher compensation rate by the effective date.