Requires that the first reading diagnostic test administered in the school year to a student in kindergarten through grade three include age-normed and evidence-based phonological processing measures, including phonemic awareness and rapid automatized naming.
Authorizes a trust constitutes a benefits consortium and is authorized to sell health benefits plans to members of a sponsoring association, which is a nonstock corporation that, among other conditions, has at least five members, has been formed for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits, and operates as a nonprofit entity. The bill provides that the trust is subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and U.S. Department of Labor regulations applicable to multiple employer welfare arrangements and to the authority of the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce such law and regulations. The bill (i) prohibits a self-funded multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) from issuing health benefit plans in the Commonwealth until it has obtained a license from the State Corporation Commission; (ii) provides that health benefit plans issued by a self-funded MEWA shall be subject to taxes and maintenance assessments levied upon insurance companies; (iii) provides that health benefit plans issued by a self-funded MEWA are subject to protections of and other provisions of the Virginia Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association; (iv) makes domestic self-funded MEWAs subject to all financial and solvency requirements imposed by provisions of Title 38.2 on domestic insurers unless domestic self-funded MEWAs are otherwise specifically exempted; and (v) provides that health benefit plans issued by a self-funded MEWA shall be exempt from all statutory requirements relating to insurance premium rates, policy forms, and policy cancellation and nonrenewal. The bill provides that the sponsoring association shall not, by virtue of its sponsorship of the benefits consortium or any benefits plan, be subject to the insurance laws of the Commonwealth or the tax levied on insurance companies pursuant to § 58.1-2501. The measure removes the requirements that an association to which a group accident and sickness insurance policy is issued have at the outset a minimum of 100 persons, have been organized and maintained in good faith for purposes other than that of obtaining insurance, and have been in active existence for at least five years. The measure also 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."
Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), as part of its review and evaluation of the agencies and programs under the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to examine and review the implications of the establishment, implementation, and administration of a program, to be known as the Commonwealth Care Health Benefits Program (the Program), under which a division of the State Corporation Commission (the Commission), or nonprofit corporation established by the Commission, will be the sponsor of association health plans through which it will sell individual health insurance coverage in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that JLARC shall request and consider information and input from the Commission's Bureau of Insurance and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. The measure provides that elements of the Program to be reviewed and examined by JLARC shall include: (i) implementation of the Program would be contingent on the approval of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services of a state innovation waiver under § 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); (ii) the Commission will retain staff sufficient to establish and implement the Program; (iii) the Program will arrange for a number of third-party administrators, sufficient to ensure competition but in no event fewer than two; (iv) the Program will design and implement health plans that those currently sold through the federal exchange; (v) the covered benefits provided under a plan offered through the Program would provide coverage that a large group plan or association health plan subject to ERISA is required to provide so long as one or more health plans provide additional benefits as may be required to provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as plans currently offered on the exchange pursuant to the ACA or otherwise to comply with the Guardrail requirements of the ACA; (vi) the Program will address the establishment of a reinsurance program; (vii) health plan premiums for individuals with a household income between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be subsidized; (viii) the Program will offer a cost-sharing reduction feature that removes disincentives to Program participation by low-income individuals who are enrolled in the Medicaid program; (ix) individuals will still be able to purchase individual health insurance coverage outside of the Program; (x) premiums for the plans offered through the Program will be set by the third-party administrators, subject to approval by the Commission with assistance of qualified actuaries; (xi) the Program would be designed and operated in order to ensure that any shortfall in revenues is addressed by the reinsurance program and by self-funding a reserve that is determined by the Corporation's actuary to be adequate, and (xii) the Program will include premium incentives for compliance with wellness or chronic disease management benefit programs. The bill requires JLARC to report its findings and conclusions to the Joint Committee for Health and Human Resources Oversight.
Establishes a pilot program under which the governing body of any locality operating under the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) may request an electric utility to place underground electric utility distribution lines in areas of transit-oriented development in such locality in conjunction with a transportation infrastructure improvement project that the Commonwealth Transportation Board identifies that reduces congestion, improves mobility, incorporates transit systems and improves safety. The measure provides that the locality and the utility shall enter into an agreement that provides that (i) the locality shall pay to the utility its full additional costs of relocating and converting that portion of the line located in the locality underground rather than overhead that are not recoverable under applicable rates, net of relocation credits, which costs shall include associated feasibility costs, or any smaller portion of such costs as the utility and the locality may agree; (ii) the locality shall impose an assessment on electric utility customers in the locality in an amount sufficient to cover the utility's additional costs, which assessment shall be shown as a separate item on such customers' electric bills and shall be collected by the utility on behalf of the locality; (iii) the utility shall convert, operate, and maintain the agreed portion of the line underground; and (iv) such other terms and conditions on which the parties may agree. The measure provides that upon presentation of the agreement to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, the Commissioner of Highways shall be responsible for securing the necessary easements and permits for the pilot program. The measure provides that the pilot program terminates on July 1, 2026.
Requires the Department of Education and relevant local school boards to develop and implement a pilot program for up to four years in two to eight local school divisions in the Commonwealth. In developing the pilot, the Department is required to partner with the appropriate school board employees in each such local school division to (i) identify the resources, services, and supports required by each student who resides in each such local school division and who is educated in a private school setting pursuant to his Individualized Education Program; (ii) study the feasibility of transitioning each such student from his private school setting to an appropriate public school setting in the local school division and providing the identified resources, services, and supports in such public school setting; and (iii) recommend a process for redirecting federal, state, and local funds, including funds provided pursuant to the Children's Services Act, provided for the education of each such student to the local school division for the purpose of providing the identified resources, services, and supports in the appropriate public school setting. The bill requires the Department of Education to make a report to the Governor, the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance, and the House Committees on Education and Appropriations on the findings of each pilot program after two and four years. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Creates the Virginia Works Portal, administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority, 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 shall provide an interactive, user-friendly environment and must be available to the public by July 1, 2020. The bill creates the five-person 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. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Requires that the searchable database containing certain state expenditure information that is maintained by the Auditor of Public Accounts include the number of full-time state employees for whom the annual rate of pay is more than $10,000, an identifier associated with each such employee, and the salary, bonuses, and total compensation paid during the fiscal year for the employee associated with each identifier. Current law requires that compensation data be connected to an employee's job position.
Prohibits any person from acting as a qualified education loan servicer except in accordance with provisions established by this bill. The bill requires a loan servicer to obtain a license from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and establishes procedures pertaining to such licenses. Banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and nonprofit institutions of higher education are exempt from the licensing provisions. The servicing of a qualified education loan encompasses (i) receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a qualified education loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; (ii) applying the payments of principal and interest and such other payments, with respect to the amounts received from a qualified education loan borrower, as may be required pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; and (iii) performing other administrative services with respect to a qualified education loan. Qualified education loan servicers are prohibited from, among other things, (a) misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a qualified education loan, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower's obligations under the loan; (b) knowingly misapplying or recklessly applying loan payments to the outstanding balance of a qualified education loan; and (c) failing to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the loan servicer regularly reports information to such a credit bureau. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2020, but provides that applications shall be accepted, and investigations commenced, by the SCC beginning March 1, 2020.
