Provides that a woman has a fundamental right to obtain a lawful abortion and that no statute or regulation shall be construed to prohibit the performance of an abortion prior to viability or if necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. The bill also provides that any statute that places a burden on a woman's access to abortion without conferring any legitimate health benefit is unenforceable. The bill expands who can perform first trimester abortions from physicians to any health care providers licensed by the Board of Medicine or the Board of Nursing. The bill eliminates the requirement that second trimester abortions be performed in a licensed hospital. The bill eliminates the requirement that two other physicians certify that a third trimester abortion is necessary to prevent the woman's death or impairment of her mental or physical health as well as the need to find that the woman's health would be substantially and irremediably impaired. The bill eliminates all the procedures and processes, including the performance of an ultrasound, required to effect a woman's informed written consent to the performance of an abortion; however, the bill does not change the requirement that a woman's informed written consent is first obtained. The bill removes language classifying facilities that perform five or more first trimester abortions per month as hospitals for the purpose of complying with regulations establishing minimum standards for hospitals. The bill also removes the prohibition on the sale of health insurance policies that provide coverage for abortions through an exchange established or operated pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The provisions of this bill are in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in
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Allows a magistrate to issue an order requiring a person to provide a blood specimen for testing for human immunodeficiency virus or the hepatitis B or C virus when exposure to bodily fluids occurs between a person and a health care provider, person employed by or under the direction and control of a health care provider, law-enforcement officer or other person employed by a law-enforcement agency, firefighter, emergency medical services personnel, or school board employee and the person whose blood specimen is sought refuses to consent to providing such specimen. Currently, only the general district court may issue such order.
Increases from $3,000 to $5,000 the maximum individual income tax subtraction for National Guard pay. Under current law, the maximum annual subtraction for wages or salary received for service in the National Guard of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the lesser of $3,000 or the amount of income derived by the person from 39 calendar days of such service. Under the bill, the maximum annual subtraction is the lesser of $5,000 or the amount of income derived from 39 calendar days of National Guard service. The income tax subtraction will continue to be available only to persons in the ranks of O3 and below. The provisions of the bill apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017.