Sen. Jennifer Boysko

Sales tax; exemption for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Provides a state sales and use tax exemption beginning January 1, 2023, for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. The bill also provides, beginning February 1, 2023, an allocation of state revenues to fund the distribution to localities for educational funding that would have been distributed to them absent the exemption created by the bill. Under current law, such products are taxed at a reduced state sales and use tax rate of 1.5 percent and the standard local rate of one percent. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.

Correctional facilities; use of restorative housing; report. Directs the Department of Corrections to convene a work group to study the use of restorative housing within state correctional facilities and juvenile correctional centers. The bill directs the Department to facilitate confidential interviews between work group members and at least 25 persons currently incarcerated in a state correctional facility who are currently or who have within the past 12 months been placed in restorative housing, provided that such persons are not the subject of or involved in pending litigation with the Department, and confidential interviews with existing staff and facility officials as requested by the work group. The bill requires the work group to submit its findings and recommendations, including how to safely reduce or end the use of restorative housing that lasts longer than 14 days, to the General Assembly by December 1, 2022.

Virginia Employment Commission; administrative reforms; reporting requirements; electronic submissions; Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman established; emergency. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to calculate and report the (i) average unemployment insurance benefit levels, (ii) average income replacement of unemployment insurance benefits, and (iii) recipiency rate for unemployment insurance benefits in the Commonwealth as part of the Commission's annual balance sheet. The bill also requires the Commission, as part of its biennial strategic plan submitted to the Department of Planning and Budget, to develop and maintain an unemployment insurance Resiliency Plan that describes the specific actions the agency would take, depending on the level of increase in unemployment insurance (UI) claims, to address staffing, communications, and other relevant aspects of operations to ensure continued efficient and effective administration of the UI program.The bill creates within the Commission on Unemployment Compensation a subcommittee that shall be responsible for monitoring the Virginia Employment Commission's management of the unemployment insurance program. The subcommittee shall meet at least once each quarter and shall report annually, beginning on December 1, 2022, to the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Commerce and Energy, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations. The bill also directs the Commission to convene an advisory committee composed of stakeholders and subject matter experts to review information related to UI claims.The bill requires employers to submit claim-related forms and separation information electronically, as well as other information and electronic tax payments upon the Commission's request, unless the employer has received a waiver by the Commission.The bill provides that a claim for unemployment benefits that has been determined invalid by the Virginia Employment Commission as a result of the claimant's monetary ineligibility shall first be reviewed upon a request for redetermination prior to filing an appeal. The bill also creates an Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman position for the purpose of providing information and assistance to persons seeking assistance in the unemployment compensation process and exempts confidential case files of the Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman from the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.The bill directs the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management to lead a multiagency work group to discuss strategies for staffing assistance and support for agencies that might need staffing assistance during emergencies. Additionally, the Virginia Employment Commission is directed to task its internal audit division to review and revise documents and online resources related to unemployment compensation. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to HB 270.

Transit Ridership Incentive Program. Directs the Commonwealth Transportation Board to use at least 25 percent of the funds available for the Transit Ridership Incentive Program for grants to fund reduced-fare or zero-fare transit projects. Under current law, the amount that may be used for such programs is capped at 25 percent. This change expires on July 1, 2024. The bill provides that funds awarded for reduced-fare or zero-fare transit projects shall not be included in the requirement that funds be awarded in accordance with a statewide equitable ratio.

Certified recovery residences. Requires every person who operates a recovery residence to disclose to potential residents whether the recovery residence is a certified recovery residence and that no health care provider or behavioral health service provider who receives public funds or state agency shall refer a person with substance abuse disorder to a recovery residence unless the recovery residence has been certified by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Department) in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Board). The bill also provides that credentialing agencies by which the Board may require accreditation or in which the Board may require membership shall administer credentialing and certification programs in accordance with standards of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences; requires the Board to adopt regulations requiring each certified recovery residence include one or more resident or nonresident staff persons who is employed by the provider for compensation and who is responsible for oversight or management of the recovery residence; and requires the Department to provide, for each certified recovery residence included on the list maintained on the Department’s website the level of support provided by the certified recovery residence. The bill also provides that certified recovery residences shall constitute residential occupancy by a single family for zoning purposes, regardless of the number of persons residing in the certified recovery residence, and exempts certified recovery residences from the provisions of the Virginia Landlord and Tenant Act.

