Annual Public Elementary and Secondary School Safety Audits; Creation or Review of School Building Floor Plans Required HB 741 (Bell) requires each local school board, as part of each annual school safety audit, to create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate but provides that such floor plan may be withheld from public disclosure.

Commercial Driver's License Examinations HB 1146 (Bell) authorizes governmental entities, including comprehensive community colleges in the Virginia Community College System, certified as third-party testers to test and train drivers employed by another governmental entity or enrolled in a commercial driver training course offered by a community college. It also extends the validity of a skills test certification from 60 days to six months and repeals the prohibition on applicants 18 years of age and older retaking skills tests within 15 days. Note:  HB 1146 incorporates  HB 628 (Hudson). SB 301 (Deeds) similarly authorizes governmental entities, including comprehensive community colleges in the Virginia Community College System, certified as third party testers to test and train drivers employed by another governmental entity or enrolled in a commercial driver training course offered by a community college. The bill also repeals the prohibition on applicants 18 years of age and older retaking skills tests within 15 days. Current law authorizes such reexamination upon payment of a $2 fee.

Commercial Driver’s Licenses HB 553 (O’Quinn) directs the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation and working with various agencies of the Commonwealth, to promote and implement various initiatives related to commercial driver's licenses. The bill sunsets on July 1, 2023.

Driver training HB 530 (Batten) authorizes governmental entities, including comprehensive community colleges in the Virginia Community College System, certified as third party testers to test and train drivers employed by another governmental entity or enrolled in a commercial driver training course offered by a community college. The bill repeals the prohibition on applicants 18 years of age and older retaking skills tests within 15 days. Current law authorizes such reexamination upon payment of a $2 fee. The bill makes immediate instead of contingent on federal regulations the repeal of certain provisions requiring an applicant to, after failing the behind the wheel examination for a third time, take a course prior to reexamination. The bill clarifies that no law or regulation safeguarding driver testing information shall be construed to prohibit (i) the possession, use, or provision of the Department of Motor Vehicles' driver license examination questions by or to any person for the purpose of administering a knowledge examination or (ii) the Department from making sample examination questions available to the public or the public from possessing sample examination questions.

Electric Cooperatives; Net Energy Metering; Power Purchase Agreements; Local Facilities Usage Charges HB 266 (Head) permits any customer, besides a farm or small agricultural generating facility and any customer selling power to the electric cooperative, to interconnect with an electric cooperative and enter an agreement for local facilities usage charges. The bill provides that electric cooperatives could seek approval from the State Corporation Commission at any time for a tariff for local facilities usage charges for the use of cooperative system facilities; however, the terms of an independent agreement for local facilities usage charges would have prevailed if inconsistent with the approved tariff amount.

Electric Utilities; Municipal Net Energy Metering HB 396 (Sullivan) updates provisions related to American Electric Power's participation in a municipal net energy metering pilot program and creates similar requirements for a municipal net energy metering pilot program for Dominion Energy, with a duration of the pilot program for Dominion Energy until July 1, 2028. The bill clarifies that the aggregated capacity of generation facilities subject to a net metering pilot program conducted by any utility shall not be considered part of the aggregate net metering cap established pursuant to the Virginia Clean Economy Act. However, the aggregated capacity of generation facilities under each utility's pilot program that is part of a third-party power purchase agreement would constitute a portion of the existing limit on pilot programs with third-party power purchase agreements.

Emergency Management Assessment SB 60 (Hackworth) provides that all political subdivisions shall provide an annually updated emergency management assessment and data related to emergency sheltering capabilities to the State Coordinator of Emergency Management on or before August 1 of each year.

Energy Performance-Based Contracts; Roof Replacement HB 1225 (Bulova) and SB 13 (Favola) allow procurement of a roof replacement as part of a larger energy conservation or operational efficiency measure if such replacement is either necessary for the installation of such measure or if the contracting entity determines that the replacement of more than 20 percent of the roof is necessary to install such measure. These bills require such procurement to be publicly noticed on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. Such procurement would be designed by a licensed architect or professional engineer.

Literary Fund; Loans; Application Process; Maximum Loan Amounts; Rates of Interest; Closing Costs; Waiting Lists SB 471 (McClellan) would require the Board of Education (the Board) to establish an annual open application process for Literary Fund loans to finance the construction and renovation of public elementary and secondary school buildings in the Commonwealth to occur during the period that the Board deems most suitable and requires the Board to prioritize applications on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay. The bill would increase from $7.5 million to $25 million the maximum Literary Fund loan amount and requires the Board to offer a loan add-on not to exceed $5 million per loan for projects that result in school consolidation and the net reduction of at least one existing school. The bill further would require the Board, in consultation with the Department of Treasury, to establish loan interest rates that are benchmarked to a market index on an annual basis, not to exceed two percent per year for the localities with a school division composite index of local ability-to-pay between 0.0 50and 0.299 and requires the Board to utilize a sliding scale based on the local school division's composite index of local ability-to-pay to determine the interest rate on each such loan.  The bill would require the Board to establish a competitive program for the award of up to $25,000 to a school division that receives a Literary Fund loan for the purpose of subsidizing all or a portion of the closing costs for such loan. In addition, the bill would permit the Board to remove any project that has been inactive for at least five years from any Literary Fund loan project waiting list that it maintains. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect on 12/01/2022.

School Buses, Commercial Uses SB 774 (Dunnavant) permits the school board of any school division to enter into agreements with any third-party logistics company to allow for the use of the school buses of such school division by such third-party logistics company but provides that such third-party logistics company shall not use the school buses to provide transportation of passengers for compensation or for residential delivery of products for compensation.

School Construction Fund and Program; created and established HB 563 (O’Quinn) and SB 473 (McClellan) require the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bills require each school board to provide to the Department of Education in a timely fashion the local data that is necessary to ensure that such tool remains relevant and useful for the determination of maintenance reserve needs. The bills require the Department of Education to consider converting or using as a template the Department of General Services' Real Estate and Assets Management system for tracking buildings and infrastructure maintenance status to meet the requirement to maintain such tool. The bills also establish the School Construction Fund and Program for the purpose of awarding grants to local school boards to fund the construction of new public school buildings or the renovation or expansion of existing public school buildings in the local school division. The bills require any revenues remaining in the Gaming Proceeds Fund after certain enumerated appropriations are made to be appropriated to the School Construction Fund. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect on 12/01/2022.

School Division Maintenance Reserve Tool SB 238 (McPike) requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bill would require each school board to provide to the Department of Education in a timely fashion the local data that is necessary to ensure that such tool remains relevant and useful for the determination of maintenance reserve needs.

School Resource Officers; threat assessment team membership; law-enforcement liaison HB 873 (Greenhalgh) requires, in the case of any public elementary or secondary school in which a school resource officer is employed, the threat assessment team for such school to include at least one such school resource officer. The bill also requires the chief local law-enforcement officer for any local school division in which a public elementary or secondary school does not employ a school resource officer to designate a law-enforcement officer to receive, either in-person or online, the school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with relevant law and requires such officer to serve as the law-enforcement liaison for the school administrator in such a school who has also received such training as prescribed by relevant law.

School Safety Audits; Law-Enforcement Officers HB 1129 (Taylor) and SB 600 (Pillion) require each local school board to require its schools to collaborate with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee when conducting required school safety audits. These bills also require that the completed walk-through checklist using the standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Architectural and Professional Engineering Term Contracting; Limitations HB 429 (Bulova) and SB 225 (McPike) provide that the sum of all projects performed in an architectural and professional engineering contract term shall not exceed $10 million, and the fee for any single project shall not exceed $2.5 million. The bills allow a contract for multiple architectural or professional engineering projects to be renewable for up to three additional terms at the option of the public body. The bills also remove specific agency and locality exceptions to such current limits. Note: HB 429 incorporates HB 438 (Sewell).

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Bid Bonds; Construction Contracts SB 258 (Bell) provides that, except in cases of emergency, all bids and proposals for construction contracts in excess of $500,000 shall be accompanied by a bid bond.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Payment Clauses to be Included in Contracts; Right to Payment of Subcontractors SB 550 (Bell, J) requires contracts awarded by state or local government agencies and contracts in which there is at least one general contractor and one subcontractor to include a payment clause that obligates the contractors to be individually liable for the entire amount owed to any subcontractor with which it contracts. The bill provides that a contractor shall not be liable for amounts otherwise reducible pursuant to a breach of contract by the subcontractor; however, the contractor must notify the subcontractor in writing of the contractor's intent to withhold all or a part of the subcontractor's payment with the reason for such nonpayment. Payment by the party contracting with the contractor would not be a condition precedent to payment to any lower-tier subcontractor.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Performance and Payment Bonds SB 259 (Bell) requires a performance bond and payment bond to be furnished by the contractor for all public construction contracts that exceed $500,000, and removes provisions that applied different bond requirements for transportation-related projects.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Preference for Plastic Recycled Materials HB 1287 (Runion) directs the Department of General Services to amend its regulations to require state agencies, in the determination of an award for the procurement of plastic materials, to require that bidders identify whether their plastic materials contain recycled materials and, if so, specify the amount of recycled content in such plastic materials.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Purchase of Personal Protective Equipment SB 416 (DeSteph) requires a state agency, whenever purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) for public use, to purchase such PPE from a Virginia-based company or manufacturer that uses materials or components made in Virginia or the United States, or a United States-based manufacturer that uses materials or components made in the United States, if available, and that complies with all applicable federal and international certifications and requirements for such products. The bill provides that if a state agency is unable to purchase PPE from such company or manufacturer, it may purchase from another company or manufacturer, pending the results of independent laboratory testing of the PPE. The bill directs the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to establish a work group to make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding products other than PPE that state agencies should purchase with the same requirements and to report the recommendations of the work group to the Chairs of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology by September 1, 2022.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Revision of Procurement Procedures HB 1310 (Shin) provides that the Department of General Services and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency shall review and revise their procurement procedures to encourage the use of U.S. General Services Administration contracts or contracts awarded by any other agency of the United States government where appropriate.

Local Regulation of Smoking; Outdoor Parks, Recreation Facilities, and Playgrounds SB 132 (Edwards) would allow localities to designate smoking areas within 100 feet of sports fields, recreation centers, and playgrounds in outdoor parks. The bill would require signs regarding designated smoking areas to be posted at the entrances to such parks.

Parental Notification of Certain Threats, Behavior, and Unlawful Acts HB 1315 (Anderson) would require within four hours of receiving notification of a preliminary determination by the threat assessment team that a student poses a threat of violence or physical harm to self or others; threatening or aberrant behavior that may represent a threat to the school; or unlawful acts committed on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity that involve the unlawful use or possession of a weapon, homicide, criminal sexual assault, or trespassing, each division superintendent to notify the parent of each student enrolled in the relevant school of such threat, threatening or aberrant behavior, or unlawful act.

Parental Notification of Certain Treats, Behavior, and Unlawful Acts; Panic Alarms HB 1125 (Anderson) would  require, within four hours of receiving notification of a preliminary determination by the threat assessment team that a student poses a threat of violence or physical harm to self or others; threatening or aberrant behavior that may represent a threat to the school; or unlawful acts committed on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity that involve the unlawful use or possession of a weapon, homicide, criminal sexual assault, or trespassing, each division superintendent to notify the parent of each student enrolled in the relevant school of such threat, threatening or aberrant behavior, or unlawful act. The bill would require each school board to equip each public elementary and secondary school building in the local school division with at least one panic alarm that adheres to nationally recognized industry standards, including the standards of the National Fire Protection Association and Underwriters Laboratories, and is installed by a licensed and qualified professional.

Standards for the Maintenance and Operations, Renovation, and New Construction of Public Elementary and Secondary School Buildings SB 603 (Stanley) would require the Board of Education (the Board) to make recommendations to the General Assembly for amendments to the Standards of Quality to establish standards for the maintenance and operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementary and secondary school buildings. The bill would require such recommendations to include standards for the percentage of the current replacement value of a public school building that a school board should budget for the maintenance and operations of the building and such other standards as the Board deems appropriate.

Zoning; Wireless Communications Infrastructure; Application Process SB 255 (Bell) would provide that in its consideration of certain communications infrastructure applications, a locality shall not disapprove an application if the proposed new structure provides additional wireless coverage or capacity for first responders, or the proposed tower is not within a four-mile radius of an existing tower that is part of the applicant's network. Additional changes in the bill would provide that a locality shall not be prohibited from disapproving certain applications for any zoning approval required for non-administrative review-eligible projects on the basis of the fact that the proposed height of any wireless support structure, wireless facility, or wireless support structure with attached wireless facilities exceeds 200 feet above ground level.

Certain School Board Property; Establishment of Gun-Free Zone Permitted HB 391 (Freitas) would have removed the authority of any school board to deem any non-school zone building or property that it owns or leases where employees of such school board are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties as a gun-free zone.

Contracts; Payment Clauses to be Included; Right to Payment of Subcontractors HB 881 (Fowler) would have required contracts awarded by state or local government agencies or private entities to include a payment clause that obligates the contractor to be individually liable for the entire amount owed to any subcontractor with which it contracts minus any amount that may otherwise be withheld due to the subcontractor's breach of contract. The bill would have provided that payment by the party contracting with the contractor shall not be a condition precedent to payment to any lower-tier subcontractor

Control of Firearms by Localities HB 26 (Anderson) and SB 74 (Chase) would have removed the authority for a locality by ordinance to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms, ammunition, or components or any combination thereof in any building, or part thereof, owned or used by such locality for governmental purposes; any public park owned or operated by the locality; any recreation or community center facility; or any public street, road, alley, or sidewalk or public right-of-way or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public and is being used by or is adjacent to a permitted event or an event that would otherwise require a permit.  These bills would have provided that any firearm received by the locality pursuant to a buy-back program shall be offered for sale by public auction or sealed bids to a person licensed as a dealer. These bills would have also limited the authority of localities and state governmental entities to bring lawsuits against certain firearms manufacturers and others.  HB 483 (Freitas) and HB 1033 (Davis) would have removed the authority for a locality by ordinance to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms, ammunition, or components or any combination thereof in any building, or part thereof, owned or used by such locality for governmental purposes; any public park owned or operated by the locality; any recreation or community center facility; or any public street, road, alley, or sidewalk or public right-of-way or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public and is being used by or is adjacent to a permitted event or an event that would otherwise require a permit.

Daylight Saving Time in Virginia HB 303 (Freitas) would have exempted Virginia from observing daylight saving time, thereby making Eastern Standard Time the standard time in Virginia year-round.  HJ 6 (McNamara) would have requested the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to study the effects of the Commonwealth's continued observance of daylight saving time under the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 and the potential consequences of a decision to use either standard time or daylight saving time year-round in the Commonwealth.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure and Rooftop Solar Energy Collection Device Installation; Report HB 1244 (Scott) would have directed the State Corporation Commission to evaluate by locality the availability and accessibility of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and rooftop solar energy collection device installation to residents of the Commonwealth.

Emergency Management Assessment HB 810 (Price) would have provided that all political subdivisions be required to provide an annually updated emergency management assessment and data related to emergency sheltering capabilities to the State Coordinator of Emergency Management on or before August 1 of each year.

Establishment of Speed Limits; Local Authority SB 333 (Bell, J) would have authorized localities to reduce speed limits on any highway in the locality, provided that such speed limit is indicated by lawfully placed signs.

Energy Efficiency of Buildings SB 452 (Boysko) would have required the Board of Housing and Community Development to adopt optional building energy efficiency standards and allows localities to adopt and enforce these standards.  The bill would have allowed localities to require disclosure of energy use intensity (EUI) information to prospective buyers, lessees, and lenders at the point of sale, and to require an energy audit for the building prior to the completion of the sale if there is insufficient available data or upon request.  The bill would have allowed localities to implement energy benchmarking, requiring utilities to collect and report energy use data for covered buildings to owners, and to require utilities to maintain 12 months of aggregated data for any building with an active utility account.

Energy Efficiency Standards; More Stringent Energy Efficiency Requirements HB 905 (Lopez) would have allowed a locality by ordinance to create and require stretch codes, defined in the bill as energy efficiency standards that are in addition to or more stringent than those in the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and use them as an alternative means of compliance with a locality's building requirements.

