Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant

Requires General Assembly members, full-time legislative staff of General Assembly members compensated with state appropriations, and full-time employees of each legislative branch agency to complete sexual harassment training once every calendar year. The exact same training shall be offered by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Office of the Clerk of the Senate and provided to their respective members and their staff. All other legislative branch employees shall complete the sexual harassment training course offered by either Clerk. The training must be available online 24 hours per day, seven days per week and be exactly the same as any sexual harassment training course offered through the Commonwealth of Virginia Learning Center administered by the Department of Human Resource Management. Persons elected to the General Assembly or commencing or recommencing full-time employment in the legislative branch will have 90 days from the election or their dates of hire to complete the training. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019. This bill incorporates

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 measure defines "sponsoring association" as a nonstock corporation that, among other conditions, has been actively in existence for 10 years, has at least five members, has been formed for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits, and operates as a nonprofit entity.

Authorizes an association organized as a nonstock corporation whose members are employers conducting business in the Commonwealth to sponsor a trust. The measure authorizes the trust, called a benefits consortium, to sell benefits plans to its members. To be eligible to sponsor a plan, the association is required to have been actively in existence for 10 years, have at least five members, have been formed for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits, and operate as a nonprofit entity. A wholly-owned subsidiary of such an entity is eligible to be a sponsoring association. The benefits plans may provide medical prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage for the employees of members and the sponsoring association and their dependents. The benefits may be self-funded or purchased from an insurer. The benefits consortium will be a multiple employer welfare arrangement subject to the provisions of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The measure exempts the benefits consortium from state taxation and insurance regulations.

Makes several changes to the Virginia Community College System to ensure a standard quality of education at all comprehensive community colleges, and to ensure in the transfer of community college credit to four-year public institutions of higher education in order to provide higher education as efficiently and cost effective as possible. The bill requires the development of a standard Passport Program and a Uniform Certificate of General Studies program to be offered at each community college. Initially, the Passport Program course offerings would be accepted as credit at a four-year institution, unless a four-year institution had applied for and received a waiver from accepting a particular course for a particular major, with a goal of making all courses in the Uniform Certificate transferrable. Four-year institutions, in cooperation with the Community College System, would be required to map out career education pathways to allow students to see the classes necessary to complete a four-year degree in a particular field of study. The Virginia Community College System would be required to create a single online repository where the public may access all transfer agreements and dual enrollment agreements with four-year institutions. Finally, the State Board for Community Colleges is required to implement an annual review for each community college, and to standardize the course offerings across the community college system.