Sen. Richard H. Black

Requires each education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education that leads to a degree, concentration, or certificate for reading specialists to include a program of coursework or other training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions, accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder. The bill requires such programs to (i) include coursework in the constructs and pedagogy underlying remediation of reading, spelling, and writing and (ii) require reading specialists to demonstrate mastery of an evidence-based, structured literacy instructional approach that includes explicit, systematic, sequential, and cumulative instruction. This bill is identical to

Allows any school district to invoke the current exemption from the prohibition against hiring, under certain circumstances, a school district employee who is related to a member of the school board. Current law limits use of the exemption to only those school districts located in Planning Districts 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, and 17. This bill incorporates

Provides criteria by which congressional and state legislative districts are to be drawn, including equal population, racial and ethnic fairness, respect for existing political boundaries, contiguity, compactness, and communities of interest. The criteria set out would apply to those districts drawn following the 2020 United States Census and thereafter. This bill incorporates

Authorizes a state or local government department, agency, or instrumentality having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement or regulatory violations to utilize an unmanned aircraft system without a search warrant when such system is utilized to support any locality for a purpose other than law enforcement.

Extends to domestic limited liability companies the rules for service of process on a domestic corporation.

Prohibits the use of any funds appropriated, granted, or awarded by the Commonwealth by any person or entity, public or private, to directly fund medically unnecessary research classified under pain and distress category E by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on animal subjects. The direct funding of research shall not include the appropriation, grant, or award of funds for the construction or maintenance of facilities; the purchase or maintenance of general-use equipment; overhead costs; capital improvements; or faculty or employee salaries.

Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 2 felony the penalty for any person to knowingly circumcise, excise, or infibulate the labia majora, labia minora, or clitoris of a minor; for any parent or guardian charged with the care of a minor to consent to such circumcision, excision, or infibulation; or for any parent or guardian charged with the care of a minor to knowingly remove or cause or permit the removal of such minor from the Commonwealth for the purposes of performing such circumcision, excision, or infibulation.