Sen. George Barker

Provides that, for Medicare patients placed in observation or outpatient status, any hospital that provides a written notice and an oral explanation of such notice to the patient that satisfies the federal requirements for such notice shall be deemed to have satisfied Virginia's requirements for such notice. The bill also extends the timeframe for the provision of the notice required by current law from 24 hours to 36 hours. This bill was incorporated into

Authorizes Virginia to become a signatory to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission Interstate Compact. The compact establishes a state safety oversight authority for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Rail System, pursuant to the mandate of federal law, to review, approve, oversee, and enforce the safety of the WMATA Rail System. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Sets out the rights and responsibilities under the Virginia Fair Housing Law (§ 36-96.1 et seq.) with respect to maintaining an assistance animal in a dwelling. The bill establishes a process through which a person with a disability may submit a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling, including any supporting documentation verifying the disability and disability-related need for an accommodation. Under the bill, a request for reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal may be denied for any one of the following reasons: (i) the requester does not have a disability; (ii) the requester does not have a disability-related need for an assistance animal; (iii) the accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the person receiving the request; or (iv) the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the operations of the person receiving the request. The bill provides that whenever a request for a reasonable accommodation to maintain an assistance animal in a dwelling is denied for reasons other than that the requester does not have a disability or a disability-related need for an assistance animal, an interactive process shall be initiated to determine if there is an alternative accommodation that would effectively address the disability-related need. The bill also defines "assistance animal," "major life activities," "therapeutic relationship," and "physical or mental impairment." The bill provides that if any provision of its provisions is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be not substantially equivalent or otherwise inconsistent with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended, such provision shall not be enforceable. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission. This bill is identical to

Amends provisions governing the regulation of certified public accountants (CPAs) by the Board of Accountancy, including (i) clarifying that CPAs are subject to the continuing professional education requirements without regard to whether they use the CPA title when providing services to the public, (ii) prohibiting a CPA from practicing under an expired license, and (iii) requiring that employment experience reported on a license application be verified by a licensed CPA. The bill extends from three to five years the time for filing a complaint against an out-of-state CPA or CPA firm. The bill also requires a CPA firm to enroll in a peer review program only if the firm provides services that fall within the scope of a peer review program. Under current law, all CPA firms are required to enroll in a peer review program regardless of the type of services provided.