Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaignfunds; complaints, hearings, civil penalty, and advisory opinions.Prohibits any person from converting contributions to a candidate or hiscampaign committee to personal use. Current law only prohibits such conversionof contributions with regard to disbursement of surplus funds at thedissolution of a campaign or political committee. The bill provides that acontribution is considered to have been converted to personal use if thecontribution, in whole or in part, is used to fulfill any commitment,obligation, or expense that would exist irrespective of the person's seeking,holding, or maintaining public office but allows a contribution to be used forthe ordinary and accepted expenses related to campaigning for or holdingelective office, including the use of campaign funds to pay for the candidate'schild care expenses that are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity.The bill provides that any person subject to the personal use ban may requestan advisory opinion from the State Board of Elections on such matters. The billdirects the State Board of Elections to adopt emergency regulations similar tothose promulgated by the Federal Election Commission to implement theprovisions of the bill and to publish an updated summary of Virginia campaignfinance law that reflects the State Board of Elections' and Attorney General'sguidance on the provisions of such law that prohibit the personal use ofcampaign funds and any new regulations promulgated by the State Board ofElections.
Sponsored bills
Constitutional amendment (first reference); tax and finance; exempt property; affordable housing tax exemption. Provides that the General Assembly may by general law authorize the governing body of any county, city, town, or regional government to provide for the exemption from local real property taxation, or a portion thereof, within such restrictions and upon such conditions as may be prescribed, of real estate owned and occupied by persons of low income. Such general law shall require that (i) the real property is a single family habitation and has been owned and continuously occupied as the sole dwelling of the owner of such real property for a prescribed minimum number of years, (ii) the assessment on the property has increased by a prescribed percentage or more from the previous year or over a number of previous years, and (iii) the taxes on such property are current or the owner of such property has entered into a plan for payment of any delinquent taxes and shall establish the annual household income limits to qualify for such exemption.
State plan for medical assistance services and health insurance; pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections and pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome. Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to include a provision for payment of medical assistance for the prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) and pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) that includes payment for treatment using antimicrobials, medication and behavioral therapies to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms, immunomodulating medicines, plasma exchange, and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy.The bill also requires each insurer proposing to issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providing hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical coverage on an expense-incurred basis; each corporation providing individual or group accident and sickness subscription contracts; and each health maintenance organization providing a health care plan for health care services to provide coverage for the prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment of PANDAS and PANS. The bill requires such coverage to include coverage for treatment using antibiotics, medication, and behavioral therapies to manage neuropsychiatric symptoms, immunomodulating medicines, plasma exchange, and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy.The bill prohibits an insurer, corporation, or organization from (i) denying or delaying the coverage of PANDAS or PANS because the enrollee previously received treatment or because the enrollee was diagnosed with or received treatment for his condition under a different diagnostic name, including autoimmune encephalopathy; (ii) limiting coverage of immunomodulating therapies for the treatment of PANDAS or PANS in a manner that is inconsistent with the treatment guidelines developed by a consortium convened for the purposes of researching, identifying, and publishing best practice standards for diagnosis and treatment of PANDAS or PANS that are accessible for medical professionals and are based on evidence of positive patient outcomes; (iii) requiring a trial of therapies that treat only neuropsychiatric symptoms before authorizing coverage of immunomodulating therapies for the treatment of PANDAS or PANS; or (iv) denying coverage for out-of-state treatment if the service is not available within the Commonwealth.
Content manufacturing tax credit. Removesthe sunset for the motion picture tax credit, which currently isset to expire after taxable year 2026, and expands and redesignatesthe tax credit as the content manufacturing tax credit. The billincreases the total amount of credits that can be allocated to taxpayers to $46.5 million beginning in fiscal year 2024; however, shouldless than $100 million worth of certain new investments, as describedby the bill, occur in Virginia by January 1, 2027, the cap will bereduced to $10 million per fiscal year. Thebill also amends the definition of the "qualifying expenses" eligiblefor the content manufacturing tax credit to mean certain amountsspent in connection with the production of an eligible project filmedin the Commonwealth. The bill defines "eligible project" to be theproduction of a motion picture or an episodic television series.
Commending Major General Timothy P. Williams,VNG.
Presidential electors; National Popular VoteCompact. Enters Virginia into an interstate compact known asthe Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by NationalPopular Vote. Article II of the Constitution of the United Statesgives the states exclusive and plenary authority to decide the mannerof awarding their electoral votes. Under the compact, Virginia agreesto award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receivesthe most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessinga majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A statemay withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring withinsix months of the end of a President's term shall not become effectiveuntil a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term.
Commending ReEstablish Richmond.
Public school funding; English language learnerstudents and children with disabilities. Requires, in additionto the positions supported by basic aid, state funding, pursuantto the general appropriation act, to be provided to cover (i) theactual average school division cost to educate children with disabilitiesand (ii) a per-pupil Standards of Quality funding add-on for Englishlanguage learner and special education students. This bill was incorporated into SB 105.
Commending John Ray Grisham, Jr.
Celebrating the life of Shawn Soares.