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.
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Implementation of federal mandates; grants bythe Commonwealth; certification of employment; waiver or reductionof capital investment and local match requirements. Provides grant administering agencies and authorities the ability to waiveor reduce capital investment or local match requirements based onthe creation of telework jobs that pay an average wage of at least1.2 times the Virginia minimum wage.
Alcoholic beverage control; local special events license. Allows the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to increase the frequency, duration, and designated area of events held under a local special events license upon the request of a locality after adoption of an ordinance allowing such increases. Under current law, localities are limited to holding 16 events per year under such license, with each event lasting no more than three consecutive days, except during the effective dates of any rule, regulation, or order that is issued by the Governor or State Health Commissioner to meet a public health emergency and that effectively reduces allowable restaurant seating capacity. The bill also increases the state and local license fees for local special events licenses issued pursuant to a local ordinance.
Sales and use tax exemption for data centers. Reduces the job creation requirement to qualify for the sales and use tax exemption for data centers in a distressed locality from 25 to 15 jobs. Under current law, such data centers must create at least 25 new jobs. The bill also redefines what criteria are used to identify a distressed locality; under the bill, a locality qualifies as distressed if it has an unemployment rate that is greater than the statewide unemployment rate and a poverty rate that exceeds the statewide poverty rate. The bill requires all data centers claiming the exemption to report certain information to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority (the Authority). The Department of Taxation, in collaboration with the Authority, would aggregate and publish such information biennially.
Telemedicine. Clarifies that nothing shallpreclude coverage of telehealth services by an insurer proposing to issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policiesproviding hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical coverageon an expense-incurred basis; a corporation providing individualor group accident and sickness subscription contracts; or a healthmaintenance organization providing a health care plan for healthcare services. The bill requires the Board of Medical AssistanceServices to amend the state plan for medical assistance to providefor payment of medical assistance for remote patient monitoring servicesprovided via telemedicine for certain high-risk patients, and providesfor the establishment of a practitioner-patient relationship viatelemedicine for the prescribing of Schedule II through VI controlledsubstances.
Pharmaceutical processors; cannabis products.Permits pharmaceutical processors to produce and distribute cannabisproducts other than cannabis oil. The bill defines the terms "botanicalcannabis," "cannabis product," and "usable cannabis." The bill requiresthe Board of Pharmacy to establish testing standards for botanical cannabis and botanical cannabis products, establish a registrationprocess for botanical cannabis products, and promulgate emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill allowsthe Board of Pharmacy to assess and collect a one-time botanicalcannabis regulatory fee from each pharmaceutical processor, not toexceed $50,000, to cover costs associated with the implementationof the provisions of the bill, including costs for new personnel,training, promulgation of regulations and guidance documents, andinformation technology.
Community services boards; discharge planning. Reduces from within 30 days to within 72 hours of an individual's identification as ready for discharge the time by which a community services board must document its disagreement with the determination that an individual is ready for discharge from a state hospital or training center. The bill also directs the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to establish a work group with representatives of the Virginia Association of Community Services Boards to (i) review the current process for discharging patients from state mental health hospitals, including the current assigned responsibilities of state hospital staff and community services board staff, as well as the barriers to timely discharge for patients clinically ready to discharge, and (ii) develop potential options to expedite the discharge process for individuals who can be safely discharged back into the community. The bill directs the work group to develop a plan that includes recommendations for expediting the discharge process and identify the necessary funding to ensure that individuals receive essential services upon discharge and that discharges are timely. The bill requires the work group to report its findings and conclusions and its plan to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by September 1, 2021.
Board of Pharmacy; pharmaceutical processors; processing and dispensing cannabis oil; report. Effects numerous changes to the processing and dispensing of cannabis oil by pharmaceutical processors in the Commonwealth. The bill allows written certifications for use of cannabis oil to include an electronic practitioner signature. The bill also eliminates the requirement that a pharmacist have oversight of the cultivation and processing areas of a pharmaceutical processor, instead requiring pharmaceutical processors to designate a person to oversee cultivation and production areas; removes the requirement that a cannabis dispensing facility undergo quarterly inspections, instead requiring that inspections occur no more than once annually; and allows pharmaceutical processors to remediate cannabis oil that fails any quality testing standard. The bill requires pharmaceutical processors to maintain evidence of criminal background checks for all employees and delivery agents of the pharmaceutical processor. The bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to promulgate regulations implementing the provisions of the bill and regulations creating reasonable restrictions on advertising and promotion by pharmaceutical processors by July 1, 2021, and directs the Board of Pharmacy to solicit input from stakeholders and appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth in order to develop recommendations for legislative action to permit the acceptance of cannabis products by hospices and hospice facilities in the Commonwealth and report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by October 1, 2021.
Virginia Employment Commission; communications with parties; report. Authorizes the Virginia Employment Commission to send notices and other communications related to claims brought under the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act through email or other electronic means in lieu of mail if a party to the claim so elects. The bill requires the Commission, if an electronic communication fails to be transmitted successfully, to send a new notice by first-class mail to the party's alternative address on record. The bill directs the Commission to report the number of unemployment insurance claimants who elect to receive communications electronically, and the effect of this change on Commission operations, by December 31, 2022.
Crisis call center; Crisis Call Center Fund established. Provides that the crisis call center, which under current law is administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Department), shall be designated as the 9-8-8 Crisis Hotline Center for purposes of participating in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The bill directs the Department, in its development of the crisis call center, community care teams, and mobile crisis teams, to comply with any applicable requirements of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 and to provide for consistency with federal guidelines promulgated under such law. The bill contains immunity provisions for any originating service provider and its employees and agents acting pursuant to the act.The bill increases from $0.75 to $0.94 the wireless E-911 surcharge and increases from $0.50 to $0.63 the prepaid wireless E-911 charge. The bill provides that part of the revenue attributable to the increase would be distributed to the Crisis Call Center Fund, established by the bill, to fund the Department's costs in establishing and administering the call center, and that the remainder of the revenue would be distributed to public safety answering points (PSAPs).