Grants and Public Procurement HB 817 (Torian) would have required that for any grant or contract issued or entered into by the Governor, any state agency, or any locality, such entity shall inquire whether the grant recipient, bidder, offeror, or contractor is a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business and whether it is certified by the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD) for procurement enhancement. If such business is eligible but not certified, the bill would have directed the SBSD to provide it with information on the certification process and encourage it to apply for certification.

Literary Fund; Loans; Application Process; Maximum Loan Amounts; Rates of Interest; Closing Costs; Waiting Lists HB 253 (Simonds) would have made several changes to the provisions relating to loans from the Literary Fund to finance the construction and renovation of public elementary and secondary school buildings in the Commonwealth.

Local government; prohibits certain practices that would require contractors to provide benefits. HB 58 (Davis) would have prohibited local governing bodies from establishing provisions related to procurement of goods, professional services, or construction that would require a wage floor or any other employee benefit or compensation above what is otherwise required by state or federal law to be provided by a contractor to one or more of the contractor's employees as part of a contract with the locality. The bill would have provided that the prohibition shall not affect contracts between a locality and another party that were executed prior to January 1, 2023, or the renewal or future rebids of services thereof. The bill would have provided that localities shall not be prohibited from entering into contracts for economic development incentives in which the company receiving the incentives is required to maintain a certain stated wage level for its employees.

Possession of Firearms or Other Weapons on School Property HB 133 (Cherry) would have removed preschools and licensed child day centers that are not operated at the residence of the provider or of any of the children from the list of schools where possessing a firearm or other weapon on school property or on a school bus is prohibited.

Project Labor Agreements; Prevailing Wage; Collective Bargaining for Employees of Local Governments HB 883 (Byron) and SB 374 (Obenshain) would have provided that state agencies, when engaged in procuring products or services or letting contracts for construction, manufacture, maintenance, or operation of public works, paid for in whole or in part by state funds, shall neither require nor prohibit bidders to enter into or adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations on the public works projects. These bills would have removed requirements for the payment of prevailing wage for work performed on public works contracts for state agencies. In addition, these bills would have removed the authority for a locality, by a local ordinance or resolution, to recognize any labor union or other employee association as a bargaining agent of any public officers or employees or to collectively bargain or enter into any collective bargaining contract with any such union or association or its agents.

Public-Private Competition Act HB 119 (March) would have created the Public-Private Competition Act, which prohibits public bodies from engaging in any commercial activity, defined in the bill to mean any activity that can be performed by an existing private business. The bill would have created an exemption for commercial activities that public bodies are required to perform pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia. The bill also would have repealed the Competitive Government Act, which requires the Governor to conduct a study at least once every two years to examine whether at least three commercial activities being performed by state employees at state agencies and institutions are being accomplished in the most cost-efficient and effective manner  and outsource any commercial activity for which the study determines that outsourcing may result in reduced costs or otherwise provide a measurable benefit to the Commonwealth.

Public Procurement HB 816 (Torian) would have required any bid or offer under the Virginia Public Procurement Act to identify all subcontractors, if any, involved in the bid or offer, the estimated amount of compensation to be paid to the subcontractors, a description of the work to be done by the subcontractors, and a copy of all agreements between the contract and subcontractors related to the bid or offer.

Public School Buildings; Entry Points; Limits; Screening HB 12 (Anderson) would have required each local school board to limit to the lowest feasible number the entry points in each public school building in the local school division, ensure that each individual who seeks to enter any school building in the local school division is screened with a handheld metal detector wand by a school security officer or another appropriate school board employee who is appropriately trained in such method of screening.

Public School Bus Driver Shortages and Working Conditions of Public School Bus Drivers in the Commonwealth; Study; Report HJ 84 (Guzman) would have requested that the Department of Education, with the assistance of each local school board, to study the root causes of public school bus driver shortages and the working conditions of public school bus drivers in the Commonwealth by administering to each public school bus driver in each local school division in the Commonwealth and as many former public school bus drivers as is feasible a survey to determine the level of satisfaction with and the need for improvement to the working conditions of public school bus drivers in the Commonwealth, analyzing such survey data and such other information and data as it deems necessary and advisable, including information from other states and school districts contained therein that have had success in addressing public school bus driver shortages by addressing working conditions, and  making recommendations for statutory, regulatory, or budgetary changes that may contribute to the improvement of the working conditions of public school bus drivers.

Public School Buses; Decals; "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God” HB 113 (March) would have permitted local school boards, notwithstanding any regulation to the contrary, to display on the sides and rear of public school buses decals containing the motto "In God We Trust" or the phrase "One Nation Under God", provided that no such decal obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus.

Public School Buses; Display of Advertising; Hiring of School Bus Drivers in the Local School Division HB 452 (Bennett-Parker)  would have permitted any local school board, notwithstanding any regulation to the contrary, to display decals, posters, and stickers on the sides and rear of school buses advertising the hiring of school bus drivers in the local school division, provided that the local school board is responsible for the cost of such decals, posters, and stickers and that no such decal, poster, or sticker obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus.

Public School Buses; Seat Belts HB 313 (Krizek) would have required the Board of Education to make regulations to require each new public school bus purchased for the transportation of students to be equipped with a seat belt consisting of a lap belt and shoulder strap or harness in every seat. The bill would have required each school board to ensure that no later than July 1, 2040, each school bus that it uses for the transportation of students is equipped with a seat belt in every seat. 

Reduction of Speed Limits; Local Authority HB 261 (Wyatt) would have authorized localities to reduce the speed limit by up to 10 miles per hour on any highway within its boundaries if indicated by lawfully placed signs and based on a traffic engineering study and analysis.  HB 633 (Carr) would have expanded the current authority of any locality to reduce the speed limit to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, on highways within its boundaries that are located in a business district or residence district, provided that such reduced speed limit is indicated by lawfully placed signs, to include highways within the state highway system.

School Construction Fund and Program; Gaming Proceeds Fund Revenues HB 254 (Simonds) would have established the School Construction Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and require the Department of Education to establish the School Construction Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund, subject to certain conditions, to school boards that leverage federal, state, and local programs and resources to finance the design and construction of new school buildings and facilities or the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities. The bill would have provided that three percent of any fiscal year's budget surplus shall be appropriated to the School Construction Fund and Program. The bill would have also provided that any remaining revenues not appropriated by the Gaming Proceeds Fund shall be appropriated to the School Construction Fund and Program.

School Division Maintenance Reserve Tool HB 252 (Simonds) would have required the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bill would have required the Department of Education to consider converting or using as a template the Department of General Services' M-R FIX tool to meet the above requirement to maintain such a tool.

School Resource Officers; Employment; Threat Assessment HB 37 (Anderson) and SB 415 (DeSteph) would have required each school board to enter into a collaborative agreement with the local law-enforcement agency to employ at least one school resource officer in each public middle and high school in the local school division and at least one school resource officer per five public elementary schools in the local school division, who would have been required to serve in each such elementary school on a rotating basis. These bills would have also required each division superintendent to include on the threat assessment team established for each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division at least one school resource officer employed in the school.

School Security Officers; Scope of Employment; Carrying Firearm in Performance of Duties HB 8 (Anderson) would have provided that each school security officer, in addition to performing each enumerated duty, is responsible for carrying out any other duty assigned to him by the local school board, excluding enforcement of discipline reserved solely and exclusively to school administrators. The bill would have permitted a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board or private or religious school, he was an active duty member in the Armed Forces of the United States who served on active duty for at least 10 years and received an honorable discharge from such service and he has provided proof of completion of the required training course.

Sex Trafficking Response Coordinator; Human Trafficking Victim Support Certification Program; Victim Service Providers HB 260 (Simonds) would have required all victim service providers working or volunteering for a treatment program for victims of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, to obtain a human trafficking victim support certificate through the Human Trafficking Victim Support Certification Program developed by the Sex Trafficking Response Coordinator within the Department of Criminal Justice Services and to renew such certificate through the Program every two years.

Standards for the Maintenance and Operations, Renovation, and New Construction of Public Elementary and Secondary School Buildings HB 1100 (LaRock) would have required the Board of Education (the Board) to make recommendations to the General Assembly for amendments to the Standards of Quality to establish standards for the maintenance and operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementary and secondary school buildings. The bill would have required such recommendations to include standards for the percentage of the current replacement value of a public school building that a school board should budget for the maintenance and operations of the building and such other standards as the Board deems appropriate.

Storage of Firearms in Residence Where Minor Present; Penalty HB 590 (VanValkenburg) would have required any person who possesses a firearm in a residence where such person knows or reasonably should know that a minor under 18 years of age is present to store such firearm unloaded in a locked container, compartment, or cabinet, and to store all ammunition in a separate locked container, compartment, or cabinet. The bill would have required that the key or combination to such locked containers, compartments, or cabinets be inaccessible to minors. The bill would have provided that a violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and, in a case where there is more than one firearm stored in violation of these provisions, each firearm shall constitute a separate Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill would have provided exemptions for any person in lawful possession of a firearm who exercises immediate control, defined in the bill, and when the firearm is an antique firearm.

Unexpended Local Funds; School Maintenance, Renovation, and Construction HB 251 (Simonds), SB 481 (McClellan), and SB 276 (Stanley) would have encouraged each school board to enter into a collaborative agreement with the local governing body to set aside in a separate fund any sums appropriated to the school board by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year in order to use such sums to finance school maintenance, renovation, or construction in the local school division.

Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund; creation HB 825 (Price) would have established the Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department of Criminal Justice Services and transfers to the Center the administration of the existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Authority for Localities to Use Cooperative Procurement HB 705 (Keam) would have allowed a public body to participate in cooperative procurement for construction contracts purchased by localities if contract is valued at no greater than $200,000.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Construction Contracts; Requirement to Submit List of Subcontractors; Penalty HB 374 (Graves) would have required all bidders or offerors on contracts for construction of $250,000 or more to submit a list of subcontractors intended to be used and the following: a statement declaring that the bidder or offeror has reviewed the qualifications and performance history of each listed subcontractor and found such qualifications and performance history to be sufficient to qualify the subcontractor to perform the subcontract work and a statement indicating that the bidder or offeror has received a written statement from each listed subcontractor verifying that such subcontractor has not defaulted on any projects within the last three years, has not been suspended or disbarred by any public body within the last three years, and is not currently in bankruptcy. The bill would have allowed the public body to disqualify any listed subcontractor but require the public body to notify the bidder or offeror of such disqualification and allow the bidder or offeror reasonable time to find a qualified replacement.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Project Labor Agreements HB 1091 (Wilt)
would have required every public body, prior to requiring bidders, offerors, contractors, subcontractors, or operators on public works contracts to enter into, become or remain signatories to, or adhere to project labor agreements, to make a written determination that such project labor agreements meet certain criteria that serve to advance the public's interests, contain certain procedures and guarantees related to resolving disputes and preventing strikes, lockouts, or other related concerted actions, permit the selection of the lowest responsive and responsible bidder without regard to labor organization affiliation, and bind all contractors and subcontracts to the terms of the project labor agreement.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Required Contract Provisions; Prohibition on Participation in Boycott of Israel HB 1161 (McGuire) would have required all public bodies to include in every contract of more than $10,000 certain provisions, outlined in the bill, related to participation in a boycott of Israel, its instrumentalities, or any of its territories while engaged in commercial activities pursuant to the terms of the contract. The bill would have also provided that such contractors shall include those same provisions in every subcontract or purchase order of more than $10,000, so that the provisions would have been binding upon each subcontractor or vendor.

Virginia State Crime Commission; Stakeholder Work Group to Create a Common Definition of Human Trafficking HB 257 (Simonds) would have directed the Virginia State Crime Commission to convene a stakeholder work group to create a common definition of human trafficking that may be used in the Code of Virginia and recognized by local and state agencies.

Drug Control Act; Schedule I; Schedule II; Schedule IV; Schedule V HB 193 (Hodges) and SB 759 (Newman) add certain chemicals to the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule.

Juvenile Law-Enforcement Records; Disclosures to School Principals SB 649 (Hanger) changes from discretionary to mandatory that the chief of police of a city or chief of police or sheriff of a county disclose to a school principal all instances where a juvenile at the principal's school has been charged with a violent juvenile felony, an arson offense, or a concealed weapon offense and adds an offense that requires a juvenile intake officer to make a report with the school division superintendent to the list of such instances that must be disclosed to a school principal for the protection of the juvenile, his fellow students, and school personnel.

School Principals; Incident Reports HB 4 (Wyatt) and SB 36 (Norment) require that school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense and report to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object of such act that the incident has been reported to law enforcement. Under current law, principals are required to make such reports only for such acts that may constitute a felony offense. The bills provide, as an exception to the requirement to report any written threats against school personnel while on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, that a principal is not required but may report to the local law-enforcement agency any such incident committed by a student who has a disability.

School Boards; Codes of Student Conduct; Contents HB 1124 (Anderson) would require the Board of Education's guidelines and model policies for codes of student conduct to include a requirement that any code of student conduct is enforced and any student behavioral intervention or disciplinary method or measure is utilized in a fair, proportional, unbiased, and neutral manner, for the sole purpose of maintaining safe learning environments, and with full and sole consideration of the student's behavior and with no consideration of any individual immutable characteristic of the student such as the student's sex or race. The bill would require each school board to establish and continuously maintain a system of fair, proportional, unbiased, and neutral student behavioral intervention and discipline and prohibits any school board from establishing or maintaining any system of student behavioral intervention or discipline, including positive behavioral interventions and supports or any substantially similar disciplinary method, that targets or differentiates student behavioral interventions or disciplinary methods or measures based on any factor other than the student's behavior.

Certain Reports to School Principals and Division Superintendents HB 863 (Reid) would have required local law-enforcement authorities to report in writing, and the principal or his designee and the division superintendent to receive each such report, on any suspected offense, offense for which any charge has been filed, or offense that would have been subject to investigation, that was committed by a student enrolled at the school if the offense would be a felony if committed by an adult or would be a violation of the Drug Control Act and occurred on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, or would be an adult misdemeanor involving certain enumerated incidents, and whether the student would have been released to the custody of his parent or, if 18 years of age or older, would have been released on bond.

Disorderly Conduct in Public Places; Removes Provision Relating to Elementary & Secondary Students HB 89 (Walker) would have provided that the crime of disorderly conduct shall not apply to any student in grades kindergarten through eight if the disorderly conduct occurred on the property of any elementary or secondary school, on a school bus, or at any activity conducted or sponsored by any elementary or secondary school. Current law provides that disorderly conduct shall not apply to any elementary or secondary school student in such locations and at such activities.

Hazing; Penalty HB 993 (Murphy) and SB 440 (Boysko) would have provided immunity for arrest and prosecution for hazing and involuntary manslaughter if a person in good faith seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for a person who has received a bodily injury by hazing or renders emergency care or assistance, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), to a person who has received a bodily injury by hazing while another person seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for such person. The bill also would have clarified that a prosecution of a hazing violation shall not preclude prosecution under any other statute. The bills also would have provided that the attorney for the Commonwealth may file a petition for mandamus or injunction against the president or other presiding official of any school or institution of higher education receiving appropriations from the state treasury seeking to enforce the required disciplinary and notifications provisions associated with acts of hazing.

School Principals: Incident Reports HB 59 (McGuire), HB 308 (Ransome), SB 2 (Cosgrove), SB 287 (DeSteph) and SB 613 (Stanley) would have required that school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense and report to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object of such act that the incident has been reported to law enforcement

School Principals; Incident Reports; Violent Offenses HB 985 (Anderson) would have required that school principals report to law enforcement any felony offenses and violent offenses enumerated in the bill that may constitute a criminal offense. Under the bill, principals would have had discretion to report certain non-violent crimes to law enforcement.

Ability to Pay for Meals and School Meal Debt; Extracurricular School Activities HB 583 (Roem) require each school board to adopt policies that prohibit the school board or any school board employee from denying a student the opportunity to participate in any extracurricular school activity because the student cannot pay for a meal at school or owes a school meal debt.

Budget Bill HB 29 (Knight) amends Chapter 552 of the 2021 Acts of Assembly, Special Session I, as amended by Chapter 1 of the 2021 Acts of Assembly, Special Session II (the “Caboose” budget ending on the thirtieth day of June, 2022).

Budget Bill HB 30 (Knight) provides for all appropriations of the Budget submitted by the Governor of Virginia in accordance with the provisions of § 2.2-1509, Code of Virginia, and to provide a portion of revenues for the two years ending respectively on the thirtieth day of June, 2023, and the thirtieth day of June, 2024.

