Sen. Jennifer L McClellan

Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder in individuals from age two through age 18. Currently, such coverage is required to be provided for individuals from age two through age 10. The provision applies with respect to insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans delivered, issued for delivery, reissued, or extended on or after January 1, 2019. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Codifies existing budget language in Item 442 A of the 2017 Appropriation Act that authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish, where feasible and cost efficient, contracts with public-private partnerships to provide for simplification and streamlining of services through electronic means. The bill codifies electronic services that the Department of Motor Vehicles has created pursuant to existing budget authority to provide simple, fast, efficient, and secure titling and registration of vehicles for customers and lienholders.

Expands from specific localities to any locality the scope of existing enabling legislation related to affordable dwelling unit ordinances, making such legislation applicable statewide.

Allows a court to defer and dismiss a criminal case where the defendant has been diagnosed with autism or an intellectual disability.

Limits the property tax exemption for solar equipment and facilities owned and operated by a business, which exemption currently applies to 80 percent of the assessed value of certain projects, to those projects equaling less than 150 megawatts.

Requires health instruction to incorporate standards that recognize the multiple dimensions of health by including mental health and the relationship of physical and mental health so as to enhance student understanding, attitudes, and behavior that promote health, well-being, and human dignity. The bill also directs the Board of Education to review and update the health Standards of Learning for students in grades nine and 10 to include mental health. This bill is identical to

Provides that outdoor tethering of a companion animal shall not meet the requirement that an animal be given adequate shelter, unless the animal is actively engaged in an agricultural or hunting activity, when it is conducted(i) when the temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower or 85 degrees Fahrenheit or higher; (ii) during a heat advisory; or (iii) during a severe weather warning. The bill provides that a tether shall meet the requirement that an animal be given adequate space if it is four times the length of the animal or 15 feet in length, whichever is greater, and does not cause injury or pain or weigh more than one-tenth of the animal's body weight. The bill exempts agricultural animals from existing provisions related to tethering. The bill also authorizes any locality to adopt ordinances that parallel and make more stringent the state law regarding the care of companion animals.

Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill provides that the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles shall return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended prior to July 1, 2018, solely for nonpayment of fines or costs, provided that such person has paid the applicable reinstatement fee. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act. This bill incorporates