Commemorating the 400th anniversary of thearrival of the European honey bee to North America.
Department of Health; Eligible Health Care Provider Reserve Directory. Directs the Department of Health to establish an Eligible Health Care Provider Reserve Directory (the Directory) to collect information regarding eligible health care providers in the Commonwealth who are qualified and who may be available to assist in the response to a public health emergency. The Directory shall include the name, contact information, and licensure, certification, or registration type and status of the eligible health care provider or, if the eligible health care provider is a fourth-year medical student, academic standing and anticipated graduation date of the fourth-year medical student if the student registers for inclusion in the Directory. Every health regulatory board of the Department of Health Professions, the Office of Emergency Medical Services of the Department of Health, and each medical school located in the Commonwealth, upon the request of a fourth-year medical student, shall provide such information to the Department of Health for inclusion in the Directory. However, a health regulatory board shall not report information for any such person who has notified the health regulatory board in writing that he does not want his information included in the Directory.
Scenic river designation; South River. Designatesa 6.5-mile segment of the South River in the City of Waynesboro asa component of the Virginia Scenic Rivers System.
Standards of Learning assessments; reading and mathematics; grades three through eight; individual student growth. Requires the Board of Education to establish, in lieu of a one-time end-of-year assessment and for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system, aligned with the Standards of Learning, for the administration of reading and mathematics assessments in grades three through eight. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to include at least one beginning-of-year and one end-of-year assessment in order to provide individual student growth scores over the course of the school year, provided that the total time scheduled for taking all such assessments shall not exceed 150 percent of the time scheduled for taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to be fully implemented in each local school division no later than the 2024-2025 school year.
Advanced recycling; not considered solid wastemanagement; definition. Defines "advanced recycling" as a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocksinto basic hydrocarbon raw materials and other materials. The billprovides that advanced recycling shall not be considered solid wastemanagement. The bill also defines "gasification," "post-use polymer,"and other terms related to advanced recycling.
Chesapeake Bay; wastewater treatment; Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program. Requires the State Water Control Board to adopt by June 30, 2022, regulations establishing a Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program (ENRC Program), consisting of a number of total nitrogen and total phosphorous waste load allocation reductions assigned to particular water treatment facilities with schedules for compliance. The bill provides that the ENRC Program shall operate in lieu of certain Chesapeake Bay waste load regulations. The bill directs the Board to modify affected discharge permits to incorporate the provisions of the ENRC Program and requires certain compliance plans due from treatment works by February 1, 2023, to address the requirements of the ENRC Program. The bill provides that the funding of certain design and installation costs for implementing nutrient upgrades pursuant to the ENRC Program shall be eligible for grants from the Water Quality Improvement Fund. The ENRC Program is required to proceed regardless of whether such grants will exceed the available funds in the Fund for a given fiscal year. The bill lists the projects and the total nitrogen or total phosphorus waste load allocation reductions that specified facilities are to complete. The bill provides that when grants to finance nutrient removal technology reach a sum sufficient to fund the completion of the ENRC Program at all publicly owned treatment works, certain General Assembly committees shall review funding needs and mechanisms. Finally, the bill directs the State Water Control Board to convene a stakeholder group during the adoption of regulations required to carry out the provisions of the bill and provides that such adoption by the Board shall be exempt from certain procedures of the Administrative Process Act. The bill provides that the priority projects and waste load allocation reductions that it sets forth shall be deemed to implement goals of the Chesapeake Bay Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan.
Nutrient credits; use by facility with certainstormwater discharge permit. Authorizes a facility that has beenissued a Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System (VPDES)permit regulating stormwater discharges to acquire, use, and transfernutrient credits for compliance with any waste load allocation establishedas an effluent limitation in its VPDES permit so long as the creditsmeet several requirements. Current law allows only a facility registeredunder the Industrial Stormwater General Permit to use nutrient creditsfor such purpose.
Behavioral Health Commission created. Createsthe Behavioral Health Commission in the legislative branch of stategovernment for the purpose of (i) studying and making recommendationsfor the improvement of behavioral health services and the behavioralhealth service system in the Commonwealth to encourage the adoptionof policies to increase the quality and availability of and ensureaccess to the full continuum of high-quality, effective, and efficientbehavioral health services for all persons in the Commonwealth and(ii) providing ongoing oversight of behavioral health services andthe behavioral health service system in the Commonwealth, includingmonitoring and evaluation of established programs, services, anddelivery and payment structures and implementation of new servicesand initiatives in the Commonwealth and development of recommendations for improving such programs, services, structures, and implementation.
Tax credits of agricultural equipment. Establishes for taxable years 2021 through 2024 a refundable individual and corporate income tax credit for 25 percent of expenditures, up to a maximum of $17,500, made for the purchase of conservation tillage and precision agriculture equipment certified by the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board as reducing soil compaction or improving precision of pesticide and fertilizer application or injection. The bill expires the existing individual and corporate income tax credits for conservation tillage equipment and purchase of advanced technology pesticide and fertilizer application equipment after taxable year 2020. Under current law, an individual or corporate taxpayer is allowed nonrefundable credits of up to $4,000 for conservation tillage equipment purchases and up to $3,750 for advanced technology pesticide and fertilizer application equipment purchases, which credits may be carried over for five years.
Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board; membership. Clarifies that each of the six nonlegislative citizen members of the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board (the Board) who is not an at-large member is to be appointed by the Governor from a list of two qualified nominees submitted for each vacancy by the Board and the Board of Directors of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (the Association) in consultation with other groups. The bill also requires each of the six nonlegislative citizen members to be a resident of a different one of the six geographic areas represented in the Association. The bill contains technical amendments.
