Office of the Children's Ombudsman established. Establishes the Office of the Children's Ombudsman as a means of effecting changes in policy, procedure, and legislation; educating the public; investigating and reviewing actions of the State Department of Social Services, local departments of social services, child-placing agencies, or child-caring institutions; and monitoring and ensuring compliance with relevant statutes, rules, and policies pertaining to children's protective services and the placement, supervision, treatment, and improvement of delivery of care to children in foster care and adoptive homes. The Office of the Children's Ombudsman is headed by the Children's Ombudsman, who is appointed for a term of four years by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Sponsored bills
Funeral directors and embalmers; Board to promulgate regulations for licensure. Directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to promulgate regulations that establish requirements of licensure for funeral directors and embalmers.
Student journalists; freedom of speech andthe press. Declares that, except in certain limited circumstances,a student journalist at a public middle school or high school orpublic institution of higher education has the right to exercisefreedom of speech and the press in school-sponsored media, includingdetermining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school board or governing board, supported throughthe use of school or campus facilities, or produced in conjunctionwith a class or course in which the student is enrolled. The billdefines "school-sponsored media" as any material that is prepared, substantially written, published, or broadcast by a student journalistat a public middle school or high school or public institution ofhigher education under the direction of a student media adviser anddistributed or generally made available to members of the studentbody.
Health insurance; cost-sharing payments for prescription insulin drugs. Prohibits health insurance companies and other carriers from setting an amount exceeding $30 per 30-day supply that a covered person is required to pay at the point of sale in order to receive a covered prescription insulin drug. The measure also prohibits a provider contract between a carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy from containing a provision (i) authorizing the carrier's pharmacy benefits manager or the pharmacy to charge, (ii) requiring the pharmacy to collect, or (iii) requiring a covered person to make a cost-sharing payment for a covered prescription insulin drug in an amount that exceeds such limitation. This bill incorporates HB 1403.
Food stamps; Restaurant Meals Program. Directsthe Department of Social Services to participate in the RestaurantMeals Program (RMP) of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill requires the Department to develop and implementa plan to begin such participation no later than January 1, 2021.
Department of Education; guidance and resources; applied behavior analysis services. Requires the Department of Education to develop and publish no later than November 16, 2020, guidance and resources relating to the provision of applied behavior analysis services in public schools for students who are in need of such services.
Electric utility regulation; pilot program for undergrounding electrical transmission lines. Provides that the State Corporation Commission's approval of a proposed transmission line for inclusion in a pilot program established as part of the Grid Transformation and Security Act enacted in 2018 (i) precludes the placement of future overhead electrical transmission lines of at least 69 kilovolts in the same area or corridor by other transmission projects for a period of 10 years and (ii) does not preclude (a) any underground transmission lines in such right-of-way or (b) any electrical distribution lines in such right-of-way. The pilot program provides for the underground construction of two electrical transmission lines, including one for the Haymarket transmission line project in Prince William County.
Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill incorporates HB 1138 and is identical to SB 935.
Health insurance; nondiscrimination; gender identity or transgender status. Prohibits a health carrier from denying or limiting coverage or imposing additional cost sharing or other limitations or restrictions on coverage, under a health benefit plan for health care services that are ordinarily or exclusively available to covered individuals of one sex, to a transgender individual on the basis of the fact that the individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded is different from the one to which such health services are ordinarily or exclusively available. The measure also prohibits a health carrier from (i) subjecting an individual to discrimination under a health benefit plan on the basis of gender identity or being a transgender individual or (ii) requiring that an individual, as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under a health benefit plan, pay a premium that is greater than the premium for a similarly situated covered person enrolled in the plan on the basis of the covered person's gender identity or being a transgender individual. The measure requires health carriers to assess medical necessity according to nondiscriminatory criteria that are consistent with current medical standards.
Worker cooperatives. Establishes worker cooperatives as a category of cooperative associations. A worker cooperative is a stock corporation that has elected to be governed by provisions established by this measure, which include (i) conducting its business primarily for the mutual benefit of its members, (ii) allowing only current and retired employees to be members, (iii) limiting voting rights to current employees, (iv) providing that each employee is entitled to one vote, (v) prohibiting any person from owning more than one membership share, (vi) requiring at least two-thirds of employees to own membership shares, and (vii) requiring that net earnings be paid or credited to members in accordance with the ratio that each member's amount of work performed during a period bears to the total amount of work performed by all members during that period.