Sen. Tara Durant

Public institutions of higher education; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; notice to students; SNAP benefits.Requires each public institution of higher education to ensure thatall students have access to accurate information about the SupplementalNutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including eligibility and howto apply. The bill also directs each institution to advertise theapplication and process for applying for SNAP prominently on the institution's website, in orientation materials that are distributedto each new student, in at least one campus-wide email per academicyear to all students at such institution, and through other means.

Applications for teacher licensure by reciprocity;military spouses; timeline for determination. Requires the Boardof Education's licensure regulations to provide for licensure by reciprocityfor any spouse of an active duty or reserve member of the Armed Forcesof the United States or a member of the Virginia National Guard whohas obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials andwithout deficiencies, that is in force at the time the applicationfor a Virginia license is received by the Department of Education.Current law requires such regulations to provide for licensure byreciprocity for any spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forcesof the United States or the Commonwealth. The bill requires such anindividual to submit an official copy of the military permanent assignmentorders of the individual's spouse as part of the complete applicationpacket. The bill requires the Department to determine and communicatesuch individual's eligibility for licensure by reciprocity within15 business days of receipt of the complete application packet. Thisbill is identical to SB 154.

Virginia Military Community Infrastructure Grant Program and Fund. Establishes the Virginia Military Community Infrastructure Grant Fund (the Fund) to support military communities in the Commonwealth by awarding grants to aid the planning and design, construction, or completion of infrastructure projects that enhance military readiness, installation resiliency, or quality of life for military communities. The bill directs the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs to develop guidance and criteria to be used in awarding grants from the Fund and an annual grant application that sets out certain requirements for a grantee. This bill is identical to SB 315.

Group health benefit plans; bona fide associations; formation of benefits consortium. Provides that certain trusts constitute a benefits consortium and are authorized to sell health benefit plans to members of a sponsoring association that (i) has been formed and maintained in good faith for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits; (ii) does not condition membership in the sponsoring association on any factor relating to the health status of an individual, including an employee of a member of the sponsoring association or a dependent of such an employee; (iii) makes any health benefit plan available to all members regardless of any factor relating to the health status of such members or individuals eligible for coverage through a member; (iv) does not make any health benefit plan available to any person who is not a member of the association; (v) makes available health plans or health benefit plans that meet requirements provided for in the bill; (vi) operates as a nonprofit entity under § 501(c)(5) or 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code; and (vii) has been in active existence for at least five years. The bill 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."The bill requires any health benefit plan issued by a self-funded multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) that covers one or more employees of one or more small employers to (a) provide essential health benefits and cost-sharing requirements; (b) 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; (c) not limit or exclude coverage for an individual by imposing a preexisting condition exclusion on that individual; (d) be prohibited from establishing discriminatory rules based on health status related to eligibility or premium or contribution requirements as imposed on health carriers; (e) meet the renewability standards set forth for health insurance issuers; (f) establish base rates formed on an actuarially sound, modified community rating methodology that considers the pooling of all participant claims; and (g) utilize each employer member's specific risk profile to determine premiums by actuarially adjusting above or below established base rates, and utilize either pooling or reinsurance of individual large claimants to reduce the adverse impact on any specific employer member's premiums.The bill prohibits a self-funded MEWA from issuing health benefit plans in the Commonwealth until it has obtained a license pursuant to regulations promulgated by the State Corporation Commission. The bill authorizes the Commission to adopt regulations applicable to self-funded MEWAs, including regulations addressing financial condition, solvency requirements, and the exclusion of self-funded MEWAs from the Virginia Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association. This bill is identical to SB 195.

Marcus alert system; participation. Extends the date by which localities shall establish voluntary databases to be made available to the 9-1-1 alert system and the Marcus alert system to provide relevant mental health information and emergency contact information for appropriate response to an emergency or crisis from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2023, and provides an exemption to the requirement that localities establish protocols for local law-enforcement agencies to enter into memorandums of agreement with mobile crisis response providers regarding requests for law-enforcement back-up during mobile crisis or community care team response and minimum standards, best practices, and a system for the review and approval of protocols for law-enforcement participation in the Marcus alert system for localities with a population that is less than or equal to 40,000, so that localities with a population that is less than or equal to 40,000 may but are not required to establish such protocols. The bill also requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to include in its annual report to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees for Courts of Justice and on Health, Welfare and Institutions, the Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Health, and the Behavioral Health Commission information regarding barriers to establishment of local Marcus alert programs and community care or mobile crisis teams to provide mobile crisis response in geographical areas served by community services boards or behavioral health agencies in which such programs and teams have not been established and a plan for addressing such barriers. This bill is identical to SB 361.

