Pilot program for broadband capacity; municipalbroadband authorities. Expands the existing broadband pilotprogram to allow for the participation of municipalities and government-ownedbroadband authorities in order to provide broadband service to unservedareas of the Commonwealth.
Learner's permits; use of personal communications device. Eliminates the provision prohibiting a holder of a learner's permit to operate a vehicle while using a wireless communication device. Such provision was specific only to the holder of a learner's permit. Under a different current law, all drivers, including those with a learner's permit, are prohibited from holding a personal communications device while operating a vehicle.
State parks; Department of Conservation andRecreation; recommendations for funding. Directs the Departmentof Conservation and Recreation to develop recommendations for dedicatedsources of funding for state parks that will be relatively stablefrom year to year. The Department shall submit its recommendationsto the Chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeakeand Natural Resources, the House Committee on Appropriations, theSenate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources,and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by November1, 2021.
Promises to appear after the issuance of a summons. Eliminates the requirement that a promise to appear be completedafter the issuance of a summons for a misdemeanor traffic offense.The bill provides that an accused shall be released from custodyafter a summons has been issued.
Abolition of the death penalty. Abolishes the death penalty, including for those persons currently under a death sentence. The bill provides that no person may be sentenced to death or put to death on or after its effective date for any violation of law.
Law-enforcement agencies; body-worn camera systems. Creates a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Body-WornCamera System Fund to assist state or local law-enforcement agencieswith the costs of purchasing, operating, and maintaining body-worn camera systems.
Transportation electrification; Virginia EnergyPlan. Amends the Virginia Energy Plan to include an analysisof electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other infrastructureneeded to support the 2045 net-zero carbon target in the transportationsector.
Campaign contributions; filing of finance reports. Changes the reporting requirement from any single contribution of $1,000 or more to all financial activity of a campaign committee of a candidate for a statewide office or the General Assembly knowingly received or reported by the candidate or his treasurer on behalf of his candidacy during the period beginning January 1 and ending on the day immediately before the first day of a regular session of the General Assembly to be reported to the State Board of Elections not later than January 15. Under current law, such single contributions of $1,000 or more during such time period are also required to be included in the next report of the candidate, but under the bill, none of the financial activity reported for such time period is required to be reported on any subsequent report.
Public defender offices; County of Chesterfield. Establishes a public defender office for the County of Chesterfield. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Prescription drug price transparency. Requires every health carrier, pharmacy benefits manager, wholesale drug distributer, and drug manufacturer to report information about prescription drug prices to the Department of Health and requires the Department to make such information available on its website. The bill also provides that, beginning January 1, 2022, a health plan enrollee's defined cost sharing for each prescription drug shall be calculated at the point of sale based on a price that is reduced by an amount equal to at least 80 percent of all rebates received, or to be received, in connection with the dispensing or administration of the prescription drug. The bill also requires the Bureau of Insurance to (i) identify all statutory and regulatory provisions from which health plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) are exempted and (ii) determine the financial impact, if any, of application of such statutory and regulatory provisions such health plans, and to report its finding to the Chairman of the House Committees on Health, Welfare and Institutions and Labor and Commerce and the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor and Education and Health by October 1, 2021
