Sen. Chris Head

Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority;eligible site for site development grant; minimum acreage requirement. Reduces from 100 acres to 50 acres the minimum number of contiguousacres required for a site that is not a brownfield to satisfy theacreage requirement to be considered eligible to receive a site developmentgrant from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund by theVirginia Economic Development Partnership Authority. The bill alsoexempts from the minimum acreage requirement any site that existsin a locality that has three or fewer eligible sites that are atleast 100 acres.

Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill incorporates SB 120 and is identical to HB 18.

Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Board of Visitors; membership; powers and duties; meetings. Expands the total membership of the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind from 11 to 15 members by increasing the number of nonlegislative citizen members from seven to 11. The bill provides that of the 11 nonlegislative citizen members, two shall be parents of current students at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, of whom (i) one is the parent of a student who is deaf or hard of hearing and one is the parent of a student who is vision impaired and (ii) one represents the Eastern region of the Commonwealth and one represents the Western region of the Commonwealth; two shall be representatives of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Alumni Association who are deaf or hard of hearing; and two shall be representatives of the Alumni Association who are vision impaired. Under current law, the requirements for the parent representatives are less specific and there is only one representative of the Alumni Association. The bill also amends the powers and duties of the Board of Visitors to include supervising the superintendent, other officers, and the faculty of the school. The bill provides that, in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any notice of a meeting of the Board of Visitors shall state whether public comment will be received and, if so, the approximate point at which it will be received. The bill requires that at each meeting at which public comment will be received each interested individual is allotted three minutes to speak and prohibits limiting that allotted time without adequate notice prior to the date of the meeting. The bill also requires the Board of Visitors to meet no less than four times each year. Current law provides that the Board of Visitors shall meet no more than four times each year. Finally, the bill defines the terms "deaf," "hard of hearing," and "vision impaired."

Local government; standardization of public notice requirements for certain meetings, hearings, or intended actions. Standardizes the frequency with which and length of time in which notices of certain meetings, hearings, and other intended actions of localities must be published. The notice provisions included in the bill are organized into three groups: (i) publication required at least seven days before the meeting, hearing, or intended action; (ii) publication required twice, with the first notice appearing no more than 28 days before and the second notice appearing no less than seven days before the meeting, hearing, or intended action; and (iii) publication required three times, with the first notice appearing no more than 35 days before and the third notice appearing no less than seven days before the meeting, hearing, or intended action. The bill also standardizes descriptive information in such notices related to (a) proposing, amending, or repealing ordinances; (b) local budget adoption; and (c) zoning ordinances and planning-related actions. This bill is identical to HB 1488.

Advance Health Care Planning Registry; amendment of regulations. Amends the list of documents that may be submitted to the Advance Health Care Directive Registry to include any other document that supports advance health care planning. The bill also changes the name of the Advance Health Care Directive Registry to the Advance Health Care Planning Registry. The bill directs the Department of Health to amend certain Advance Health Care Planning Registry regulations. This bill is identical to HB 188.

Center for Rural Virginia; name change. Renames the Center for Rural Virginia as the Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. Center for Rural Virginia. This bill is identical to HB 1381.

Physician assistants; practice agreement exemption. Allows physician assistants employed by a hospital or employed incertain facilities operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or in federally qualified health centersdesignated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to practicewithout a separate practice agreement if the credentialing and privilegingrequirements of the applicable facility include a practice arrangement,as described in the bill.

Economic development authorities; Craig County.Allows the board of supervisors of Craig County to appoint one ofits members to the Economic Development Authority of the County ofCraig.

Financial Services Expansion Grant Fund. Creates the Financial Services Expansion Grant Fund to make grant payments to an eligible financial services company that makes a capital investment of at least $87 million at a facility in Roanoke County and creates at least 1,100 new full-time jobs at the facility. The eligible financial services company would be eligible for an aggregate of $15 million in grants paid out over a 10-year period if it meets such performance parameters. This bill is identical to HB 468.

Senator Richard L. "Dick" Saslaw; portrait.Establishes a committee to contract for a portrait of SenatorRichard L. "Dick" Saslaw to be painted, framed, and installed inthe Capitol.