Academic year Governor's Schools; certain practices prohibited and permitted. Prohibits any academic year Governor's School or governing board member, director, administrator, or employee thereof from (i) discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin; (ii) engaging in proxy discrimination, as defined in the bill, in student admissions; or (iii) seeking information on students' race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin during the application process for admission to such school unless expressly required by federal law, and to the extent it is required by federal law, the bill requires such information to be withheld to the maximum extent practicable from any individual involved in admissions decisions to the end that admissions decisions are blind as to the applicants' race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin. The bill permits any academic year Governor's School or governing board member, director, administrator, or employee thereof to use traditional academic success factors, as defined in the bill, in student admissions and provides that such use presumptively does not constitute proxy discrimination. The bill also contains provisions relating to evidentiary burdens of proof in certain causes of action involving such proxy discrimination or traditional academic success factors. The bill requires each local school board that jointly manages and controls a regional academic year Governor's school to collaborate to ensure that each public middle school that is eligible to send students to attend such Governor's school offers coursework, curriculum, and instruction that is comparable in content and in rigor in order to provide each student in each such middle school with the opportunity to gain admission to and excel academically at such Governor's school.

Public institutions of higher education; academiccredit; education, experience, training, and credentials in ArmedForces of the United States. Requires, no later than the beginningof the 2022-2023 academic year, (i) the governing board of each public institution of higher education to collaborate with the State Councilof Higher Education for Virginia (the Council), the federal Departmentof Defense, and nationally recognized regional accreditation bodies to map the existing opportunities to earn education, experience,training, and credentials in the Armed Forces of the United Statesto the award of academic credit in public institutions of highereducation in the Commonwealth and (ii) in accordance with such collaborativemapping, the Council to update its guidelines developed and the governingboard of each public institution of higher education to update itspolicies implemented pursuant to relevant law for the purpose ofawarding academic credit to students for such education, experience, training, and credentials.

Veteran-owned small businesses; waiving of fees. Directs the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, in conjunction with the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity, to examine the waiving of fees associated with permits necessary to establish a small business for veteran-owned small businesses. This bill is identical to SB 572.

Early childhood care and education entities; administration of epinephrine. Requires the Board of Education to amend its regulations to require each early childhood care and education entity to implement policies for the possession and administration of epinephrine in every such entity to be administered by any nurse at the entity, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine to any child believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction. The bill mandates that such policies shall require that at least one school nurse, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine has the means to access at all times during regular facility hours any such appropriate weight-based dosage of epinephrine that is stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible container or area. This bill shall be known as Elijah's Law. This bill is identical to SB 737.

Virginia Literacy Act; early student literacy; evidence-based literacy instruction; science-based reading research. Makes several changes relating to early student literacy, including requiring (i) each education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education or alternative certification program that provides training for any individual seeking initial licensure with an endorsement in a certain area, including as a reading specialist, to demonstrate mastery of science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as such terms are defined in the bill; (ii) the literacy assessment required of individuals seeking initial teacher licensure with endorsements in certain areas to include a rigorous test of science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction; (iii) each local school board to establish a divisionwide literacy plan; (iv) each local school board to employ one reading specialist for each 550 students in kindergarten through grade three; and (v) each local school board to provide a program of literacy instruction whereby, among other things, (a) the program provides reading intervention services to students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading assessment or an early literacy screener provided or approved by the Department of Education; (b) a reading specialist, in collaboration with the teacher of any student who receives such reading intervention services, develops, oversees implementation of, and monitors student progress on a student reading plan; and (c) each student who receives such reading intervention services is assessed utilizing either the early literacy screener provided or approved by the Department or the grade-level reading Standards of Learning assessment again at the end of that school year. The provisions of the bill become effective beginning with the 2024–2025 school year. This bill is identical to SB 616.