Sen. Suhas Subramanyam

Plastic Waste Prevention Advisory Council. Establishes in the executive branch of state government the Plastic Waste Prevention Advisory Council to study and make recommendations regarding plastic pollution problems in the Commonwealth, with the mission of eliminating plastic waste and contributing to the achievement of plastics packaging circular economy industry standards. The bill has a sunset date of June 30, 2023.

Coal ash ponds; well monitoring program; drinking water well testing. Requires each utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond, to commission an independent well water test on behalf of the owner of any well located within 1.5 miles of such coal ash pond by January 1, 2021, and requires such test to be conducted once per year during each of the five years following the approval of the closure of the coal ash pond and once every five years thereafter. The bill provides that if any test exceeds groundwater quality standards for constituents associated with coal ash, the Virginia Waste Management Board shall instruct the utility to provide alternative water supplies to the owner of the well. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to consider the results of the tests in its permitting, monitoring, or enforcement proceedings.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; architecturaland professional engineering term contracts; limitations. Increasesfrom four to five the number of times that a public body may renewa one-year term contract for architectural or professional engineeringservices related to multiple construction projects. The bill alsoadds an alternative option for public bodies to instead choose onefive-year term contract for such services with no option for renewals.The bill increases the aggregate limit for architectural and engineeringservices contracts for localities for projects performed in a one-yearcontract term from $6 million to $10 million. The bill also increasesthe aggregate limit for architectural and engineering services contractsfor environmental location, design, and inspection work regardinghighways and bridges by the Commissioner of Highways for projects performed in an initial two-year term contract from $5 million to$10 million.

Board of Education; Career and Technical Education Work-Based Learning Guide. Requires the Board of Education to review and revise, in consultation with certain stakeholders and no later than December 1, 2020, its Career and Technical Education Work-Based Learning Guide to expand the opportunities available for students to earn credit for graduation through high-quality, work-based learning experiences or, in the case of agricultural education, supervised agricultural experiences, in addition to job shadowing, mentorships, internships, and externships.

Department of Education; common statewide definition; "students with limited or interrupted formal education." Requires the Department of Education to develop and adopt a common statewide definition for the term "students with limited or interrupted formal education" and to require local school divisions to report on the number of students who fall under such definition as part of the required data collection and reporting on average daily membership for the purposes of documenting any changes in such numbers over time. The bill requires that theBoard of Education evaluate the supports and programs available to "students with limited or interrupted formal education" in local school divisions to determine whether the calculations for the school quality indicators within the Board's Regulations Establishing the Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia are appropriate or whether changes in methodology could be made to more comprehensively measure the academic and nonacademic achievement of such student population.

Election day; extending polling hours. Extends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the time at which polls close on election day. The bill aligns candidate filing deadlines and party nomination deadlines with the closing of polls. The bill provides that these changes will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly. The bill incorporates HB 1643.

School boards; school meals; availability to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make meals available pursuant to such programs to any student who requests such a meal, regardless of whether such student has the money to pay for the meal or owes money for meals previously provided, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.

State Corporation Commission; retirement of coal-fired or natural gas-fired electric generation facilities. Requires the State Corporation Commission to determine the amortization period for recovery of any appropriate costs due to the early retirement of any coal-fired or natural gas-fired electric generation facilities owned or operated by any Phase I or Phase II Utility. The bill requires the Commission, in making such determination, to (i) perform an independent analysis of the remaining undepreciated capital costs; (ii) establish a recovery period that best serves ratepayers; and (iii) allow for the recovery of any carrying costs that the Commission, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate.

Schedule VI controlled substances; hypodermic syringes and needles; limited-use license. Allows the Board of Pharmacy to issue a limited-use license for the purpose of dispensing Schedule VI controlled substances, excluding the combination of misoprostol and methotrexate, and hypodermic syringes and needles for the administration of prescribed controlled substances to a doctor of medicine, osteopathic medicine, or podiatry, a nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant, provided that such limited-use licensee is practicing at a nonprofit facility. The bill requires such nonprofit facilities to obtain a limited-use permit from the Board and comply with regulations for such a permit. This bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to SB 1074.

School meal debt; donations. Permits anyschool board to solicit and receive any donation or other funds forthe purpose of eliminating or offsetting any school meal debt atany time during the school year and requires each school board touse any such funds solely for such purpose, provided, however, thatno such funds are obtained in an illegal or illicit manner. The billprovides that if a school board receives a donation that does notentirely eliminate or offset the total school meal debt at any timeduring the school year, the school board shall distribute the donation proportionately among each school meal debt.