Sen. Bill DeSteph

Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop the cancer. The measure will become effective if reenacted by the 2020 Session of the General Assembly. The measure also directs the 2020 Session of the General Assembly, in considering and enacting any legislation relating to workers' compensation and the presumption of compensability for certain cancers, to consider any research, findings, and recommendations from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's review of the Virginia Workers' Compensation program. The provisions of this bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2020 Session of the General Assembly. The bill incorporates

Provides that a person who operates a motor vehicle in a careless or distracted manner and is the proximate cause of serious physical injury to a vulnerable road user, defined in the bill as a pedestrian or person riding a bicycle, electric wheelchair, electric bicycle, wheelchair, skateboard, skates, foot-scooter, animal, or animal-drawn vehicle, is guilty of a traffic infraction. The bill prohibits the driver of a motor vehicle from using or crossing into a bicycle lane to pass or attempt to pass another vehicle except to provide traffic incident management services, when directed by a law-enforcement officer, or when the roadway is otherwise impassable due to weather conditions, an accident, or an emergency situation.

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."

Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony the penalty for cruelly or unnecessarily beating, maiming, mutilating, or killing a dog or cat. Current law requires that the dog or cat die as a direct result of torture, or inhumane injury or pain, before the violation is a Class 6 felony. The bill incorporates

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.

Requests the Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of purchasing all or part of the Dulles Greenway.