Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant

School personnel; school nurses. Excludesschool nurse positions from requirements for student support positionsand instead requires each local school board to employ at least onefull-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school,middle school, and high school in the local school division. Thebill also requires the Department of Education to establish and administera waiver process for local school boards for which the requirementsof the bill create an undue hardship.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Education and workforce development; Virginia Works Portal created; report. Creates the Virginia Works Portal to provide one-stop access to information regarding education pathways, career opportunities, and workforce development information available from agencies, institutions, and entities around the Commonwealth. The bill provides that the Portal provide an interactive, user-friendly environment and must be available to the public by July 1, 2021. The bill creates the Virginia Works Board chaired by the Governor's Chief Workforce Development Advisor to oversee the Portal and the Virginia Works Advisory Committee of public and private sector stakeholders to advise the Board. The Virginia Works Board is directed to report annually to the Joint Subcommittee on the Future Competitiveness of Virginia Higher Education and to the Governor and Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance.

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services;Department of State Police; mobile applications; mental health and publicsafety. Requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services(DBHDS) to develop or obtain a mental health mobile application to facilitatethe provision of crisis intervention services by licensed clinicians toindividuals in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chat portals.The bill requires the mobile application to be integrated with the crisisintervention phone hotline administered by a third-party provider undercontract with the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) and requiresDMAS to provide DBHDS with data and other information necessary to ensure suchintegration. The Secretary of Health and Human Resources is directed topromote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill also requires the Department of State Police, incoordination with the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center, to (i) develop orobtain a public safety mobile application to enable individuals in theCommonwealth to furnish confidential tips to the Department of State Policethrough text, audio, images, or video concerning a suspected, anticipated, orcompleted criminal violation or a school-related safety concern and (ii)develop a referral system to ensure that such confidential tips are referred tothe appropriate law-enforcement agency, school board, threat assessment team,or other relevant entity. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Securityis directed to promote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill directs DBHDS and the Department of State Police tocoordinate the development or procurement of one comprehensive mobileapplication or separate mobile applications.

Department of Veterans Services; hyperbaricoxygen therapy; data collection. Allows the Department of VeteransServices (the Department) to contract with any hospital in the Commonwealththat furnishes the treatment option of hyperbaric oxygen therapyto provide hyperbaric oxygen therapy to any veteran in the Commonwealthwho has been certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairsor any branch of the United States Armed Forces as having post-traumaticstress disorder or traumatic brain injury. The Department shall includein any contract with such hospital to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapythe requirement that data be collected to assess the efficacy ofhyperbaric oxygen therapy for veterans and any other informationdeemed relevant by the Department.

Department of Education; learning managementsystem. Directs the Department of Education to obtain a statewidelearning management system for use in public schools by the startof the 2022-2023 school year.

Department of Education; pilot program; feasibility ofeducational placement transition of certain students with disabilities.Requires the Department of Education and relevant local school boards to developand implement a pilot program for up to four years in two to eight local schooldivisions in the Commonwealth. In developing the pilot, the Department isrequired to partner with the appropriate school board employees in each suchlocal school division to (i) identify the resources, services, and supportsrequired by each student who resides in each such local school division and whois educated in a private school setting pursuant to his IndividualizedEducation Program; (ii) study the feasibility of transitioning each suchstudent from his private school setting to an appropriate public school settingin the local school division and providing the identified resources, services,and supports in such public school setting; and (iii) recommend a process forredirecting federal, state, and local funds, including funds provided pursuantto the Children's Services Act, provided for the education of each such studentto the local school division for the purpose of providing the identifiedresources, services, and supports in the appropriate public school setting. Thebill requires the Department of Education to make a report to the Governor, theSenate Committees on Education and Health and Finance, and the House Committeeson Education and Appropriations on the findings of each pilot program after twoand four years.

Department of Education; student growth measurementsystem. Directs the Department of Education to obtain an individualizedstudent growth measurement system that tracks and analyzes studentgrowth indicators. The bill requires that the student growth measurementsystem be implemented during the 2022-2023 school year.

Group health benefit plans; bona fide associations; benefits consortium. Provides that certain trusts constitute a benefits consortium and are authorized to sell health benefits plans to members of a sponsoring association that (i) has been formed and maintained in good faith for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits; (ii) does not condition membership in the sponsoring association on any factor relating to the health status of an individual, including an employee of a member of the sponsoring association or a dependent of such an employee; (iii) makes any health benefit plan available to all members regardless of any factor relating to the health status of such members or individuals eligible for coverage through a member; (iv) does not make any health benefit plan available to any person who is not a member of the association; (v) makes available health plans or health benefit plans that meet requirements provided for in the bill; (vi) operates as a nonprofit entity under § 501(c)(5) or 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code; and (vii) has been in active existence for at least five years. The bill replaces references to "bona fide association," as used in provisions applicable to health care plans in the small employer market, with the term "sponsoring association."The bill requires any health benefit plan issued by a self-funded multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) that covers one or more employees of one or more small employers to (a) provide essential health benefits and cost-sharing requirements; (b) offer a minimum level of coverage designed to provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60 percent of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan; (c) not limit or exclude coverage for an individual by imposing a preexisting condition exclusion on that individual; (d) be prohibited from establishing discriminatory rules based on health status related to eligibility or premium or contribution requirements as imposed on health carriers; (e) meet the renewability standards set forth for health insurance issuers; (f) establish base rates formed on an actuarially sound, modified community rating methodology that considers the pooling of all participant claims; and (g) utilize each employer member's specific risk profile to determine premiums by actuarially adjusting above or below established base rates, and utilize either pooling or reinsurance of individual large claimants to reduce the adverse impact on any specific employer member's premiums.The bill prohibits a self-funded MEWA from issuing health benefit plans in the Commonwealth until it has obtained a license pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Commission. The bill authorizes the Commission to adopt regulations applicable to self-funded MEWAs, including regulations addressing financial condition, solvency requirements, and the exclusion of self-funded MEWAs from the Virginia Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association.

Health insurance; association health plans. Provides that for policies of group accident and sickness insurance issued to an association, members of such an association may include (i) a self-employed individual and (ii) an employer member (a) with at least one employee that is domiciled in the Commonwealth or (b) that has a principal place of business that does not exceed the boundaries of a metropolitan area that is at least partially in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that for such policies issued to an association that covers at least 51 members and employees of employer members of such association on the first day of the plan year the policies shall be considered a large group market plan and are required to meet various provisions in the bill. The bill provides that to determine the size of an association all of the members and employees of employer members are aggregated and treated as employed by a single employer.The bill requires an insurer issuing a policy to an association to (1) treat all of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy as a single risk pool; (2) set premiums based on the collective group experience of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy; (3) vary premiums by age, except that the rate shall not vary by more than 5 to 1 for adults; (4) not vary premiums based on gender; (5) not establish discriminatory rules based on the health status of an employer member, an individual employee of an employer member, or a self-employed individual for eligibility or contribution.The bill requires the Commissioner of Insurance to, within 90 days of the enactment of the bill, apply to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services for a state innovation waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, to implement the provisions of the bill. The provisions of the bill regarding association health plans will become effective 30 days following the date the Commissioner of Insurance notifies the Governor and the Chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor of federal approval of such waiver.