Sen. Jill Vogel

Celebrating the life of Commander Brian MichaelBourgeois, USN.

Commending the Honorable William C. Mims.

Charitable institutions and associations; local appropriations to faith-based organizations. Allows localities to make appropriations to nonprofit faith-based organizations that provide community services in the locality for nonreligious purposes and regardless of recipients' faith affiliation.

Elections. Applies the provisions of the Virginia Personnel Act to the chief deputy and confidential assistant for policy or administration for the Department of Elections. The bill also (i) expands the membership of the State Board of Elections from five members to six members with equal representation given to both parties; (ii) gives the State Board of Elections the authority and duty to appoint the Commissioner of Elections of the Department of Elections by a supermajority vote; (iii) requires the Department of Elections to conduct periodic assessments to ensure that voters are assigned to the correct state legislative and congressional districts based on their residential addresses; (iv) requires the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit lists of deceased persons weekly instead of the current monthly requirement; (v) requires the general registrars to use information in the lists of deceased persons to promptly remove deceased persons from the voter registration system; (vi) requires voters to present a valid form of photo identification when they vote; (vii) provides that audits of ballot scanner machines must take place prior to the certification of election results; (viii) provides that absentee ballots must be collected daily from absentee ballot drop-off locations by certain people and according to procedures for securing such ballots; (ix) provides that a postmark on an absentee ballot must be legible and no longer includes other official indicia of confirmation of mailing by a postal or delivery service; and (x) creates work groups to evaluate the performance of the Virginia voter registration system and to develop and implement a plan to provide oversight to local election administration to assess risks to Virginia's administration of elections. Portions of the bill affecting the composition of the State Board of Elections and the appointment of the Commissioner of Elections have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.

Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for COVID-19. Establishes a presumption that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, law-enforcement officers, and correctional officers is an occupational disease compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The bill provides that the COVID-19 virus is established by a positive diagnostic test for COVID-19, an incubation period consistent with COVID-19, and signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that require medical treatment and only applies to a person who was diagnosed a person who was diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus on or after July 1, 2021, and whose death or disability caused by infection from the COVID-19 virus occurred on or after July 1, 2021. This bill incorporates SB 1342.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; proprietaryrecords and trade secrets; carbon sequestration agreements. Excludesfrom the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Virginia Freedomof Information Act proprietary information, voluntarily providedby a private business under a promise of confidentiality from a publicbody, used by the public body for a carbon sequestration agreement.The bill requires the private business to specify the records forwhich protection is sought before submitting them to the public bodyand to state the reasons why protection is necessary.

Loudoun County school board; staggered terms.Enables the Loudoun County school board to stagger the terms of itsmembers at the November election immediately preceding the end ofthe board's term and upon the board's prior vote for staggered terms.

Health insurance; association health plan for real estate salespersons. Provides that a licensed insurer may issue a policy of group accident and sickness insurance to an association of real estate salespersons (association), which association shall be deemed the policyholder, and that such association health plan is not considered to be insurance and is not subject to the existing requirements for insurance if certain requirements are met. The bill requires that (i) all members of the association be eligible for coverage and membership, including employer members with at least one employee that is domiciled in the Commonwealth or self-employed individuals; (ii) membership in the association not be conditioned on any health status–related factor; (iii) the coverage offered through the association be available to all members regardless of any health status–related factor; (iv) the association not make health insurance coverage offered through the association available other than in connection with a member of the association; and (v) premiums for the policy be paid from funds contributed by the association or associations, or by employer members, or by both, or from funds contributed by the covered persons or from both the covered persons and the association, associations, or employer members. The bill also requires the association (a) has at the outset a minimum of 100 members; (b) has been organized and maintained in good faith for purposes other than that of obtaining insurance; (c) has been in active existence for at least five years; and (d) has a constitution and bylaws that provide that the association hold regular meetings not less than annually to further purposes of the members, that the the association collects dues or solicits contributions from members, and that the members have voting privileges and representation on the governing board and committees.The bill provides that any such policy shall (1) be considered a large group market plan subject to all coverage mandates applicable to a large group market plan, (2) be subject to the group health plan coverage requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (3) be prohibited from denying coverage under the policy on the basis of a pre-existing condition, (4) shall be guaranteed issue and guaranteed renewable, (5) provide essential health benefits and cost-sharing requirements, and (6) offer a minimum level of coverage designed to provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60 percent of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan.The bill requires an insurer issuing such policy to an association to (A) treat all of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy as a single risk pool; (B) set premiums on the basis of the collective group experience of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy; (C) not vary premiums by age, except that the rate shall not vary by more than four to one for adults; (D) not vary premiums on the basis of gender; (E) not vary premiums on the basis of the health status of an individual employee of an employer member or a self-employed individual member; and (F) not establish discriminatory rules based on the health status of an employer member, an individual employee of an employer member, or a self-employed individual for eligibility or contribution.Finally, the bill provides that the State Corporation Commission retains its regulatory authority over any such association health plan and may impose insurance requirements, as it deems appropriate.

Standards of Learning assessments; reduction; report. Reduces the total number and type of required Standardsof Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, asamended. The bill requires the Department of Education to annuallyreport on the estimated projected and actual savings from the implementationof the bill and report the amount of such savings to the Governorand the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and theSenate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than the first day of each Regular Session of the General Assembly. The billalso requires that such amount be included in the total for DirectAid to Public Education in any general appropriation act.