Literary Fund; Loans; Application Process; Maximum Loan Amounts; Rates of Interest; Closing Costs; Waiting Lists SB 471 (McClellan) would require the Board of Education (the Board) to establish an annual open application process for Literary Fund loans to finance the construction and renovation of public elementary and secondary school buildings in the Commonwealth to occur during the period that the Board deems most suitable and requires the Board to prioritize applications on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay. The bill would increase from $7.5 million to $25 million the maximum Literary Fund loan amount and requires the Board to offer a loan add-on not to exceed $5 million per loan for projects that result in school consolidation and the net reduction of at least one existing school. The bill further would require the Board, in consultation with the Department of Treasury, to establish loan interest rates that are benchmarked to a market index on an annual basis, not to exceed two percent per year for the localities with a school division composite index of local ability-to-pay between 0.0 50and 0.299 and requires the Board to utilize a sliding scale based on the local school division's composite index of local ability-to-pay to determine the interest rate on each such loan.  The bill would require the Board to establish a competitive program for the award of up to $25,000 to a school division that receives a Literary Fund loan for the purpose of subsidizing all or a portion of the closing costs for such loan. In addition, the bill would permit the Board to remove any project that has been inactive for at least five years from any Literary Fund loan project waiting list that it maintains. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect on 12/01/2022.

School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program; Processing of Applications HB 587 (Roem) requires each public elementary or secondary school to process each web-based or paper-based application for participation in the School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture within six working days after the date of receipt of the completed application. The provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of August 1, 2023. The bill requires school divisions that cannot currently comply with the foregoing requirements to develop a plan for ensuring compliance by August 1, 2023.

School Construction Fund and Program; created and established HB 563 (O’Quinn) and SB 473 (McClellan) require the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bills require each school board to provide to the Department of Education in a timely fashion the local data that is necessary to ensure that such tool remains relevant and useful for the determination of maintenance reserve needs. The bills require the Department of Education to consider converting or using as a template the Department of General Services' Real Estate and Assets Management system for tracking buildings and infrastructure maintenance status to meet the requirement to maintain such tool. The bills also establish the School Construction Fund and Program for the purpose of awarding grants to local school boards to fund the construction of new public school buildings or the renovation or expansion of existing public school buildings in the local school division. The bills require any revenues remaining in the Gaming Proceeds Fund after certain enumerated appropriations are made to be appropriated to the School Construction Fund. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect on 12/01/2022.

School Division Maintenance Reserve Tool SB 238 (McPike) requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public-school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building. The bill requires each school board to provide to the Department of Education in a timely fashion the local data that is necessary to ensure that such tool remains relevant and useful for the determination of maintenance reserve needs. The bill requires the Department of Education to consider converting or using as a template the Department of General Services' Real Estate and Assets Management system for tracking buildings and infrastructure maintenance status to meet the above requirement to maintain such a tool.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Architectural and Professional Engineering Term Contracting; Limitations HB 429 (Bulova) provides that the sum of all projects performed in an architectural and professional engineering contract term shall not exceed $10 million, and the fee for any single project shall not exceed $2.5 million. The bill allows a contract for multiple architectural or professional engineering projects to be renewable for up to three additional terms at the option of the public body.  The bill also removes specific agency and locality exceptions to such current limits. Note:  This bill incorporated HB 438 (Sewell).

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Bid Bonds; Construction Contracts SB 258 (Bell, J.) provides that, except in cases of emergency, all bids and proposals for certain transportation-related contracts in excess of $350,000 and partially or wholly funded by the Commonwealth shall be accompanied by a bid bond. Current law sets the bid or proposal amount for such contracts at $250,000.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Performance and Payment Bonds SB 259 (Bell, J.) requires a performance bond and payment bond to be furnished by the contractor for all nontransportation-related public construction contracts that exceed $500,000 and all transportation-related projects that exceed $350,000 and are partially or wholly funded by the Commonwealth. Current law only requires these bonds for certain types of contracts.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Preference for Plastic Recycled Materials HB 1287 (Runion) directs the Department of General Services to amend its regulations to require state agencies, in the determination of an award for the procurement of plastic materials, to require that bidders identify whether their plastic materials contain recycled materials and, if so, specify the amount of recycled content in such plastic materials.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Revision of Procurement Procedures HB 1310 (Shinn) provides that the Department of General Services and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency shall review and revise their procurement procedures to encourage the use of U.S. General Services Administration contracts or contracts awarded by any other agency of the United States government where appropriate.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; payment clauses to be included in contracts; right to payment of subcontractors SB 550 (Bell, J.) requires construction contracts awarded by state or local government agencies as well as certain private construction contracts in which there is at least one general contractor and one subcontractor to include a payment clause that obligates the contractors to be individually liable for the entire amount owed to any subcontractor with which it contracts. The bill provides that a contractor shall not be liable for amounts otherwise reducible due to the subcontractor's noncompliance with the terms of the contract; however, the contractor must notify the subcontractor in writing of the contractor's intent to withhold all or a part of the subcontractor's payment with the reason for such nonpayment. Payment by the party contracting with the contractor would not be a condition precedent to payment to any lower-tier subcontractor. The bill also requires a payment clause to be included in any construction contract between an owner and a general contractor that requires (i) the owner to pay the general contractor within 45 days of receipt of an invoice following satisfactory completion of the contracted for work, and (ii) a higher-tier contractor to pay a lower-tier subcontractor within the earlier of 45 days of satisfactory completion of the work for which the subcontractor has invoiced or seven days after receipt of amounts paid by the owner to the general contractor for work performed. Lastly, the bill provides that the Department of General Services shall convene the Public Body Procurement Workgroup to review whether the issue of nonpayment between general contractors and subcontractors necessitates legislative corrective action and report its findings and legislative recommendations to the General Assembly on or before December 1, 2022.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Purchase of Personal Protective Equipment SB 416 (DeSteph) requires a state agency, whenever purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) for public use, to purchase such PPE from a Virginia-based company or manufacturer that uses materials or components made in Virginia or the United States, or a United States-based manufacturer that uses materials or components made in the United States, if available, and that complies with all applicable federal and international certifications and requirements for such products. The bill provides that if a state agency is unable to purchase PPE from such company or manufacturer, it may purchase from another company or manufacturer, pending the results of independent laboratory testing of the PPE. The bill directs the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to establish a work group to make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding products other than PPE that state agencies should purchase with the same requirements and to report the recommendations of the work group to the Chairs of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology by September 1, 2022.
 

Composite Index of Local Ability-To-Pay; Required Local Effort; Adjustment In Certain Circumstances HB 559 (O’Quinn) would have provided that in any case in which a local school board enters into a comprehensive agreement with a private entity pursuant to the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 whereby the private entity finances the construction of a new public school building in the local school division through the issuance of bonds; leases the building to the local school board in an arrangement such as a certificate of participation, a double net lease, or a triple net lease; and expects the local school board to make lease payments in an annual amount that approximates or is equal to the annual debt service on such bonds, the Department of Education shall not consider 50 percent of such lease payments as capital outlay and debt service and therefore shall not subtract such payments in the biennial calculation of net local expenditures for operations or required local effort for the purpose of determining such local school division's composite index of local ability-to-pay, if so requested by the local school board.

Composite Index of Local Ability-To-Pay; Use Value of Real Estate In Certain Localities HB 1164 (Runion) would have required, for the purpose of determining the state and local shares of basic aid funding, that the composite index of local ability-to-pay utilize the use value of all applicable real estate devoted to agricultural use, horticultural use, forest use, and open-space use in each locality that has adopted an ordinance by which it provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate and used in agricultural and forestal production within an agricultural district, forestal district, agricultural and forestal district, or agricultural and forestal district of local significance in each locality that provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate, regardless of whether it has adopted a local land-use plan or local ordinance for such valuation and taxation.

Contracts; Payment Clauses to be Included; right to Payment of Subcontractors HB 881 (Fowler) would have required contracts awarded by state or local government agencies or private entities to include a payment clause that obligates the contractor to be individually liable for the entire amount owed to any subcontractor with which it contracts minus any amount that may otherwise be withheld due to the subcontractor's breach of contract. The bill would have provided that payment by the party contracting with the contractor shall not be a condition precedent to payment to any lower-tier subcontractor.

Department of Planning and Budget; Regulatory Budget Program; report SB 372 (Hackworth) would have directed the Department of Planning and Budget, under the direction of the Secretary of Finance, to establish a continuous Regulatory Budget Program with the goal of setting a target for each executive branch agency subject to the Administrative Process Act to reduce regulations and regulatory requirements, maintain the current number of regulations and regulatory requirements, or allow regulations and regulatory requirements to increase by a specific amount over a two-year period.

Energy Efficiency Standards; More Stringent Energy Efficiency Requirements HB 905 (Lopez) would have allowed a locality by ordinance to create and require stretch codes, defined in the bill as energy efficiency standards that are in addition to or more stringent than those in the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and use them as an alternative means of compliance with a locality's building requirements.

Grants and Public Procurement HB 817 (Torian) would have required that for any grant or contract issued or entered into by the Governor, any state agency, or any locality, such entity shall inquire whether the grant recipient, bidder, offeror, or contractor is a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business and whether it is certified by the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD) for procurement enhancement. If such business is eligible but not certified, the bill would have directed the SBSD to provide it with information on the certification process and encourage it to apply for certification.

Literary Fund; Loans; Application Process; Maximum Loan Amounts; Rates of Interest; Closing Costs; Waiting Lists HB 253 (Simonds) would have made several changes to the provisions relating to loans from the Literary Fund to finance the construction and renovation of public elementary and secondary school buildings in the Commonwealth.

Local Government; Prohibits Certain Practices That Would Require Contractors to Provide Benefits HB 58 (Davis) would have prohibited local governing bodies from establishing provisions related to procurement of goods, professional services, or construction that would require a wage floor or any other employee benefit or compensation above what is otherwise required by state or federal law to be provided by a contractor to one or more of the contractor's employees as part of a contract with the locality.

Project Labor Agreements; Prevailing Wage; Collective Bargaining for Employees of Local Governments HB 883 (Byron) and SB 374 (Obenshain) would have provided that state agencies, when engaged in procuring products or services or letting contracts for construction, manufacture, maintenance, or operation of public works, paid for in whole or in part by state funds, shall neither require nor prohibit bidders to enter into or adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations on the public works projects. These bills would have removed requirements for the payment of prevailing wage for work performed on public works contracts for state agencies. In addition, the bills would have removed the authority for a locality, by a local ordinance or resolution, to recognize any labor union or other employee association as a bargaining agent of any public officers or employees or to collectively bargain or enter into any collective bargaining contract with any such union or association or its agents.

Public-Private Competition Act HB 119 (March) would have created the Public-Private Competition Act, which prohibits public bodies from engaging in any commercial activity, defined in the bill to mean any activity that can be performed by an existing private business. The bill would have created an exemption for commercial activities that public bodies are required to perform pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia. The bill would have also repealed the Competitive Government Act, which requires the Governor to conduct a study at least once every two years to examine whether at least three commercial activities being performed by state employees at state agencies and institutions are being accomplished in the most cost-efficient and effective manner and outsource any commercial activity for which the study determines that outsourcing may result in reduced costs or otherwise provide a measurable benefit to the Commonwealth.

School Boards and Local Governing Bodies; Unexpended Local Funds; School Maintenance, Renovation, and Construction HB 251 (Simonds) would have encouraged each school board to enter into a collaborative agreement with the local governing body to set aside in a separate fund any sums appropriated to the school board by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year in order to use such sums to finance school maintenance, renovation, or construction in the local school division. The bill would have declared any school board that fails to enter into such a collaborative agreement ineligible to participate in any state grant, loan, or bond program that supports school maintenance, renovation, or construction.

School Construction Fund and Program; Gaming Proceeds Fund Revenues HB 254 (Simonds) would have established the School Construction Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and requires the Department of Education to establish the School Construction Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund, subject to certain conditions, to school boards that leverage federal, state, and local programs and resources to finance the design and construction of new school buildings and facilities or the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities. The bill would have provided that three percent of any fiscal year's budget surplus shall be appropriated to the School Construction Fund and Program. The bill would also have provided that any remaining revenues not appropriated by the Gaming Proceeds Fund shall be appropriated to the School Construction Fund and Program.

School Division Maintenance Reserve Tool HB 252 (Simonds) would have required the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to develop or adopt and maintain a data collection tool to assist each school board to determine the relative age of each public school building in the local school division and the amount of maintenance reserve funds that are necessary to restore each such building.

Surplus for operational costs SB 117 (Newman) would have provided that for any year in which there is a surplus, the Governor shall include in his proposed budget an appropriation of five percent of such surplus for the operational costs of local school divisions. The bill would have provided for an equivalent decrease in the amount of operational costs funded by the Lottery Proceeds Fund and an equivalent increase in the amount of funds in the Fund restricted exclusively for local school divisions' capital construction and renovation costs. If the restricted amount is equal to or greater than the amount in the Fund, the increases and decreases are no longer required under the bill.

True Cost of Education; At-Risk Add-On and Composite Index of Local Ability-To-Pay; Report HJ 31 (VanValkenburg) would have required the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to continue its study of the true cost of education in the Commonwealth and its directive to provide an accurate assessment of the costs to implement the Standards of Quality and, in conjunction, to study the efficiency and effectiveness of the at-risk add-on and the composite index of local ability-to-pay funding formula as tools for funding public education at levels that meet or exceed its true cost.

Unexpended Local Funds; School Maintenance, Renovation, and Construction HB 608 (Bourne) would have permitted any school board to finance capital projects with any funds appropriated to it by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year. SB 481 (McClellan) would have encouraged each local governing body and local school board to enter into a collaborative agreement to set aside in a separate fund any sums, exclusive of the required local effort and required local match as stated in the general appropriation act, appropriated to the school board by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year in order to use such sums to finance school maintenance, renovation, or construction in the local school division.  Note:  This bill incorporated SB 276 (Stanley).

Virginia Public Procurement Act HB 816 (Torian) would have required any bid or offer under the Virginia Public Procurement Act to identify all subcontractors, if any, involved in the bid or offer, the estimated amount of compensation to be paid to the subcontractors, a description of the work to be done by the subcontractors, and a copy of all agreements between the contract and subcontractors related to the bid or offer.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Architectural and Professional Engineering Term Contracting; Limitations HB 438 (Sewell) would have provided that limitations imposed upon certain single-project fees shall not apply to localities with a population in excess of 400,000.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Authority for Localities to Use Cooperative Procurement HB 705 would have allowed a public body to participate in cooperative procurement for construction contracts purchased by localities if the contract is valued at no greater than $200,000.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Construction Contracts; Requirement to Submit List of Subcontractors; Penalty HB 374 (Graves) would have required all bidders or offerors on contracts for construction of $250,000 or more to submit a list of subcontractors intended to be used and the following: a statement declaring that the bidder or offeror has reviewed the qualifications and performance history of each listed subcontractor and found such qualifications and performance history to be sufficient to qualify the subcontractor to perform the subcontract work and a statement indicating that the bidder or offeror has received a written statement from each listed subcontractor verifying that such subcontractor has not defaulted on any projects within the last three years, has not been suspended or disbarred by any public body within the last three years, and is not currently in bankruptcy. The bill would have allowed the public body to disqualify any listed subcontractor but requires the public body to notify the bidder or offeror of such disqualification and allow the bidder or offeror reasonable time to find a qualified replacement.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Project Labor Agreements HB 1091 (Wilt)
would have required every public body, prior to requiring bidders, offerors, contractors, subcontractors, or operators on public works contracts to enter into, become or remain signatories to, or adhere to project labor agreements, to make a written determination that such project labor agreements meet certain criteria that serve to advance the public's interests, contain certain procedures and guarantees related to resolving disputes and preventing strikes, lockouts, or other related concerted actions, permit the selection of the lowest responsive and responsible bidder without regard to labor organization affiliation, and bind all contractors and subcontracts to the terms of the project labor agreement.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Required Contract Provisions; Prohibition on Participation in Boycott of Israel HB 1161 (McGuire) would have required all public bodies to include in every contract of more than $10,000 certain provisions, outlined in the bill, related to participation in a boycott of Israel, its instrumentalities, or any of its territories while engaged in commercial activities pursuant to the terms of the contract.

