Sen. Lionell Spruill

Assisted living facilities; involuntary discharge.Requires that regulations of the Board of Social Services regardinginvoluntary discharges of residents from assisted living facilities provide certain safeguards for residents, including a descriptionof the reasons for which a resident may be involuntarily discharged,certain notice requirements, a requirement that the facility make reasonable efforts to resolve any issues upon which the dischargeis based, and the provision of information regarding the resident'sright to appeal the facility's decision to discharge the resident.

Investor-owned water and water and sewer utilities; ratemaking proceedings. Requires the State Corporation Commission, in any ratemaking proceeding for an investor-owned utility authorized to furnish water or water and sewer service initiated after January 1, 2022, to evaluate such utility on a stand-alone basis and, for purposes of establishing any revenue requirement and rates, utilize such utility's actual end-of-test period capital structure and cost of capital without regard to the cost of capital, capital structure, or investments of any other entities with which such utility may be affiliated. If the Commission finds that the debt to equity ratio of the actual end-of-test period capital structure of such utility is unreasonable, the bill authorizes the Commission to utilize a debt to equity ratio that it finds to be reasonable. The bill requires the Commission, in all proceedings initiated after January 1, 2022, in which the Commission reviews the rates and associated earnings of an investor-owned utility authorized to furnish water or water and sewer service, to conduct such review utilizing the same cost of capital and capital structure adopted in the utility's most recent rate case in which such rates were set, without regard to any later changes in the cost of capital or capital structure. This bill is identical to HB 182.

Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; lifeinsurance or annuity preneed funeral contract requirements. Prohibitsthe Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers from requiring lifeinsurance or annuity contracts used to fund a preneed funeral contractto provide that (i) the face value thereof shall be adjusted annuallyby a factor equal to the annualized Consumer Price Index as publishedby the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Laboror (ii) a benefit payable at death under such contract will equalor exceed the sum of all premiums paid for such contract plus interestor dividends.

Virginia Military Community Infrastructure Grant Program and Fund. Establishes the Virginia Military Community Infrastructure Grant Fund (the Fund) to support military communities in the Commonwealth by awarding grants to aid the planning and design, construction, or completion of infrastructure projects that enhance military readiness, installation resiliency, or quality of life for military communities. The bill directs the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs to develop guidance and criteria to be used in awarding grants from the Fund and an annual grant application that sets out certain requirements for a grantee. This bill is identical to HB 354.

Historical African American cemeteries; disbursement of funds; qualified organization. Expands the definition of a qualified organization that may receive funds for maintenance of a historical African American cemetery to include any locality whose purpose for applying for funding from the Department of Historic Resources is to maintain a neglected historical African American cemetery, or a portion thereof, that is located within its jurisdictional bounds. The bill also creates an exemption by allowing localities that are eligible for funding for the maintenance and care of historical African American cemeteries to apply to the Director of the Department for a grant to perform extraordinary maintenance, renovation, repair, or reconstruction on any such cemeteries and graves without first having received initial funding for the maintenance and care of those cemeteries and graves. Current law requires a qualified organization to apply for any such grant only after it has received initial funding for the maintenance and care of a historical African American cemetery. This bill incorporates SB 76 and is identical to HB 727.