Sen. Emmett Hanger

Makes numerous changes to the laws governing the provision of foster care services in the Commonwealth. Among other things, the bill (i) allows the Commissioner of Social Services to develop and implement a corrective action plan for or assume temporary control over the foster care services of a local board of social services upon determining that the local board (a) has failed to provide foster care services or make placement and removal decisions in accordance with applicable laws or regulations or (b) has taken any action that poses a substantial risk to the health, safety, or well-being of any child under its supervision and control; (ii) requires the Commissioner to create within the State Department of Social Services (the Department) a foster care health and safety director position; (iii) directs the Commissioner to establish and maintain a confidential hotline to receive reports and complaints from foster parents and other persons regarding violations of laws or regulations applicable to foster care and any other matters related to the health, safety, or well-being of children in foster care; (iv) directs the Department to develop and implement a more reliable, structured, and comprehensive case review and quality improvement process to monitor and improve foster care services provided by local boards and departments of social services; and (v) requires the Department to establish and update annually a caseload standard that limits the number of foster care cases that may be assigned to each foster care caseworker. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Makes several changes to the provisions that establish the Virginia College Savings Plan (the Plan), including (i) permitting the Plan to maintain an independent disbursement system for the disbursement of prepaid tuition contract benefits and (ii) requiring each prepaid tuition contract entered into on or after July 1, 2019, to include provisions for the application of tuition prepayments, at a rate equal to the percentage of enrollment-weighted average tuition at public institutions of higher education to be determined by the board, at (a) public institutions of higher education, (b) accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, and (c) non-Virginia public and accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, provided that no such payment is less than the sum of tuition prepayments made, less any fees as determined by the board.

Updates the six-year capital outlay plan for projects to be funded entirely or partially from general fund-supported resources.

Authorizes issuance of bonds in an amount up to $17,500,000 for revenue-producing capital projects at institutions of higher education. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to

Makes several changes to the membership and operation of the MEI Project Approval Commission. The bill expands the membership from 10 to 11 members by adding one additional Senate appointment. The bill also clarifies the scope of the review required by the Commission to include not only economic development projects, but also potential tourism and film projects, while providing that projects only involving existing tax incentives currently available to any qualified tax payer shall not require review. Materials regarding the potential project shall be provided to the Commission at least 5 business days in advance of the meeting. Current law requires materials regarding the potential project to be provided at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. The bill contains technical amendments.

Changes the requirement that the Governor submit certain bond bills concurrently with the submission of his Budget Bill, or his gubernatorial amendments to the Budget Bill, to require that the Governor ensure that prefiled bond bills are submitted to the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance for such bond legislation. Currently, the Governor is required to submit on the same day his Budget Bill or his proposed amendments thereto are submitted any bond bills authorizing additional indebtedness if the bonds are authorized under or are to be repaid from revenues or appropriations contained in his Budget Bill or his proposed amendments thereto. This bill is identical to