Administration of Epinephrine HB 1328 (Delaney) and SB 737 (Boysko) require the Board of Education to amend its regulations to require each early childhood care and education entity to implement policies for the possession and administration of epinephrine in every such entity to be administered by any nurse at the entity, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine to any child believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction. These bills mandate that such policies require that at least one school nurse, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine has the means to access at all times during regular facility hours any such appropriate weight-based dosage of epinephrine that is stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible container or area. This bill shall be known as Elijah's Law.

At-Risk Add-On Funds; Reading Recovery HB 418 (Delaney) removes Reading Recovery from the list of programs and initiatives for which school boards may use at-risk add-on funds.

Child Day Programs; Licensure; Accredited Private Schools SB 193 (Mason) adds to the list of child day programs not required to be licensed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to operate in the Commonwealth programs offered by accredited private schools that are in good standing with the Virginia Council for Private Education and operate for no more than four hours per day. The bill provides that, to be exempt from licensure, such accredited private school programs must be staffed by the accredited private school's employees and attended by children who are at least five years of age and are enrolled in the school. The bill requires such programs to be subject to safety and supervisory standards established by the Virginia Council for Private Education. 

Driver Education Programs; Parent/Student Driver Education SB 78 (Norment) requires the Board of Education to include an additional minimum 90-minute parent/student driver education component as part of the classroom portion of its driver education program for all public school divisions and provide that participation in such component shall be encouraged but shall not be required. Under current law, participation in such parent/student driver education component is required in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia) and optional in all other school divisions. The bill also requires such parent/student driver education component to emphasize the dangers of distracted driving.

Early Childhood Care and Education; Regional Entities; Child Care Subsidy Program Overpayment Fund Established HB 389 (Bulova) requires the Board of Education to establish a system of regional entities that will be responsible for coordinating early childhood care and education services, guiding quality improvement of such services and coordinated access to such services for families, and implementing the uniform measurement and improvement system. The bill establishes the Child Care Subsidy Program Overpayment Fund, consisting of all overpayment moneys collected or recovered by the Department of Education or any state or local agency contracted to administer the Child Care Subsidy Program, net of any refunds due to the federal government, to be used solely for the purpose of covering the cost of providing training and supports to early childhood care and education entities.

Family Life Education Curricula; Optional Instruction On Human Trafficking HB 1023 (Guzman) permits any family life education curriculum offered by a local school division in high school to incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the prevention, recognition, and awareness of human trafficking of children.

Instruction Concerning Gambling HB 1108 (Rasoul) would require instruction concerning gambling and the addictive potential thereof to be provided by the public schools as prescribed by the Board of Education. The bill would require the Board of Education to report to the Chairmen of House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health a description of such instruction.

Physical Education; Middle School, Personal Safety Training HB 1215 (Ransone) requires any physical education class offered to students in grades seven and eight to include at least one hour of personal safety training per school year in each such grade level that is developed and delivered in partnership with the local law-enforcement agency and consists of situational safety awareness training and social media education.

Sexually Explicit Content in Instructional Material SB 656 (Dunnavant) requires the Department of Education to develop no later than July 31, 2022, model policies and each local school board to adopt no later than January 1, 2023, policy for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to ensuring parental notification; directly identifying the specific instructional material and sexually explicit subjects; and permitting the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and provide, as an alternative, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill would provide that the local school board policies shall be consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies developed by the Department. The bill states that the provisions of the bill shall not be construed as requiring or providing for the censoring of books in public elementary and secondary schools.

Virginia Board of Workforce Development; collaboration to develop apprenticeship program HB 718 (Filler-Corn) and SB 661 (Lucas) direct the Virginia Board of Workforce Development (the Board) to collaborate with the Department of Labor and Industry, the Department of Education, and the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Commerce and Trade and rely on data from the Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment in reviewing the performance of current apprenticeship programs in meeting high-demand industry needs. These bills require the Board to prepare recommendations for creating a primary office for apprenticeship programs based on such review and report its recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, 2022.

Virginia Literacy Act; Early Student Literacy; Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction; Science-Based Reading Research HB 319 (Coyner) and SB 616 (Lucas) make several changes relating to early student literacy, including requiring each education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education or alternative certification program that provides training for any individual seeking initial licensure with an endorsement in a certain area, including as a reading specialist, to demonstrate mastery of science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as such terms are defined in the bill; the literacy assessment required of individuals seeking initial teacher licensure with endorsements in certain areas to include a rigorous test of science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction; each local school board to establish a division-wide literacy plan;  each local school board to employ one reading specialist for each 550 students in kindergarten through grade three; and each local school board to provide a program of literacy instruction whereby, among other things, the program provides reading intervention services to students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading assessment or an early literacy screener provided or approved by the Department of Education; a reading specialist, in collaboration with the teacher of any student who receives such reading intervention services, develops, oversees implementation of, and monitors student progress on a student reading plan; and each student who receives such reading intervention services is assessed utilizing either the early literacy screener provided or approved by the Department or the grade-level reading Standards of Learning assessment again at the end of that school year. The provisions of these bills would become effective beginning with the 2024–2025 school year.

Apprenticeship Council; Authority HB 692 (Keam) would expand the duties of the Apprenticeship Council to include determining standards and regulations for pre-apprenticeship programs and advising the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry on how to innovate and expand apprenticeship-related instruction and opportunities across the Commonwealth.

English Language Learners SB 156 (Hashmi) would require state funding to be provided to support, in the 2022-2023 school year and thereafter, a new division-wide ratio of English learner students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions of 22 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency.

Health Care Academy Program; established SB 751 (Dunnavant) would establish the Standardized Health Care Academy Program for the purpose of providing training and opportunities to high school students in health care professional programs that are offered by associate-degree-granting public institutions of higher education. The bill directs the State Board for Community Colleges to establish the Program and work with the Department of Education in setting out parameters for the Program.

Local School Boards and Comprehensive Community Colleges; Compensation Structure for Adjunct Instructors; Credit-Bearing and Noncredit Workforce Credentials HB 271 (Byron) would encourage local school boards and comprehensive communities colleges to enter into local or regional agreements for the establishment and implementation of a competitive compensation structure to recruit and retain adjunct instructors to be jointly compensated by the relevant school boards and colleges to prepare both high school students and college students to earn credit-bearing workforce credentials and noncredit workforce credentials, as that term is defined in relevant law.

Public School Trades Incentive Fund and Program; Established HB 1064 (Brewer) and SB 628 (Stanley) would have established the Public School Trades Incentive Fund (the Fund) and the Public School Trades Incentive Program (the Program) for the purpose of providing grants on a competitive basis from the Fund to any school board that seeks to restore high school programs that teach students skilled trades that lead to earning industry-recognized certifications or credentials or create or restore middle school programs that encourage and recruit students to participate in high school programs that teach students skilled trades that lead to earning industry-recognized certifications or credentials.

STEM+C; Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board HB 221 (Davis) and SB 239 (Hashmi) would add science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C), which includes real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational instruction and preparation of students in STEM+C, to the list of topics that shall be included in the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth. The bill also would direct the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to develop and submit to the Board of Education (i) a rubric that shall be used by the Board of Education in setting out what factors permit a school to be defined as a STEM school and (ii) recommendations for the Board to create a measurement for quality of STEM programming in general education instruction. The bill also would direct the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to draft and report to the Department of Education proposed common language and terminology that better defines the basic literacies employed in STEM+C as methodological approaches to solving universal human challenges and, as essential, generalizable and transferable literacy toward the application of skills and content needed to solve those challenges. The bill also would direct the Department of Education, based on such proposed language and terminology and no later than December 1, 2022, to recommend finalized language and terminology to the Board of Education.

Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board; Comprehensive Review of Labor Statistics Categories; Report SB 261 (Hashmi) would direct the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Advisory Board (the Board) to perform a comprehensive review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics categories within the standard occupational classification system and assess deficit areas that do not capture Virginia's existing STEM+C (Computing) workforce profile for the purpose of better aligning K-12 and higher education priorities.

Apprenticeship Council; Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Apprenticeship Programs; Study, Report HJ 71 (Maldonado) would have requested the Virginia Apprenticeship Council to study the need for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and maintenance and repair of EV infrastructure apprenticeship programs in the Commonwealth, noting the stated goal of the Commonwealth to reduce carbon emissions intensity across all sectors, including the transportation industry.

Child Care; Background Checks SB 574 (Mason) would have allowed applicants for employment and applicants to serve as volunteers to work in certain child day centers, family day homes, and family day systems pending the results of a full background check, provided that the applicant has received qualifying results on a fingerprint-based background check through the Central Criminal Records Exchange or the Federal Bureau of Investigation and  the applicant is supervised at all times by a person who received a qualifying result on a full background check within the past five years.

Counseling Services in Public Schools HB 1034 (Ransome) would have required the Department of Education to develop and each local school board to adhere to guidelines for the provision of counseling services in public schools, which shall include provisions for parental consent; written parental notification; parental involvement, as appropriate; and confidentiality; procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibit his child's participation; appropriate exceptions to the procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibit his child's participation such as imminent need, health, or safety or maintaining order in the school; and any other provision deemed necessary by the Department.

Curricula and Instruction Including Inherently Divisive Concepts Prohibited HB 1068 (Cordoza), HB 787 (LaRock) HB 781 (Williams), HB 1126 (Avoli) and SB 570 (Kiggans) would have required each public elementary or secondary school principal to ensure that no curriculum utilized or instruction delivered in the school includes inherently divisive concepts, as that term is defined in these bills, regardless of whether such curriculum or instruction is provided by a school board employee or any other individual or entity

Early Childhood Care and Education; Publicly Funded Providers; Assessment of Children HB 41 (Scott) would have provided that, except as otherwise required by federal law, no child who is enrolled at a publicly funded provider shall be required to participate in the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program or any other program for the assessment of the child's cognitive ability, development, learning, or readiness for kindergarten.

English Language Learners HB 1184 (Guzman) would have  required state funding to be provided to support new divisionwide ratios of English learner students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions, as follows: for each English language learner identified as proficiency level one, one position per 25 students; for each English language learner identified as proficiency level two, one position per 30 students; for each English language learner identified as proficiency level three, one position per 40 students; and for all other English language learners, one position per 50 students.

Family Life Education Curriculum Guidelines; Human Reproduction; Viewing of Ultrasound Video Recording HB 785 (LaRock) would have required the instruction on human reproduction contained in the Board of Education's family life education curriculum guidelines to include the viewing of a video recording of an ultrasound of a live unborn human in the uterus.

Family life education programs; student participation; summaries HB 789 (LaRock) would have prohibited any public elementary or secondary school student from participating in any family life education program without the prior written consent of his parent. The bill would require the summary that is required to be posted and distributed to parents for each such program to include contact information for the individual or office responsible for maintaining printed and audio-visual program materials.

Family life instruction; school year time limit. HB 1347 (LaRock) would have required each school board that offers a family life education curriculum to limit instruction delivered to students pursuant to such curriculum to one hour per school year in each grade level.

Health workforce development; Special Advisor to the Governor for Health Workforce Development; Virginia Health Workforce Development Fund HB 191 (Hodges) would have created the position of Special Advisor to the Governor for Health Workforce Development (the Special Advisor) in the Office of the Governor and created the Virginia Health Workforce Development Fund to (i) provide incentives for the removal of barriers to educating and training health workforce professionals that include increasing eligible faculty, clinical placements, and residencies; (ii) incentivize the production of health workforce credentials, degrees, and licensures based on a rigorous analysis of the need by the Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment; (iii) address regulatory barriers to entering into and staying in health professions; and (iv) provide education and training for health and health science professionals to align education and training initiatives with existing and evolving health workforce needs.  The bill also would have required the Special Advisor to review and evaluate the structure and organization of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority (the Authority) and make recommendations regarding the long-term administrative structure and funding of the Authority to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2022.  The bill would have sunset on July 1, 2026.

Instruction on Climate Change HB 362 (Subramanyam) would have required the Department of Education, in collaboration with environmental groups to develop, no later than July 1, 2023, an interdisciplinary program of instruction on the causes of and potential solutions for climate change.

New Economy Workforce Credential Grant Program; Eligible Institutions; Contracts HB 256 (Simonds) would have permitted eligible institutions under the New Economy Workforce Credential Grant Program to contract with noncredit workforce training programs and providers, provided that the instructors of such programs and providers are certified and are compensated by the eligible institution.

Parental rights; access to certain facilities and accommodations; instructional content; bullying. HB 1126 (Avoli) would have declared that the parent of any student enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth has the right to (i) obtain and review any educational material and curriculum utilized in any class or course in which the student is enrolled; (ii) opt his child out of any class or course activity, lesson, or reading assignment or the use of any audiovisual material or library book to which the parent objects; (iii) easily access a list of the title and author of each book in each classroom and each library in the school in which the student is enrolled; (iv) receive notice of and attend any public meeting of the school board governing the local school division in which the student is enrolled; (v) review the annual school division budget and expenditures; (vi) send his child to attend school in a safe environment; and (vii) be updated by the school principal on any violent activity in the school in which the student is enrolled. The bill would have required each school board to adopt policies to require each student and school board employee to have access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other changing facilities in public school buildings that are shared only by members of the same biological sex; lodging accommodations during school-sponsored trips that are shared only by members of the same biological sex; and a single-user restroom, locker room, or other changing facility in a public school building, upon request, if the school can reasonably accommodate such a request. The bill would have also prohibited any school board employee or individual who provides any school-sponsored program from teaching or promoting to any student or school board employee the concept that (a) any race is inherently superior or inferior; (b) any individual is racist, privileged, oppressive, biased, or responsible for actions committed by others of the same race or skin color by virtue of the individual's race or skin color; (c) the United States is fundamentally racist; or (d) market-based economics is inherently racist. The bill finally would have required each school board to implement policies and procedures to educate school board employees about bullying and the need to create a school environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect and any incident of bullying is taken seriously and handled in a robust manner.

Policy on Certain Instructional Material and Related Academic Activities; Annual Parental Notification; Replacement or Alternative Material and Activities; Local Compliance HB 786 (LaRock) would have required the Board of Education to establish, and each local school board to comply with, a policy to require each public elementary or secondary school to annually notify the parent of any student enrolled in a class or course in which the instructional material or related academic activities includes or may include sexually explicit content, as defined in the bill, or content that depicts sexual misconduct, as defined in the bill; permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct, upon request; and provide, as a replacement or an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct, instructional material and related academic activities that do not include sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct to any student whose parent so requests.

Student Citizenship Skills; Certain Instructional Policies Prohibited; Parental Rights; Disclosures; Penalties; Other Remedies HB 781 (Williams) would have prohibited the Board and Department of Education and each local school board from teaching, instructing, or training certain individuals and groups, including teachers and students, to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon, or otherwise assent to a divisive concept, as defined in the bill, or penalizing or discriminating against any such individual or group for refusing to do so.

Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Advisory Board; STEM and Computing (STEM+C); Review Federal Occupational Categories; Report HB 217 (Simonds) would have required the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board (the Board) to review the occupational categories in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' standard occupational classification system to determine the occupational categories that are not properly captured in the Commonwealth's existing STEM+C workforce profile and the gaps in the Commonwealth's tracking of careers in these occupational categories for the purpose of better aligning K-16 education priorities and the Board's tracking and coordination of STEM+C.

Workforce Development in the Commonwealth; Study, Report HJ 54 (O’Quinn) would have directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to update its 2014 review of workforce training in the Commonwealth with a new study of workforce development.

Broadband; Annual Report SB 724 (Pillion) requires each school board to submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development that lists each student's 9-1-1 address that does not have broadband service, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission, to the home beginning in the fall of 2022 through the 2025 school year.

Information Technology Advisory Council; Membership; Dues and Duties; Report SB 703 (Boysko) redefines the purpose and powers and duties of the Information Technology Advisory Council (the ITAC). The bill increases the membership of the ITAC from 16 to 19 members and allow for legislative members to be appointed to the ITAC.

