Property Owners' Association Act; Condominium Act; use of electronic means for meetings and voting. Allows meetings of property owners' associations, boards of directors, unit owners' associations, executive boards, and committees to be held entirely or partially by electronic means, provided that the board of directors, unit owners' association, or executive board, as applicable, has adopted guidelines for the use of electronic means for such meetings. The bill requires that such guidelines ensure that persons accessing such meetings are authorized to do so and that persons entitled to participate in such meetings have an opportunity to do so. The bill grants authority for determining whether any such meeting may be held entirely or partially by electronic means with the board of directors or executive board, as applicable. Under current law, if a meeting of a board of directors or executive board is conducted by telephone conference or video conference, at least two members of the board of directors or executive board, as applicable, are required to be physically present at the meeting place included in the meeting notice. The bill amends the definition of "electronic means" to provide that meeting conducted by electronic means includes a meeting conducted via teleconference, videoconference, Internet exchange, or other electronic methods. The bill allows members of property owners' associations or unit owners' associations to vote at meetings of such associations by absentee ballot, and allows such members to vote in person, by proxy, or by absentee ballot by electronic means, provided that the board of directors or executive board, as applicable, has adopted guidelines for such voting. Finally, the bill provides that if a vote, consent, or approval required to be obtained by secret ballot is accomplished through electronic means, the electronic means shall protect the identity of the voter, and that if the electronic means cannot protect the identity of the voter, another means of voting shall be used.
Sponsored bills
Board of Education; through-year growth assessment system; report. Requires the Board of Education to establish a through-year growth assessment system for use during the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years for students in grades three through eight. The bill requires that the system be established using available federal funds and that the system provide accurate measurement of a student's performance in English and mathematics through computer adaptive technology. The bill also requires each school division to administer reading diagnostic assessments throughout the year in grades kindergarten through two, using existing assessments. The bill requires the Board of Education to report to the General Assembly on the results of the through-year growth assessments by September 1, 2022, and September 1, 2023. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Department of Education; special education.Requires the Department of Education and the Board of Education todevelop new policies and procedures and effect numerous modificationsto existing policies and procedures to improve the administrationand oversight of special education in the Commonwealth.
Local school divisions; in-person learning.Requires each local school division to make in-person learning availableto all students by choice of the student's parent or guardian. Thebill contains an emergency clause.
Standards of Learning assessments; reading and mathematics; grades three through eight; individual student growth. Requires the Board of Education to establish, in lieu of a one-time end-of-year assessment and for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system, aligned with the Standards of Learning, for the administration of reading and mathematics assessments in grades three through eight. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to include at least one beginning-of-year and one end-of-year assessment in order to provide individual student growth scores over the course of the school year, provided that the total time scheduled for taking all such assessments shall not exceed 150 percent of the time scheduled for taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to be fully implemented in each local school division no later than the 2024-2025 school year.
Alcoholic beverage control; local special events license. Allows the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to increase the frequency, duration, and designated area of events held under a local special events license upon the request of a locality after adoption of an ordinance allowing such increases. Under current law, localities are limited to holding 16 events per year under such license, with each event lasting no more than three consecutive days, except during the effective dates of any rule, regulation, or order that is issued by the Governor or State Health Commissioner to meet a public health emergency and that effectively reduces allowable restaurant seating capacity. The bill also increases the state and local license fees for local special events licenses issued pursuant to a local ordinance.
Data governance; Office of Data Governance andAnalytics; Chief Data Officer; Virginia Data Commission; report.Creates the Office of Data Governance (the Office) in the Officeof the Secretary of Administration, to be directed by the existing Chief Data Officer of the Commonwealth. The Office is charged withoverseeing general data governance in the Commonwealth, as well asdeveloping and managing the Commonwealth Data Trust, a multi-stakeholderdata exchange and analytics platform. A multi-level governance structureis established to govern the Trust. The bill also establishes theadvisory Virginia Data Commission to advise the Office on issuesrelating to data sharing.
Public schools; severe weather conditions andother emergency situations; unscheduled remote learning days. Providesthat when severe weather conditions or other emergency situationshave resulted in the closing of any school in a school division forin-person instruction, the school division may declare an unscheduledremote learning day whereby the school provides synchronous or asynchronousinstruction, or some combination thereof, to all students in theschool in lieu of in-person instruction without a reduction in theamount paid by the Commonwealth from the Basic School Aid Fund, providedthat the school division has established an unscheduled remote learningday plan that ensures that every student is provided instruction and services on such unscheduled remote learning day that are comparablein quality to the instruction and services provided to learners onany other remote learning day.
Pharmaceutical processors; cannabis products.Permits pharmaceutical processors to produce and distribute cannabisproducts other than cannabis oil. The bill defines the terms "botanicalcannabis," "cannabis product," and "usable cannabis." The bill requiresthe Board of Pharmacy to establish testing standards for botanical cannabis and botanical cannabis products, establish a registrationprocess for botanical cannabis products, and promulgate emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill allowsthe Board of Pharmacy to assess and collect a one-time botanicalcannabis regulatory fee from each pharmaceutical processor, not toexceed $50,000, to cover costs associated with the implementationof the provisions of the bill, including costs for new personnel,training, promulgation of regulations and guidance documents, andinformation technology.
Department of Medical Assistance Services; school-based health services; telemedicine. Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to provide for payment of medical assistance services delivered to Medicaid-eligible students when such services qualify for reimbursement by the Virginia Medicaid program and may be provided by school divisions, regardless of whether the student receiving care has an individualized education program or whether the health care service is included in a student's individualized education program. The bill specifies that such services shall include those covered under the state plan for medical assistance services or by the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment benefit as specified in § 1905(r) of the federal Social Security Act, and shall include a provision for payment of medical assistance for health care services provided through telemedicine services. The bill also requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services to provide technical assistance to the Department of Education and local school divisions to facilitate their understanding of and compliance with federal ordering, referring, and prescribing provider screening and enrollment requirements.