Sen. Jennifer Boysko

Requires any comprehensive financial aid award notification provided to a student by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education to meet the requirements and best practices established by the Council in its Financial Aid Award Letters Policies and Guidance.

Requires the independent monitor chosen to facilitate the energy efficiency stakeholder process established for the purpose of providing input and feedback on the development of electric utilities' energy efficiency programs to convene meetings of the participants not less frequently than twice each calendar year between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2028. The measure also requires the independent monitor's report on the status of the stakeholder process to address (i) the objectives established by the stakeholder group during this process related to programs to be proposed, (ii) recommendations related to programs to be proposed that result from the stakeholder process, and (iii) the status of those recommendations. Current law requires that an annual report be submitted by the utility and does not require that it include such information on the stakeholder process.

Alters the requirements for newspapers that may be used for legal notices and publications by (i) changing the publication and circulation requirement from 24 consecutive weeks to at least 50 of the preceding 52 weeks and requiring such publication be in printed form; (ii) requiring that such a newspaper provide general news coverage of the area in which the notice is to be published; and (iii) requiring that such a newspaper have a periodicals mailing permit issued by the United States Postal Service. The bill further provides that a newspaper that lacks a periodicals permit issued by the United States Postal Service may petition the circuit court for the jurisdiction in which such notices or publications are to be published, as opposed to where such newspaper is located as current law requires, for the authority to be certified as a newspaper of general circulation. The bill further allows a locality that determines that no newspaper published in such locality otherwise meets the requirements that enable it to be a newspaper for the use of such notices and publications to petition the circuit court in the jurisdiction in which such notices and publications are to be published for the authority to be published in another medium. The bill specifies that such petition shall not be filed without majority approval of the locality's local governing body. The bill requires that any newspaper authorized to publish such notices and publications shall also (a) print such notices and publications in a prominent location in such newspaper with an identifying heading printed in boldface letters no smaller than 24-point type and (b) maintain at least three years' worth of print archives of such newspaper and make such archives available for public inspection. The bill further requires that a newspaper shall post a notice on the newspaper's website, if such a website is published by such newspaper, and on a searchable, statewide repository website established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of Virginia newspapers as a repository for such notices. The bill provides that any notice published on a website shall be accessible to the public at no charge.

Requires licensed child day programs and certain other programs that serve preschool-age children to develop and implement a plan to test potable water from sources identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as high priority. The bill requires such plan and the results of each such test to be submitted to the Commissioner of Social Services and the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water. The bill stipulates that if the result of any such test indicates a level of lead in the potable water that is at or above 15 parts per billion, the program shall remediate the level of lead in the potable water to below 15 parts per billion and confirm such remediation by retesting the water and submitting the results of the retests to the Commissioner of Social Services and the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water. The bill allows such programs, in lieu of testing or remediation, to use other water sources that meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for bottled water.

Exempts menstrual supplies, specifically pads, tampons, and menstrual cups, from sales and use tax. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2020, and is contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.