Internet Safety Advisory Council HB 1026 (Guzman) requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and appoint no more than 12 members to the Internet Safety, Advisory Council (the Council), including at least one of each of the following: teacher, librarian, representative of a parent-teacher organization who is the parent of a school-age child, school administrator, student, and individual with expertise in Internet safety. The bill requires the Council to (i) develop and recommend to the Board of Education for adoption a model policy for local school boards that would enable such school boards to better support the Internet safety of all students and teachers in the local school division; (ii) develop and recommend to the Board for adoption model instructional practices for the safe use of media and technology by students and teachers in public elementary and secondary schools; (iii) design and post on the Department of Education's website a page with links to successful instructional practices, curricula, and other teacher resources used in school divisions within and outside of the Commonwealth for the safe use of media and technology by students and teachers; and (iv) submit a report of its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than October 31, 2023. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2024

Security of Government Databases and Data Communications HB 1290 (Hayes) and SB 764 (Barker) require every public body to report to the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center all known incidents that threaten the security of the Commonwealth's data or communications or result in exposure of data protected by federal or state laws and all other incidents compromising the security of the public body's information technology systems with the potential to cause major disruption to normal activities of the public body or other public bodies. These bills require such reports to be made to the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center within 24 hours of the discovery of the incident and that the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center share such reports with the Chief Information Officer promptly upon receipt. These bills also require the Chief Information Officer to convene a work group to review current cybersecurity reporting and information sharing practices and report any legislative recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology and the House Committee on Communications, Technology, and Innovation by November 15, 2022.

Digital Tools; Accessibility HB 1246 (Tran) would require the Department of Education to convene a work group to provide input and recommendations to the Department of Education, the Board of Education, and the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2022, regarding ways in which school divisions can effectively identify and receive responsive and responsible bids from vendors to procure digital tools, including online platforms, courses, digital applications, information and communication technology services, and digital content, that comply with the federal accessibility standard and any statutory or regulatory changes that may assist school divisions to procure such digital tools that comply with such standard.

Commission On Social Media; Report HB 1195 (Gooditis) would have established the 20-member Commission on Social Media in the legislative branch to study and make recommendations on the impacts and harms to citizens caused by social media platforms hosting or amplifying content that includes threats or suggestions of physical violence or danger towards citizens, institutions, groups, associations, or physical structures of the Commonwealth by studying the impact of dangerous and violent rhetoric, threats, harassment, doxing, intimidation, misinformation, disinformation, defamation, and deceptive practices and the impact of certain practices by social media companies such as algorithmic amplification and targeted advertising on citizens.

Incentives to Attract Knowledge Workers HB 858 (Reid) would have provided, for taxable years 2022 through 2027, an income tax deduction for 50 percent of the amount a qualified knowledge worker, defined in the bill, pays for residential high speed internet access or $600, whichever is less. The bill would have provided a tax credit for qualified knowledge workers for the purchase of a residential electric vehicle charger, in an amount equal to 50 percent of the former federal tax credit for an electric vehicle charger. The bill would also have provided an income tax credit for qualified knowledge workers in an amount equal to the sales tax paid for up to $5,000 of certain computer equipment.

Statewide Learning Management System Established SB 384 (Dunnavant) would have directed the Department of Education to establish the Statewide Learning System (VaLMS). The bill would have allowed school boards to utilize the full capacity of the VaLMS as an alternative to a locally funded learning management system.

Virginia Digital Service Established; Duties HB 1177 (Subramanyam) would have established the Virginia Digital Service with an executive director to be appointed by the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth. The bill would have required the Service to recruit a team of at least 15 senior-level engineers, designers, product managers, technologists, and other top technical talent to work with civil servants to modernize and improve digital services for citizens across government agencies. services long term.

Teachers' Licenses, Authority to Temporarily Extend Certain HB 236 (Orrock) permits the Board of Education to grant a two-year extension of the license of any individual licensed by the Board of Education pursuant to its statutory authority whose license expires on June 30, 2022, in order to provide the individual with sufficient additional time to complete the requirements for licensure or license renewal. An emergency clause was added to this bill so it became effective 04/06/2022.

Teacher Licensure by Reciprocity; Military Spouses; Timeline for Determination HB 230 (Coyner) and SB 154 (Locke) require the Board of Education's licensure regulations to provide for licensure by reciprocity for any spouse of an active duty or reserve member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a member of the Virginia National Guard who has obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at the time the application for a Virginia license is received by the Department of Education. These bills require such an individual to submit an official copy of the military permanent assignment orders of the individual's spouse as part of the complete application packet. These bills require the Department to determine and communicate such individual's eligibility for licensure by reciprocity within 15 business days of receipt of the complete application packet.

Fair Labor Standards Act; Overtime; Employer Liability HB 1173 (Ware) and SB 631 (Barker) replace the current provisions of the Virginia Overtime Wage Act with the provision that any employer that violates the overtime wage requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and any related laws and regulations, shall be liable to its employee for remedies or other relief available under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The bills require an employer to compensate employees of a derivative carrier, defined in the bill, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek. The bills require the Secretary of Labor to convene a work group that includes certain industry representatives and legislators to review overtime issues and the Virginia Overtime Wage Act and require the work group to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Commerce and Energy and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Commerce and Labor by November 1, 2022.  Note:  SB 631 (Barker) incorporated SB 365 (Reeves)

Local Government Hiring; People With Disabilities HB 710 (Keam) requires any locality to take into consideration or give preference to an individual's status as a person with a disability in its employment hiring policies and practices, provided that such person with a disability meets all of the knowledge, skills, and eligibility requirements for the available position.

Provisional Teacher Licensure; Teachers Licensed or Certified Outside of the United States HB 979 and SB 68 (Favola) permit the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of a provisional license, valid for a period not to exceed three years, to any individual who has held within the last five years a valid and officially issued and recognized license or certification to teach issued by an entity outside of the United States but does not meet the requirements for a renewable license if the individual's license or certification to teach has been evaluated and verified by an entity approved by the Department of Education.

Certain School Board Employees; Dismissal; Grounds; Continuing Contract Study; Report HB 363 (Freitas) would prohibit school board employees who are not required to hold a valid license issued by the Board of Education and public school teachers from being dismissed based on a last-hired, first-fired dismissal policy or any other similar policy that mandates that, when considering more than one such employee for dismissal, the seniority of each such employee shall be the sole determinative factor in the dismissal decision.

Competitive Compensation for Certain Positions in Public Elementary and Secondary schools SB 157 (Hashmi) would declare it the goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers and all other individuals employed in Standards of Quality-funded positions be compensated at a rate that is competitive, defined as at or above the national average salary for the position, in order to attract and keep highly qualified individuals in such positions.

Marijuana Criminal History Information; Disclosure to State and Local Governments by Job Applicant SB 702 (Kiggans) would allow the Commonwealth or a locality to require a job applicant or other applicant who is seeking a license, permit, registration, or other government service to disclose his prior criminal history for marijuana offenses.

Paid Family and Medical Leave Program SB 1 (Boysko) would require the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January 1, 2025. Under the program, benefits would be paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning in 2024. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount would be required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The measure caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The bill would provide self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.

School Quality Profiles; Teacher Data SB 662 (Lucas) would require the Department of Education to include on each School Quality Profile data on teachers' race and proficiency in any language other than English.

Teacher Training Corps; Report SB 454 (Boysko) would establish the Teacher Training Corps for the purpose of attracting and retaining public elementary and secondary school teachers in school divisions in the Commonwealth by awarding scholarships to students who obtain teaching degrees and certifications at participating institutions and requiring such students to fill teacher positions for specified periods of time at high-needs schools, as defined in the bill, and meet other requirements.

Workplace Violence Protective Orders HB 1015 (Durant) and SB 486 (McClellan) would provide that an employer may petition the court for a preliminary protective order or a protective order to protect the health and safety of its employees. The bill would provide that the venue for a workplace violence protective order is the jurisdiction where the workplace is located from which the petitioner seeks to have the respondent prohibited.

Administration of Government; Rights of State and Local Employees; Freedoms of Conscience and Expression HB 384 (Davis) would have protected state and local government employees of the Commonwealth, defined in the bill, from being penalized by their employer for expressing their opinion regarding a current or proposed regulation, rule, policy, position, or other action or purpose of a unit of state or local government at a hearing of a public body during the time designated for public comment when such employees are speaking on their own behalf as members of the public.  Note:  while the legislation passed both the House and Senate, it was vetoed by the Governor.

Bargaining Representative Certification. HB 336 (Freitas) would have provided that, in a locality that has authorized collective bargaining by ordinance or resolution, a bargaining representative must be selected for each collective bargaining unit determined to be appropriate by the governing body of the locality. The bill would have provided that for a bargaining representative to be certified as an exclusive representative, at least 51 percent of the public employees in a collective bargaining unit must vote for certification of the bargaining representative through a secret ballot election conducted by the governing body of the locality, and a secret ballot election shall be conducted very two years to confirm majority support for the bargaining representative. Preexisting bargaining representatives must also be certified by a vote of 51 percent of the affected collective bargaining unit.

Barrier Crimes HB 805 (Price) would have eliminated certain crimes from the definition of "barrier crime" and requires the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Board of Education, the State Board of Health, and the State Board of Social Services to each adopt regulations that develop and implement a waiver process for individuals who have been convicted of a barrier crime and who serve in a position or seek to serve in a position with any qualified entity subject to the regulations of the board. The bill would have eliminated current exceptions and time limit mandates, as such information is required to be set out in each agency's waiver process.

Collective Bargaining for Public Employees SB 264 (Hashmi) would have provided for collective bargaining by public employees. The bill would have created the Public Employee Relations Board, which will determine appropriate bargaining units and provide for certification and decertification elections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employees and local government employees. The measure would have required public employers and employee organizations that are exclusive bargaining representatives to meet at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Compensation for Union Activities HB 337 (Freitas) would have prohibited any employer of public employees authorized to engage in collective bargaining from entering into a collective bargaining agreement to compensate any public employee or third party for an employee organization's or union's activities. Further, if a union's activities infringe on an employer's time and resources, the union would have been required to compensate the employer at a fair market value rate. The bill would have provided for enforcement by the Attorney General and would have created a cause of action for public employees to remedy potential violations.

Continuing Contract; Resignation HB 1005 (Guzman) would have declared a public school teacher employed after completing the probationary period to be entitled to a continuing contract whereby the contract continues in effect for the ensuing year in conformity with local salary stipulations, including increments, provided, however, that such teacher may be dismissed for any cause set forth in relevant law and in accordance with the procedures set forth in relevant law The bill would have required a public school teacher who seeks to resign from a continuing contract for the ensuing school year to give written notice of such resignation on or before June 15 of the current school year or in effect for the current school year or for the ensuing school year after June 15 of the current school year to request release from the contract at least two weeks in advance of intended date of resignation and requires such request to be in writing and to set forth the cause of resignation.

Criminal History Background Checks HB 807 (Price) would have eliminated certain crimes from the definition of "barrier crime" and requires the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Board of Education, the State Board of Health, and the State Board of Social Services to each adopt regulations that develop and implement a waiver process for individuals who have been convicted of a barrier crime and who serve in a position or seek to serve in a position with any qualified entity subject to the regulations of the board. The bill would have eliminated current exceptions and time limit mandates, as such information is required to be set out in each agency's waiver process.

Employer-Mandated Vaccinations for COVID-19; Required Exemptions; Civil Penalties HB 934 (LaRock) would have prohibited an employer from requiring its employees to receive a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 unless such employer provides individual exemptions that allow an employee to opt out from such requirement on the basis of medical reasons, including pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy; religious reasons; immunity from COVID-19; periodic testing; or the use of employer-provided personal protective equipment. The bill would have provided requirements for an employee to claim such exemptions.

Employer-Mandated Vaccinations for COVID-19; Discrimination Prohibited; Civil Penalties SB 189 (Chase) would have prohibited an employer from requiring its employees to receive a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19. The bill would have prohibited an employer from discrimination against an employee because the employee has or has not received a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19. The bill would have also provided for civil penalties not to exceed $10,000 by an employer with fewer than 100 employees or $50,000 by an employer with 100 or more employees for each violation of the bill's provisions.

Employer Medical Mandates, Cause of Action HB 510 (March) would have provided for a cause of action for any employee that suffers any adverse reaction or injury sustained by reason of a medical mandate, defined in the bill, issued by the employer as a condition of employment. The bill would have provided that in any such action the employee may recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Employee Protections; Medicinal Use of Cannabis Oil HB 461 (Helmer) would have amended the provision that prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee for such employee's lawful use of cannabis oil under the laws of the Commonwealth. pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner for the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee's diagnosed condition or disease, with certain exceptions. Under the bill, the employer would have included the Commonwealth and any of its political subdivisions or agencies.

Employment; Anti-Harassment Training HB 757 (Krizek) would have required each employer with five or more employees, including the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, to provide training regarding sexual harassment and workplace discrimination by January 1, 2023. The bill would have included specific training requirements for supervisory and nonsupervisory employees, seasonal and temporary employees who are hired to work for less than six months, and migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. The training would have been required under the bill must be provided by an educator or human resources professional and must include a method for employees to electronically save a certificate of completion

Fair Labor Standards Act Waiver; Employees With Disabilities HB 676 (Hope) would have removed the provision of the Code stating that any person who is paid pursuant to Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act would not have been considered an employee for the purposes of the Virginia Minimum Wage Act.

Grievance Procedure for Certain Employees; Timing of Resolution of Certain Disputes HB 1110 (Maldonado) would have required each local school board's grievance procedure for school board employees, except the division superintendent, principals, assistant principals, teachers, supervisors, and other employees required to be licensed by the Board of Education, to afford a timely and fair method of the resolution of disputes arising between the school board and such employees before dismissal or other disciplinary actions, excluding suspensions.

Independent Bargaining HB 335 (Freitas) would have permitted independent bargaining by public employees who are employed by a county, city, or town that has adopted an ordinance or resolution providing for collective bargaining by public employees. The bill would have prevented agreements between employee associations and employers from applying to employees who are not members of the association and would have stated that there shall be only one designated bargaining representative for each collective bargaining unit in a county, city, or town that has adopted an ordinance or resolution providing for collective bargaining by public employees.

Labor Union Dues Deduction Authorization HB 341 (Freitas) and SB 721 (Obenshain) would have required consent by public employees authorized to engage in collective bargaining before union or employee association dues are deducted from the employees' pay directly by their employers. The bill would have allowed public employees to stop paying union or employee association dues at any time and gives public employees an annual opportunity to reconfirm that they want to continue union or employee association membership and pay such dues. The bill would have provided that if an employee does not reconfirm then the dues deduction must cease.

Licensed School Board Employees; Cultural Competency Training; Bullying of Asian American and Pacific Islander Students HB 371 (Convirs-Fowler) would have required the Board of Education's guidance on cultural competency training for licensed school board employees to include a model curriculum for cultural competency training relating to the bullying of Asian American and Pacific Islander students and requires such model curriculum to be incorporated into the biennial cultural competency training required for licensed school board employees.

Local Department; Human Resources HB 1079 (Cordoza) would have required every local department to establish a human resources staff position to receive complaints regarding human resources matters and assist employees of the local department with resolution of such complaints and ensure that individuals with supervisory authority are prohibited from interfering in the investigation or resolution of such complaints.

Minimum Wage HB 171 (Marshall), HB 296 (McNamara), HB 320 (Freitas), and SB 173 (Peake) would have repealed certain provisions of the Code of Virginia related to increasing the state minimum wage to more than $11.00 per hour. The bill would have also repealed provisions related to increasing the state minimum wage based on an annual adjusted minimum wage determined by the Department of Labor and Industry.

Organ Donors; Unpaid Leave; Civil Penalty SB 244 (Hashmi) would have required that an employer that employs 15 or more employees provide eligible employees with up to 60 business days of unpaid organ donation leave in any 12-month period to serve as an organ donor and up to 30 business days of unpaid organ donation leave in any 12-month period to serve as a bone marrow donor. The bill would have required the employer to restore the employee's position following the leave, to continue to provide coverage for the employee under any health benefit plan, and to pay the employee any commission earned prior to the leave. The bill would have prohibited the employer from taking retaliatory action against the employee for taking organ donation leave.  

Overtime; Compensable Hours Worked; Compensatory Time HB 1017 (Guzman) 
would have defined compensable hours worked, for the purposes of the Virginia Overtime and any time an employee is suffered or permitted to work. The bill would have stated that such time shall include work performed at home, travel time, waiting time, and training and probationary periods.