Health insurance; association health plan for real estate salespersons. Provides that a licensed insurer may issue a policy of group accident and sickness insurance to an association of real estate salespersons (association), which association shall be deemed the policyholder, and that such association health plan is not considered to be insurance and is not subject to the existing requirements for insurance if certain requirements are met. The bill requires that (i) all members of the association be eligible for coverage and membership, including employer members with at least one employee that is domiciled in the Commonwealth or self-employed individuals; (ii) membership in the association not be conditioned on any health status–related factor; (iii) the coverage offered through the association be available to all members regardless of any health status–related factor; (iv) the association not make health insurance coverage offered through the association available other than in connection with a member of the association; and (v) premiums for the policy be paid from funds contributed by the association or associations, or by employer members, or by both, or from funds contributed by the covered persons or from both the covered persons and the association, associations, or employer members. The bill also requires that the association (a) has at the outset a minimum of 25,000 members; (b) has been organized and maintained in good faith for purposes other than that of obtaining insurance; (c) has been in active existence for at least five years; and (d) has a constitution and bylaws that provide that the association hold regular meetings not less than annually to further purposes of the members, that the association collects dues or solicits contributions from members, and that the members have voting privileges and representation on the governing board and committees.The bill provides that any such policy shall (1) be considered a large group market plan subject to all coverage mandates applicable to a large group market plan, (2) be subject to the group health plan coverage requirements under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (3) be prohibited from denying coverage under the policy on the basis of a pre-existing condition, (4) be guaranteed issue and guaranteed renewable, (5) provide essential health benefits and cost-sharing requirements, and (6) offer a minimum level of coverage designed to provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60 percent of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan.The bill requires an insurer issuing such policy to an association to (A) treat all of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy as a single risk pool; (B) set premiums on the basis of the collective group experience of the members and employees of employer members who are enrolled in coverage under the policy; (C) not vary premiums by age, except that the rate shall not vary by more than four to one for adults; (D) not vary premiums on the basis of gender; (E) not vary premiums on the basis of the health status of an individual employee of an employer member or a self-employed individual member; and (F) not establish discriminatory rules based on the health status of an employer member, an individual employee of an employer member, or a self-employed individual for eligibility or contribution.Finally, the bill provides that a policy that meets certain requirements of the bill is considered to be compliant with the large group market insurance regulations under the federal Public Health Service Act and, as such, the Commonwealth is considered to be substantially enforcing the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with regard to such policy. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to regulate the policy in a manner that is consistent with such provisions. The bill provides that, in any case in which a federal agency renders a decision that is contrary to such provisions, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Attorney General may resolve any difference between federal law and the laws of the Commonwealth. This bill incorporates SB 397 and is identical to HB 768.

Department of Housing and Community Development;broadband affordability plan. Directs the Department of Housingand Community Development to develop the Commonwealth Digital Affordabilityand Cost-Effectiveness to address broadband affordability and equity.The bill requires that the Plan include (i) an overview of wherein the Commonwealth broadband and other digital connectivity is unaffordable;(ii) recommendations on how best to leverage federal grants addressingbroadband affordability to best execute the Plan; (iii) best practicesfor establishing a grant program or its equivalent to address digital affordability, taking into account existing federal funds and programs;(iv) a strategy to expand the affordability of broadband by retrofittingall affordable housing projects with broadband installations andother necessary infrastructure improvements; and (v) recommendations,including recommendations for a public outreach plan, on how to takeadvantage of the $14 billion Affordability Connectivity Program ofthe federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support a permanent$30-a-month broadband subsidy for low-income households, NationalTelecommunications and Information Administration programs, and theU.S. Department of Agriculture Reconnect program. The bill requiresthe Department to report the Plan to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, 2022.