Overtime Pay Requirements; Volunteers HB 61 (McGuire) and SB 331 (Reeves) would have permitted individuals who work as both employees and on a volunteer basis for a public body, church, or nonprofit organization to earn overtime wages for hours worked as an employee only and would have continued to exclude hours worked on a volunteer basis from overtime wage requirements.

Planning Time and Planning Periods HB 440 (VanValkenburg) would have required each local school board to ensure that each elementary school teacher is provided an average of one 45-minute period per school day of planning time and that each middle and high school teacher would have been provided an average of one planning period per school day, which shall be at least 45 minutes or one class period, whichever is longer. The bill would have permitted local school boards and teachers to enter into an appropriate contractual arrangement providing for compensation in lieu of such planning time or period.

Possession of Controlled Substances; Barrier Crimes HB 618 (Hudson) would have removed from the definition of barrier crime a felony violation of possession of a controlled substance.

Probationary Term of Service, Grounds for Dismissal, and Dismissal Hearings HB 9 (Ware) and SB 178 (Peake) would have permitted each school board to extend for up to two additional years the three-year probationary term of service that is required for each teacher in the school division before the issuance of a continuing contract and prohibits each school board from reemploying a teacher whose performance evaluation during such probationary period is not satisfactory..

Right to Unionize HB 1220 (Clark) would have repealed the provisions of the Code of Virginia that, among other things, prohibit any agreement or combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organization whereby nonmembers of the union or organization are denied the right to work for the employer, membership in the union or organization is made a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer, or the union or organization acquires an employment monopoly in any such enterprise.

Teacher Career Ladder Compensation Programs HB 581 (VanValkenburg) would have required each local school board to establish a teacher career ladder compensation program (program) whereby each rung on the ladder corresponds to a specific teacher career and compensation level as determined by the local school board.

Teacher Compensation; At or Above National Average HB 535 (Clark)
would have required that public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. The bill would have required state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries, effective from the 2023-24 school year through the 2027-28 school year.

Teacher Training Corps; Report HB 860 (Reid) would have established the Teacher Training Corps for the purpose of attracting and retaining public elementary and secondary school teachers in school divisions in the Commonwealth by awarding scholarships to students who obtain teaching degrees and certifications at participating institutions and requiring such students to fill teacher positions for specified periods of time at high-needs schools, as defined in the bill, and meet other requirements.

Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program established HB 128 (Davis) would have established the Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program, to be administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, for the purpose of annually providing to each Historically Black College or University in the Commonwealth (defined in the bill as Norfolk State University and Virginia State University) such sums as are necessary for each such institution to annually provide renewable last-dollar scholarships on a competitive basis to two students who attended a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth in which at least 75 percent of the enrolled students qualify for free or reduced price lunch or are members of families whose income is below the federal poverty guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; are accepted to or enrolled in such institution's education preparation program; and are eligible for a federal Pell Grant to attend such institution. The bill would have provided that each such scholarship would consist of the following sums:  the cost of tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and textbooks at such institution; the recipient's teacher licensure fees; $5,000 toward teacher professional development activities for the recipient, including coursework, seminars, and conferences; and $10,000 toward mentorship of the recipient by a master teacher, defined as an experienced public elementary or secondary school teacher who is deemed by the relevant school board to be highly effective and able to provide high quality mentorship. The bill would have required each student who is awarded a scholarship pursuant to the Program to agree in writing to teach in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth in which at least 75 percent of the enrolled students qualify for free or reduced price lunch or are members of families whose income is below the federal poverty guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon graduation for a period that is at least as long as the period during which the recipient used scholarship funds to attend a Historically Black College or University and be mentored by a master teacher during such period of employment.

Virginia Overtime Wages Act; Clarifies Term 'Employees' HB 1143 (Byron)
would have provided that for the purposes of the Virginia Overtime Wage Act, the term "employee" does not certain persons excluded from the definition of "employee" under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (the federal act). The bill would have provided that an employer may assert an exemption to the overtime requirement of the Virginia Overtime Wage Act for employees who meet certain exemptions set forth in the federal act.

Accident and Sickness Insurance; Minimum Standards SB 337 (Barker) authorizes the State Corporation Commission to issue rules and regulations related to accident and sickness insurance minimum standards and excepted benefits and provides that the purpose of such rules and regulations is to establish the minimum standards for filing of policy forms for individual and small group health benefit plans, the minimum standards, terms, and coverages for individual and group accident and sickness policies known as excepted benefits, and the minimum standards for short-term limited-duration insurance. The bill directs the Commission to ensure that such standards are simple and understandable and are not misleading or unreasonably confusing, and that the sale of such policies provides for full disclosure.

Employment of Retired Law-Enforcement Officers SB 17 (Hackworth) provides that the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall exempt a law-enforcement officer who has demonstrated sensitivity to cultural diversity issues, had previous experience and training as a law-enforcement officer, is currently receiving or is eligible to receive a service retirement allowance, and has a break in service of no longer than 60 calendar months between retirement and new employment as a law-enforcement officer from the mandatory attendance of all courses that are required for the successful completion of the compulsory minimum training standards established by the Criminal Justice Services Board.

Health Carriers; Licensed Athletic Trainers HB 45 (Ware) and SB 525 (Barker) require health insurers and health service plan providers whose policies or contracts cover services that may be legally performed by a licensed athletic trainer to provide equal coverage for such services when rendered by a licensed athletic trainer when such services are performed in an office setting.

Health Insurance; Calculation of Enrollee's Contribution; High Deductible Health Plan HB 1081 (Byron) and SB 433 (Dunnavant) provide that if the application of the requirement that a carrier, when calculating an enrollee's overall contribution to any out-of-pocket maximum or any cost-sharing requirement under a health plan, include any amounts paid by the enrollee or paid on behalf of the enrollee by another person results in a health plan's ineligibility to qualify as a Health Savings Account-qualified High Deductible Health Plan under the federal Internal Revenue Code, then such requirement shall not apply to such health plan with respect to the deductible of such health plan until the enrollee has satisfied the minimum deductible required by the federal Internal Revenue Code. These bills provide that such limitation does not apply with respect to items or services that are considered preventive care.

Health Insurance; Carrier Disclosure of Certain Information HB 360 (Fowler) and SB 428 (Dunnavant) require each health insurance carrier, beginning July 1, 2025, to establish and maintain an online process that (i) links directly to e-prescribing systems and electronic health record systems that utilize the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs SCRIPT standard; (ii) can accept electronic prior authorization requests from a provider; (iii) can approve electronic prior authorization requests for which no additional information is needed by the carrier to process the prior authorization request, no clinical review is required, and that meet the carrier's criteria for approval; and (iv) otherwise meets the requirements of the relevant Code of Virginia section. The bills prohibit a carrier from (a) imposing a charge or fee on a participating health care provider for accessing the required online process required or (b) accessing, absent provider consent, provider data via the online process other than for the enrollee. The bills require participating health care providers, beginning July 1, 2025, to ensure that any e-prescribing system or electronic health record system owned by or contracted for the provider to maintain an enrollee's health record has the ability to access the electronic prior authorization process established by a carrier and real-time cost information data for a covered prescription drug made available by a carrier. The bills provide that a provider may request a waiver of compliance for undue hardship for a period not to exceed 12 months. The bills require any carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager to provide real-time cost information data to enrollees and contracted providers for a covered prescription drug, including any cost-sharing requirement or prior authorization requirements, and to ensure that the data is accurate. The bills require that such cost information data is available to the provider in a format that a provider can access and understand such as through the provider's e-prescribing system or electronic health record system for which the carrier or pharmacy benefits manager or its designated subcontractor has adopted that utilizes the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs SCRIPT standard from which the provider makes the request.

The bills require the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance (the Bureau) to, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, establish a work group to evaluate and make recommendations to modify the process for prior authorization for drug benefits in order to maximize efficiency and minimize delays that include a single standardized process and any recommendations for necessary statutory or regulatory changes. The bills require the work group to include relevant stakeholders, including representatives from the Virginia Association of Health Plans, the Medical Society of Virginia, the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, the Virginia Pharmacists Association, and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, and other parties with an interest in the underlying technology. The bills require the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor and the House Committee on Commerce and Energy by November 1, 2022. NOTE that the provisions of the bill other than the requirement for the Bureau to establish the work group will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2023 Session of the General Assembly.

Health Insurance; Coverage for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders; Report SB 434 (Barker) requires the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance, in its report regarding denied claims, complaints, appeals, and network adequacy involving mental health and substance abuse disorder coverage, to include a summary of certain comparative analyses from health carriers related to mental health parity and an explanation of whether the analyses were considered compliant and any corrective actions required of the health carrier by the Bureau. The bill also would change the annual deadline for such report from September 1 to November 1.

Health Insurance; Coverage for Prosthetic Devices HB 925 (Roem) and SB 405 (Barker) require health insurers, corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts, health maintenance organizations, and the Commonwealth's Medicaid program to provide coverage for medically necessary prosthetic devices, including myoelectric, biomechanical, or microprocessor-controlled prosthetic devices. The provisions of the bills apply only in the large group markets. The provisions of the bills apply to any policies issued or delivered on and after January 1, 2023.

Health Insurance; Definition of Autism Spectrum Disorder HB 225 (Coyner) and SB 321 (Vogel) provide that for the purposes of required health insurance coverage for the diagnosis and  treatment of autism spectrum disorder, "autism spectrum disorder" means any pervasive developmental disorder or autism spectrum disorder, as defined in the most recent edition or the most recent edition at the time of diagnosis of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association and "medically necessary" means in accordance with the generally accepted standards of mental disorder or condition care and clinically appropriate in terms of type, frequency, site, and duration, based upon evidence and reasonably expected to do any of the following: prevent the onset of an illness, condition, injury, or disability; reduce or ameliorate the physical, mental, or developmental effects of an illness, condition, injury, or disability; or assist to achieve or maintain maximum functional capacity in performing daily activities, taking into account both the functional capacity of the individual and the functional capacities that are appropriate for individuals of the same age.

Health Insurance; Discrimination Prohibited Against Covered Entities and Contract Pharmacies HB 1162 (Wachsmann) prohibits carriers and pharmacy benefits managers from discriminating in the requirements, exclusions, terms, or other conditions imposed on a covered entity or contract pharmacy on the basis that the entity or pharmacy is operating under the 340B Program of the federal Public Health Service Act. The bill also prohibits a carrier or pharmacy benefits manager from interfering in a covered individual's right to choose a contract pharmacy or covered entity.

Insurance; discrimination based on status as living organ donor prohibited HB 421 (Delaney) prohibits any person from refusing to insure, refusing to continue to insure, or limiting the amount or extent of life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance coverage available to an individual, or to charge an individual a different rate for the same coverage based solely and without any additional actuarial risks upon the status of such individual as a living organ donor. The provisions of the bill apply to such insurance plans that are entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2023.  Note:  SB 271 incorporated SB 242 (Hashmi) and SB 244 (Hashmi). Note also that an identical bill, SB 271 (Ebbin), passed both House and Senate, but was vetoed by the Governor.

Insurance; Examinations; Health Care Provider Panels HB 146 (Head) provide that any person may submit a complaint of noncompliance by an insurer with any insurance law, regulation, or order of the State Corporation Commission on behalf of a health care provider. The bill provides that the Commission shall investigate such complaints and notify the complainants of the outcomes, but that the Commission shall not have jurisdiction to adjudicate individual controversies or matters of contractual dispute.

Insurance for Employees of Certain Public School Foundations HB 223 (Coyner) and SB 437 (Dunnavant) provide that any locality may provide group life, accident, and health insurance programs for employees of certain public school foundations.

Private Family Leave Insurance HB 1156 (Byron) and SB 15 (Favola) establish family leave insurance as a class of insurance. The bills define "family leave insurance" as an insurance policy issued to an employer related to a benefit program provided to an employee to pay for the employee's income loss due to the birth of a child or adoption of a child by the employee; placement of a child with the employee for foster care; care of a family member of the employee who has a serious health condition; or circumstances arising out of the fact that the employee's family member who is a service member is on active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty. Under the bills, family leave insurance may be written as an amendment or rider to a group disability income policy, included in a group disability income policy, or written as a separate group insurance policy purchased by an employer. The bills prohibit delivery or issue for delivery of a family leave insurance policy unless a copy of the form and the rate manual showing rates, rules, and classification of risks have been filed with the State Corporation Commission. The bills prohibit an individual certificate and enrollment form from being used in connection with a group family leave insurance policy unless the form for the certificate and enrollment form have been filed with the Commission. The bills provide that "life and annuities insurance agent" means an agent licensed in the Commonwealth to sell, solicit, or negotiate, among other types of insurance, family leave insurance on behalf of insurers licensed in the Commonwealth. 

Qualified Health Plans; State-Mandated Health Benefits HB 431 (Murphy) and SB 449 (Boysko) authorize a qualified health plan offered on the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange to provide state-mandated health benefits that are not provided in the essential health benefits package. Under current law, qualified health plans are prohibited from providing such state-mandated health benefits.

Self-Insurance Pools HB 1268 (Marshall) expands provisions related to local government self-insurance pools by providing that a local government group self-insurance pool may provide all authorized insurance coverages to any separate corporation established by one or more counties, cities, towns, or school boards, as permitted by law that are supported wholly or principally by local public funds or utilize federal funds for local projects and (ii) other corporations recognized under § 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that are supported wholly or principally by local public funds or utilize federal funds for local projects and that are recognized by a political subdivision and authorized by law to perform a government function.

State Health Plan; Insulin Discount Program; Health Insurance; Cost Sharing for Insulin HB 240 (Adams) would have required the state health plan established by the Department of Human Resource Management to offer an insulin discount program that would have allowed individuals other than state employees to purchase insulin at a discounted, post-rebate price.

Unemployment Compensation; Benefit Eligibility HB 652 (Wampler) require the Virginia Employment Commission to conduct an incarceration check and employment ID check prior to awarding benefits to any individual.

Virginia Employment Commission; Administrative Reforms; Reporting Requirements; Electronic Submissions; Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman Established HB 270 (Byron) and SB 219 (McPike) require 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 bills also require 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 bills create 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 bills also direct the Commission to convene an advisory committee composed of stakeholders and subject matter experts to review information related to UI claims.

The bills require 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 bills provide 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 bills also create 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 bills direct 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.  Note: both bills contained an emergency clause and went into effect on April 27, 2022.

Virginia Retirement System; Employer Contributions HB 473 (Bulova) and SB 70 (Newman) separate the employer contribution for Virginia Retirement System (VRS) employers participating in the Hybrid Retirement Plan into defined benefit and defined contribution components. These bills require the Board of Trustees of VRS to certify to each employer their defined benefit contribution rate and to provide to each employer their estimated defined contribution amounts.  The substantive provisions of these bills have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2024. However, these bills direct VRS to make the preparations necessary for full implementation of the bill beginning July 1, 2022.

Workers' Compensation Commission; Prohibition on Charging Premiums for Bonus Pay, Vacations, and Holidays; Report HJ 11 requests the Workers' Compensation Commission to study a prohibition on charging workers' compensation premiums on bonus pay, vacation time, and holiday time and consider the economic effect that such prohibition would have on the state. The Workers' Compensation Commission is requested to complete its meetings by December 1, 2022 and submit its findings no later than the first day of the 2023 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Workers' Compensation; Cost of Living Supplements SB 677 (Lewis) provides that cost-of-living supplements shall be payable to claimants who are receiving disability benefits under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act but are not receiving federal disability benefits.

Workers' Compensation; Employer Duty to Furnish Medical Attention; Cost Limit HB 689 (Wampler) adds scooters to the list of medical equipment an employer is required to furnish to an employee under certain circumstances under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. The bill raises the limit on the aggregate cost of items and modifications required to be furnished by an employer to an injured employee from $42,000 to $55,000, to be increased on an annual basis.

Workers' Compensation; Time Period for Filing Claim; Certain Cancers HB 1042 (Brewer) and SB 562 (Saslaw) provide that the time period for filing a workers' compensation claim for certain cancers is two years after a diagnosis of the disease is first communicated to the employee or within 10 years from the date of the last injurious exposure in employment, whichever first occurs. These bills would provide, however, that such claim for benefits shall be barred if an employee is 65 years of age or older, regardless of the date of diagnosis, communication, or last injurious exposure in employment.

Health Insurance; Retail Community Pharmacies HB 560 (O’Quinn) would require a carrier to administer its health benefit plans in a manner consistent with certain requirements and to include such requirements in its provider contracts addressing the provision of pharmacy benefits management. The bill would also remove the exemption for a self-insured or self-funded employee welfare benefit plan under provisions regulating pharmacy benefits managers.

Commission on Unemployment Compensation; Unemployment Insurance Subcommittee Established HB 639 (Carr) would have created within the Commission on Unemployment Compensation a subcommittee that would have been responsible for monitoring the Virginia Employment Commission's management of the unemployment insurance program.

Department of Human Resource Management; Employee Health Insurance; Pharmacy Benefits; Reverse Auction Process HB 584 (Hudson) would have directed the Department of Human Resource Management to utilize a reverse auction process to award pharmacy benefit manager contracts for pharmacy benefits offered under the state employee health insurance plan.

Group Health Benefit Plans; Sponsoring Associations; Formation of Benefits Consortium HB 245 (Wilt) would have provided that sponsoring associations, including self-funded multiple employer welfare arrangements, could provide health benefit plans for small employers in the form of a trust benefit consortium, subject to certain requirements. The bill would have included conditions for qualifying as a sponsoring association, requirements for the formation of a trust benefits consortium, and provisions to establish a board of trustees.

Health Carriers; Denial of Coverage; Quarterly Report HB 1174 (Adams, D.M.) would have required each health carrier in the Commonwealth to submit to the State Corporation Commission on a quarterly basis a report of all first-time denials of coverage, including denials based on preexisting conditions and experimental or investigational treatments. The bill would have stated that a health carrier must inform a covered person of his right to an internal appeal or, if applicable, an external review, upon issuing a denial of coverage.

Health Insurance; Coverage for Breast Cancer Screenings; Mammography Facilities to Provide Extended Hours HB 1243 (McQuinn) would have expanded health insurance coverage requirements that currently include only mammogram screenings to include diagnostic mammograms, breast ultrasounds, and magnetic resonance imaging.

Health Insurance; Coverage for Donated Human Breast Milk HB 726 (Gooditis) and SB 344 (Barker) would have required health insurers, corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for expenses incurred in the provision of pasteurized donated human breast milk. The requirement would have applied if the covered person is an infant under the age of six months, the milk is obtained from a human milk bank that meets quality guidelines established by the Department of Health, and a licensed medical practitioner has issued an order for an infant who satisfies certain criteria. The measure would have applied to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024.

Health Insurance; Coverage for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) HB 806 (Price) would have required health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for treatment of PCOS, if diagnosed by a gynecologist, endocrinologist, primary care physician, pediatrician, nurse practitioner, dermatologist, or infertility specialist. The bill would have specified which types of treatment will be covered for PCOS. The bill would have applied to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2023

Health Insurance; Coverage for Prostate Cancer Screening HB 477 (Austin) would have updated the current mandated requirement for health care coverage companies (including health insurers and HMOs), the health care coverage plan for state employees, and the state plan for Medicaid that provides coverage for one PSA test in a 12-month period to persons age 50 and over and to persons age 40 and over who are at high risk for prostate cancer according to American Cancer Society Guidelines such that the new coverage requirement would have been for prostate cancer screening that included the current test and the current guidelines.

Health Insurance; Coverage for the Diagnosis of and Treatment for Infertility and Standard Fertility Preservation Services HB 480 (Helmer) would have required health insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and for standard fertility preservation procedures, defined in the bill.

Health Insurance; Proton Radiation Therapy Coverage HB 126 (Davis) would have provided that if proton radiation therapy is recommended by an enrollee's insurance policy, subscription contract, or health care plan beneficiary's health care provider as the preferred radiation therapy treatment to lessen the potential of detrimental side effects, then a carrier shall not deny coverage for such treatment solely on the basis of cost. The provision would have applied to all insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans delivered, issued for delivery, reissued, or extended in the Commonwealth on and after January 1, 2023.  HB 1111 (Cordoza) would have required any health insurer, corporation, or health maintenance organization issuing an insurance policy, subscription contract, or health care plan to provide coverage for physician-prescribed proton therapy for the treatment of cancer if proton radiation therapy is recommended as the preferred radiation therapy treatment by the enrollee's health care provider.

Health Insurance; Tobacco Surcharge HB 675 (Hope) and SB 422 (Edwards) would have eliminated the authority of a health carrier to vary its premium rates based on tobacco use. Note: while the legislation passed both House and Senate, it was vetoed by the Governor.

Health Insurance Wellness Programs; COVID-19 Vaccine SB 42 (Marsden) would have provided that a wellness program provided by a health carrier is provided at the employer's discretion and may include a program that provides a reward or assesses a surcharge to encourage individuals to receive a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19.

Insurance; Discrimination Based on Status As Living Organ Donor Prohibited SB 242 (Hashmi) would have prohibited any person from refusing to insure, refusing to continue to insure, or limiting the amount or extent of life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance coverage available to an individual, or to charge an individual a different rate for the same coverage based solely and without any additional actuarial risks upon the status of such individual as a living organ donor. The provisions of the bill would have applied to life insurance, disability insurance, or long-term care insurance plans that are entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2023.

Long-Term Care Insurance; Rate Increases; Notice Requirements HB 1013 (Tran) would have required an insurer of long-term care insurance policies to notify its customers and applicants in writing of the insurer's filing for a rate increase with the State Corporation Commission within 60 days of making such filing.

Paid Sick Leave; Penalty; State Tax Deduction HB 851 (Reid) would have required employers, as defined in the bill, to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave, prorated to reflect the average number of hours worked per week by each employee, as defined in the bill, in the previous 12 months, for all existing eligible employees and eligible employees that have been employed for at least 12 months. For eligible employees who have been employed for less than 12 months, employers would have had to provide 20 to 40 hours of paid sick leave, prorated to reflect the expected number of hours worked per week by each employee, as determined by the employer. Employers with at least 25 but not more than 49 full-time employees would have received a nonrefundable state tax deduction equivalent to 120 percent of the value of any paid sick leave provided by an employer to an employee

Unemployment Compensation; Continuation of Benefits; Repayment of Overpayments HB 600 (Hudson) would have made permanent provisions of the Code currently set to expire on July 1, 2022, relating to unemployment compensation.

Unemployment Compensation; Disqualification for Benefits; Misconduct HB 1201 (Byron) would have provided that for the purposes of the Virginia Employment Commission determining if an individual was separated or partially separated from employment for misconduct and would be disqualified for unemployment benefits, the term "misconduct" does not include an employee's refusal to receive or receive in part any primary series or booster shot of a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19.

Unemployment Compensation; Invalid Claims HB 640 (Carr) would have provided 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 is not eligible for appeal through the Commission's appeals division.

Unemployment Compensation; Disqualification for Benefits; Misconduct Does Not Include Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine SB 646 (Cosgrove) would have provided that for the purposes of the Virginia Employment Commission determining if an individual was separated or partially separated from employment for misconduct and would have been disqualified for unemployment benefits, the term "misconduct" does not include an employee's refusal to receive or receive in part any primary series or booster shot of a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19.

Unemployment Compensation; Electronic Submission of Information SB 655 (Ebbin) would have required, upon the request of the Virginia Employment Commission, to submit information related to a claim including separation information through electronic means unless the employer has been granted a waiver by the Commission. The bill would have required the Commission to develop a plan to conduct a pilot program that would require a sample group of employers that employ 15 or more employees to proactively provide separation information, including the date of and reason for separation, to separated individuals and electronically to the Commission within seven days of the individual's separation from employment and to submit such plan to the Commission on Unemployment Compensation by January 1, 2023.  Note: while the legislation passed both the House and Senate, it was vetoed by the Governor.

Virginia Retirement System and Local Retirement Systems; Fossil Fuel Divestment; Report HB 645 (Kory) and SB 213 (McPike) would have required the Virginia Retirement System and local retirement systems to divest from fossil fuel companies by January 1, 2027. 

Virginia Retirement System; Retired Law-Enforcement Officers Employed as School Security Officers SB 18 (Cosgrove) would have provided that if a retired law-enforcement officer was employed by a local school division as a school security officer on January 1, 2020, and had a bona fide break in service of at least one month between retirement and employment as a school security officer, such person would not have been required to establish a 12-month break in service that would otherwise be required by law

Workers' Compensation; Cancer Presumption; Service Requirement HB 1056 (Cordoza) would have reduced from five to three the years of service required for firefighters and certain other employees to qualify for the cancer presumption of an occupational disease for the purposes of workers' compensation.

Workers' Compensation; Failure to Market Residual Capacity HB 730 (Ward) would have provided that an employee would not have been barred from receiving workers' compensation benefits due to a failure to market residual work capacity if credible evidence supports that the employee would have been reasonably unemployable based upon age, education, work history, or medical conditions or would have been employable in some capacity and has registered with the Virginia Employment Commission.

Workers' Compensation; Injuries Caused by Repetitive and Sustained Physical Stressors HB 1002 (Guzman) would have provided that, for the purposes of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease" includes injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions, posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill would have provided that such injuries would have been covered under the Act. Such coverage would have not required that the injuries occurred over a particular time period under the bill, provided that such a period could have been reasonably identified.

Workers' Compensation; Notice to Employees SB 226 (McPike) would have required each employer subject to the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act to provide notice to covered employees of the employees' right to dispute a claim through the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. The bill would have also provided that an employer who fails to provide such notice may be subject to the civil penalty provisions of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.

Workers' Compensation; Presumption as to Death or Disability from COVID-19; Vaccine SB 181 (Saslaw) would have provided that the presumption that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of certain employees is an occupational disease compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act does not apply to an individual who fails or refuses to receive a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 either approved by or with an Emergency Use Authorization issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, unless the person is immunized or the person's physician determines in writing that the immunization would have posed a significant risk to the person's health.

Academic Year Governor's Schools; Certain Practices Prohibited and Permitted HB 127 (Davis) prohibits any academic year Governor's School or governing board member, director, administrator, or employee thereof from discriminating against any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the process of admitting students to such school. The bill requires each local school board that jointly manages and controls a regional academic year Governor's school to collaborate to ensure that each public middle school that is eligible to send students to attend such Governor's school offers coursework, curriculum, and instruction that is comparable in content and in rigor in order to provide each student in each such middle school with the opportunity to gain admission to and excel academically at such Governor's school.

Board of Education; Student Advisory Board HB 1188 (Davis) establishes the Student Advisory Board for the purpose of providing student perspectives on matters before the Board of Education.

Board of Education; Membership; Qualifications HB 879 (Rasoul) directs the Governor to consider appointing to the nine-member Board of Education at least one member with experience or expertise in local government leadership or policymaking, at least one member with experience or expertise in career and technical education, and at least one member with experience or expertise in early childhood education.

Certain Emergency and Quarantine Orders; Additional Procedural Requirements SB 46 (Petersen) provides that, in any case in which the Governor has issued an emergency order that includes any measure that closes schools or businesses or restricts the movement of healthy persons within the area to which the order applies, all of the rights, protections, and procedures applicable in the case of an order of quarantine issued by the State Health Commissioner shall apply.

Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans; Expiration HB 139 (McQuinn) and SB 151 (Locke) extends from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2024, the expiration of the Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans. These bills also provide for the non-legislative citizen members of the Commission to continue to serve for the duration of the extension.

Conflict of Interests Act; State and Local Government; Definition of Gift; Certain Tickets and Registration or Admission Fees HB 216 (Simonds) and SB 57 (Locke) exempts from the definition of gift tickets and registration or admission fees to an event that are provided by an agency to its own officers or employees for the purposes of performing official duties related to the officer's or employee's public service.

Libraries and Education Services; Obsolete Provisions SB 421 (Edwards) revises and repeals obsolete provisions in Title 22.1 (Education) related to early childhood education and elementary and secondary education and Title 42.1 (Libraries) related to libraries and the Virginia Public Records Act.

Loudoun County School Board; Staggering of Member Terms; Lot Drawing; Timeframe HB 1138 (Reid) requires the lot drawing required to be conducted by the Loudoun County Electoral Board to determine the members of four of nine districts who will be elected to the Loudoun County School Board for four-year terms and the members of the remaining five districts who will be elected to the Loudoun County School Board for two-year terms to ensure the staggering of member terms for such school board to be conducted at the electoral board's first meeting of 2023 but no later than January 31, 2023.

In-Person Instruction and Mask Mandates SB 739 (Dunnavant) and HB 1272 (Batten) require, except in the case of the 10 unscheduled remote learning days otherwise permitted by law or in certain cases of student discipline, each school board to offer in-person instruction, as defined in the bill, to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary or secondary school for at least the minimum number of required annual instructional hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the instructional time provided pursuant to such program. The bills permit, notwithstanding any other provision of law or any regulation, rule, or policy implemented by a school board, school division, school official, or other state or local authority, the parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school, or in any school-based early childhood care and education program, to elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property. The bills provide that no parent making such an election shall be required to provide a reason or any certification of the child's health or education status and no student shall suffer any adverse disciplinary or academic consequences as a result of this parental election. The bills require each local school division to comply with the foregoing provisions relating to masks no later than March 1, 2022. The bills clarify that none of the foregoing provisions shall be construed to affect the authority granted to the Governor to achieve the purposes of relevant emergency services and disaster law with regard to a communicable disease of public health threat. Note that SB 739 contained an emergency clause which made it effective on February 16, 2022.

Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth; Study; Report SJ 10 (Surovell) establishes a joint subcommittee to study pandemic response and preparedness in the Commonwealth. In conducting its study, the joint subcommittee is tasked with examining existing laws in the Commonwealth and developing recommendations regarding the pandemic response and future needs of the Governor, the General Assembly, local governments, public and private health care systems and other facilities and providers, health districts, the judicial system, K-12 and higher education systems, and the business regulatory system.

Powers of the Governor; Limited Duration of Rules, Regulations, and Orders HB 158 (Byron) and SB 4 (Suetterlein) provide that no rule, regulation, or order issued under this section shall have any effect beyond 45 days after the date of issuance. The bills state that unless the General Assembly takes action on the rule, regulation, or order within the 45 days during which the rule, regulation, or order is effective, the Governor would thereafter be prohibited from issuing the same or a similar rule, regulation, or order relating to the same emergency.

Public Agencies; privacy of personal donor information; penalty SB 324 (Vogel) Public agencies; privacy of personal donor information; penalty. Provides that public agencies shall not request personal donor information, defined in the bill, from (i) any individual or any entity organized under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) any bidder, offeror, or contractor of an agency. The bill prohibits such public agencies from disclosing personal donor information without the express, written permission of every individual who is identifiable from the potential release of such personal donor information, including individuals identifiable as members, supporters, or volunteers of, or donors to, the agency. The bill also excludes from the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act names and data that directly or indirectly identify an individual as a member, supporter, or volunteer of, or donor of financial or nonfinancial support to, any entity exempt from federal income tax pursuant to § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, except for those entities established by or for, or in support of, a public body as authorized by state law, not to include a nonprofit foundation designed to support an institution of higher education or other educational or cultural institution subject to Title 23.1. The bill also exempts the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 from the requirements that public agencies protect personal donor information and refrain from requesting personal donor information. NOTE: The legislation becomes effective on December 1, 2022.

Public agencies; privacy of personal information; penalty. HB 970 (O’Quinn) provides that public agencies shall not request personal donor information, defined in the bill, from (i) any individual or any entity organized under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) any bidder, offeror, or contractor of an agency. The bill prohibits such public agencies from disclosing personal information without the express, written permission of every individual who is identifiable from the potential release of such personal information, including individuals identifiable as members, supporters, or volunteers of, or donors to, the agency. The bill exempts the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 from the requirements that public agencies protect personal information and refrain from requesting personal information.

Publication of Notice by Localities HB 167 (Ransome) provides that in any instance in which a locality has submitted a correct and timely notice request to a newspaper published or having general circulation in the locality and such newspaper fails to publish the notice, or publishes the notice incorrectly, such locality shall be deemed to have met the appropriate notice requirements so long as the notice was published in the next available edition of a newspaper having general circulation in the locality.

Sexually Explicit Content In Instructional Material SB 656 (Dunnavant) requires the Department of Education to develop no later than July 31, 2022, model policies and each local school board to adopt no later than January 1, 2023, policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to (i) ensuring parental notification; directly identifying the specific instructional material and sexually explicit subjects; and permitting the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and provide, as an alternative, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill provides that the local school board policies shall be consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies developed by the Department. The bill states that the provisions of the bill shall not be construed as requiring or providing for the censoring of books in public elementary and secondary schools.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Estimated Charges HB 307 (Freitas) provides that, except with regard to scholastic records requested pursuant to subdivision A 1 of § 2.2-3705.4 that must be made available for inspection pursuant to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g) and such requests for scholastic records by a parent or legal guardian of a minor student or by a student who is 18 years of age or older, a public body subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act shall make all reasonable efforts to supply records requested by a citizen at the lowest possible cost; however, no such public body shall charge for the provision of certain scholastic records, outlined in the bill. The bill requires a public body, prior to conducting a search for records, to notify the requester in writing of the public body's right to make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requested records and inquire of the requester whether he would like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested records. Finally, the bill provides that any costs incurred by a public body in estimating the cost of supplying requested records shall be applied toward the overall charges to be paid by the requester for the supplying of such records.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Meetings Conducted Through Electronic Meetings HB 444 (Bennett-Parker) amends existing provisions concerning electronic meetings by keeping the provisions for electronic meetings held in response to declared states of emergency, repealing the provisions that are specific to regional and state public bodies, and allowing certain public bodies to conduct all-virtual public meetings where all of the members who participate do so remotely and that the public may access through electronic communications means. The bill would except local governing bodies, local school boards, planning commissions, architectural review boards, zoning appeals boards, and any board with the authority to deny, revoke, or suspend a professional or occupational license from the provisions that allow public bodies to conduct all-virtual public meetings. Definitions, procedural requirements, and limitations for all-virtual public meetings are set forth in the bill, along with technical amendments.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Posting of Minutes; Local Public Bodies HB 150 (March) requires, with certain exceptions outlined in the bill, any local public body subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to post meeting minutes on its official public government website, if any, within seven working days of final approval of the minutes. The bill provides that if a local public body does not own or maintain an official public government website, it shall make copies of all meeting minutes available no later than seven working days after the conclusion of a meeting at a prominent public location in which meeting notices are regularly posted, at the office of the clerk of the public body, or, in the case of a public body that has no clerk, at the office of the chief administrator.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act and Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council; Definition; Official Public Government Website SB 152 (Locke) defines "official public government website" as it applies to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council as any Internet site controlled by a public body and used, among any other purposes, to post required notices and other content pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act on behalf of the public body.

Elections; Removal of Officers; Recall Elections; Petition SB 495 (McClellan) would provide for the removal of certain elected officers and officers appointed to elected offices by recall referendum. The bill would require a petition for recall be signed by 30 percent of the total number of votes cast at the last election for the office for which a recall is sought.

Lobbying; Local Government Actions; Notice and Fee to Clerk of Governing Body SB 224 (McPike) would require any individual who is compensated to influence or attempt to influence a local government action through oral or written communication with a local government officer or employee to provide written notice of his status and a $25 fee to the clerk of the governing body of the officer's or employee's locality.

Standardized Health Care Academy Program; Established SB 751 (Dunnavant) would establish the Standardized Health Care Academy Program for the purpose of providing training and opportunities to high school students in health care professional programs that are offered by associate-degree-granting public institutions of higher education. The bill would direct the State Board for Community Colleges to establish the Program and work with the Department of Education in setting out parameters for the Program.

Virginia Children's Cabinet HB 1149 (Guzman) would create the Virginia Children's Cabinet as an executive branch advisory body to advise the Governor regarding policies to improve the health and well-being of children in the Commonwealth.

Administration of Government; Language Access Equity; Report SB 270 (Hashmi) would have established the Interagency Language Access Working Group in the Office of the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with the following membership: the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, the Governor's Secretaries, and six nonlegislative citizen members representing organizations that represent individuals with language access needs. The Working Group would have been established for the purpose of maximizing state policies, resources, technical assistance, and procurement practices to further language access and equity in the Commonwealth and its state government agencies. The bill would have also required each state agency to designate a language access coordinator who will be responsible for the agency's annual language access report, the requirements of which are set out in the bill.

Agreements to Establish Opportunity Classrooms HB 533 (Batten) would have required each school board to enter into an agreement, upon request, with a public elementary or secondary school teacher or a group of such teachers in a local school division who represents more than 20 students to establish an opportunity classroom, which the bill defines as a classroom in which a curriculum in English, mathematics, science, history and social science, and any other subject area, as set forth in such agreement, is offered that is different than any curriculum that is otherwise offered in such subject areas in the local school division.

Campaign Finance; Prohibited Personal Use of Campaign Funds; Complaints, Hearings, Civil Penalty, and Advisory Opinions HB 1296 (Cherry) would have prohibited any person from converting contributions to a candidate or a candidate's campaign committee for their personal use.

College Partnership Laboratory Schools; Application and Establishment HB 346 (Davis) and SB 598 (Pillion) as passed by the House, would have permitted any public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education to apply to the Board of Education (the Board) to establish a college partnership laboratory school as a new school or through the conversion of all or part of an existing school. Under current law, only public and private institutions of higher education that operate approved teacher education programs are permitted to apply to the Board to establish such a school and no explicit provision is made for the conversion of an existing school. The bill would have permitted college partnership laboratory schools to enter into a memorandum of understanding with any individual or entity to provide apprenticeships, career training, and curriculum support to carry out the provisions of law relating to such schools. The bill would have required the Board, in reviewing such applications, to give substantial preference to any application from a historically black college or university and any application to establish a college partnership laboratory school in an underserved community, which the bill defines as a geographical area that is served by public schools in which a high percentage of students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch, as determined by the Board.

As passed by the Senate, would have permitted any public institution of higher education and any nonprofit private institution of higher education that is eligible for the Tuition Assistance Grant Program to establish a college partnership laboratory school as a new school or through the conversion of all or part of an existing school. The bill would have required applications for formation of a college partnership laboratory school to describe how the applicant will cooperate with local school boards, including allowing the local school board to elect to name a board member to the governing board of the college partnership laboratory school, and to include assurances that the applicant will work with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to develop programs that may award college credits. The bill would have required the Board, among other criteria for reviewing and ruling on such applications, to give substantial preference to any application from a historically black college or university; any application to establish a college partnership laboratory school in an underserved community, which the bill defines as a geographical area that is served by public schools in which a high percentage of students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch, as determined by the Board; and any joint application submitted by an institution of higher education in partnership with one or more local school boards. The provisions of the bill would have been contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Constitutional Amendment (first reference); Education; State Appropriations to Private Schools HJ 65 (LaRock) would have removed the requirement that private schools be nonsectarian in order to be eligible for appropriation of state funds.

Cultural Competency Training; Evaluations HB 1093 (Batten) would have required the evaluation of each public school teacher and principal and division superintendent to include an evaluation of cultural competency if the relevant local school board has adopted and implemented policies to require cultural competency training. The bill would have permitted any school board to adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and any other school board employee holding a license issued by the Board of Education to complete cultural competency training, in accordance with guidance issued by the Board of Education, at least every two years, but only after providing 30 days' advanced written notice of and holding a public hearing regarding the adoption and implementation of such policies.

COVID-19 Vaccination Status; Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Prohibited; Discrimination Prohibited HB 27 (Anderson) and HB 512 (March)  have prohibited the State Health Commissioner and the Board of Health, the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Department of Health Professions and any regulatory board therein, and the Department of Social Services from requiring any person to undergo vaccination for COVID-19 and prohibited discrimination based on a person's COVID-19 vaccination status with regard to education or public employment and in numerous other contexts.

Curricula and Instruction Including Inherently Divisive Concepts Prohibited HB 1068 (Cordoza) and SB 570 (Kiggans) would have required each public elementary or secondary school principal to ensure that no curriculum would have been utilized or instruction delivered in the school includes inherently divisive concepts regardless of whether such curriculum or instruction is provided by a school board employee or any other individual or entity.

Department of Planning and Budget; Regulatory Budget Program; Report HB 244 (Webert) would have directed the Department of Planning and Budget, under the direction of the Secretary of Finance, to establish a continuous Regulatory Budget Program with the goal of setting a two-year target for each executive branch agency subject to the Administrative Process Act to reduce regulations and regulatory requirements, maintain the current number of regulations and regulatory requirements, or allow regulations and regulatory requirements to increase by a specific amount over a two-year period.

Department of Regulatory Innovation; Virginia Regulatory Sandbox Program; Created HB 208 (Webert) would have created the Department of Regulatory Innovation to oversee the Virginia Regulatory Sandbox Program, also created by the bill, which would have allowed an individual or business to demonstrate a product, production method, or service under a waiver or suspension of one or more state laws or regulations.

Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credits; Eligible students in Need of a Safer School Environment HB 294 (Freitas) would have declared eligible for a scholarship from a scholarship foundation that receives an education improvement scholarship tax credit, on the same basis as any other eligible student, eligible students in need of a safer school environment, defined in the bill as any student who, while enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in kindergarten through grade 12, was the victim of assault, battery, bullying, harassment, hazing, kidnapping, or robbery on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity, as substantiated by an investigation and written report by the school principal.

Education Savings Account Program; Establishment HB 293 (Freitas) would have established the Education Savings Account Program (the Program), to be administered by the Department of Education (the Department) with assistance from each local school board, whereby the parent of any elementary or secondary school student who is a member of a household whose annual income does not exceed two times the annual household income that would qualify the student for free or reduced-price lunch and was eligible to attend a public school in the Commonwealth in the preceding semester or is starting elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth for the first time is eligible to receive an education savings account, for as long as the student is of school age and the amount of which is determined pursuant to a calculation set forth in the bill, to cover certain enumerated educational expenses for his child. HB 982 (Scott, P.A.) would have established the Education Savings Account Program, to be administered by the Department of Education, whereby the parent of any individual who is a resident of the Commonwealth and who is eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school may apply for an Education Savings Account for his child into which the Department of Education deposits certain state and local funds and from which the parent makes certain enumerated qualifying expenses to educate his child in a setting and a manner other than full-time education in a public school. The bill would have expanded eligibility for scholarships to any student who is a Virginia resident and eligible to enroll in a Virginia primary or secondary school. The bill would have removed the requirement that scholarship-funded schools report test results of scholarship-funded students.

Elections; Referenda; Local Advisory Referenda SB 190 (Peake) would have provided for an exception to the rule that prohibits a referendum from being placed on the ballot unless specifically authorized by statute or by charter, allowing each locality to provide by ordinance a process for holding an advisory referendum provided such advisory referendum is placed on the ballot not more than once per calendar year.

Emergency Laws; Powers and Duties of Governor; Executive Orders HB 151 (March) would have limited the Governor's powers as the Director of Emergency Management by requiring that emergency rules, regulations, and executive orders be objectively necessary and required to control, restrict, allocate, or regulate the use, sale, production, and distribution of food, fuel, clothing and other commodities, materials, goods, services, and resources under any state or federal emergency services programs, rather than necessary in the Governor's judgment.

Emergency Services and Disaster Law; Limitation on Duration of Executive Orders SB 166 (Peake) and SB 731 (Lewis) would have limited the duration of any executive order issued by the Governor pursuant to his powers under the Emergency Services and Disaster Law to no more than 30 days from the date of issuance. The bill provides that if the General Assembly does not take any action on the rule, regulation, or order within the 30 days during which the rule, regulation, or order is effective, the Governor could once again issue the same rule, regulation, or order but shall thereafter be prohibited from issuing the same or a similar rule, regulation, or order relating to the same emergency.

Fundamental Right to be Free from Medical Mandates HB 22 (Walker) would have declared that, except as otherwise provided by law, each adult has a fundamental right to be free from medical mandates of the Commonwealth or any locality, private employer, health care entity or provider, or provider of public accommodations.

Governor's Office; Position of Secretary of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Created SB 153 (Locke) would have eliminated the position of Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Office of the Governor and established the position of Secretary of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to be appointed by the Governor and to assist the Governor and Governor's Secretaries in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion at the state level.

In-Person Instruction; Education Vouchers; Emergency HB 201 (Webert) would have required, in the event that any school board does not provide the option of in-person instruction as the sole method of instruction for any enrolled student, the parent of any such student who withdraws his child from attendance to receive, upon request, an education voucher in an amount equal to a prorated share of the applicable Standards of Quality per-pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposes and apportioned to the school division, including the per-pupil share of state sales tax funding in basic aid and any state per-pupil share of special education funding for which the child is eligible, to cover the expenses of providing in-person instruction in an alternative setting.

Language Access Equity; Report HB 1049 (Tran) would have established the Interagency Language Access Working Group in the Office of the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with the following membership: the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, the Governor's Secretaries, and six nonlegislative citizen members representing organizations that represent individuals with language access needs. The Working Group would have been established for the purpose of maximizing state policies, resources, technical assistance, and procurement practices to further language access and equity in the Commonwealth and its state government agencies.

Local School Boards; Public Notice and Comment Regarding Certain Materials HB 946 (Wampler) would have required the Board of Education (the Board), in order to provide appropriate opportunity for input from the general public, parents, teachers, and local school boards, to solicit public comment prior to revising, adopting, or approving any Standards of Learning resource guide or curriculum framework, list of recommended textbooks in any Standards of Learning academic subject, textbook, instructional aid or material, or required or recommended reading list. The bill would have required the Board to publish notice of its intended action at least 30 days prior to soliciting public comment, provide interested parties reasonable opportunity to be heard and present information prior to final action of the Board, and make such materials available for public inspection at least 30 days prior to final revision, adoption, or approval, as the case may be. The bill would have required each local school board to comply with such minimum standards, which are required to include opportunities for public input that are substantially similar to those that are required to be provided by the Board.

Mask Mandates HB 514 (March) would have prohibited the Board of Health, Commissioner of Health, and Governor from issuing any rule, regulation, or order that requires individuals to wear masks or other face coverings or businesses to require customers to wear masks or other face coverings while on the premises of such business and prohibits any local school board from requiring any student enrolled at a public elementary or secondary school in the local school division to wear a mask, face covering, or other covering of the student's nose and mouth at school, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity. HB 1036 (LaRock) would have prohibited any local school board from requiring any student enrolled at a public elementary or secondary school in the local school division to wear a mask, face covering, or other covering of the student's nose and mouth at school, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity.  SB 458 (Chase) would have prohibited any locality, institution of higher education, employer, school board, division superintendent, school principal, or private school from adopting, implementing, or enforcing any policy, rule, or order related to COVID-19 that requires individuals to wear a face covering.

Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts Established HB 1024 (LaRock) and HB 1025 (LaRock) would have permitted the parents of qualified students, defined in the bill, to apply to the school division in which the qualified student resides for a one-year, renewable Parental Choice Education Savings Account that consists of an amount that is equivalent to a certain percentage of all applicable annual Standards of Quality per pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposes and apportioned to the resident school division in which the qualified student resides, including the per pupil share of state sales tax funding in basic aid and any state per pupil share of special education funding for which the qualified student is eligible. These bills would have permitted the parent of the qualified student to use the moneys in such account for certain education-related expenses of the qualified student, including tuition, deposits, fees, and required textbooks at a private elementary school or secondary school that is located in the Commonwealth. These bills would have also contained provisions relating to auditing, rescinding, and reviewing expenses made from such accounts.

Parental Rights; Access to Certain Facilities and Accommodations; Instructional Content; Bullying HB 1126 (Avoli) would have declared that the parent of any student enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth has the right to obtain and review any educational material and curriculum utilized in any class or course in which the student is enrolled; opt his child out of any class or course activity, lesson, or reading assignment or the use of any audiovisual material or library book to which the parent objects; easily access a list of the title and author of each book in each classroom and each library in the school in which the student is enrolled; receive notice of and attend any public meeting of the school board governing the local school division in which the student is enrolled; review the annual school division budget and expenditures; send his child to attend school in a safe environment; and be updated by the school principal on any violent activity in the school in which the student is enrolled. The bill would have also required each school board to adopt policies to require each student and school board employee to have access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other changing facilities in public school buildings that are shared only by members of the same biological sex; lodging accommodations during school-sponsored trips that are shared only by members of the same biological sex; and a single-user restroom, locker room, or other changing facility in a public school building, upon request, if the school can reasonably accommodate such a request. The bill would have also prohibited any school board employee or individual who provides any school-sponsored program from teaching or promoting to any student or school board employee the concept that any race is inherently superior or inferior; any individual is racist, privileged, oppressive, biased, or responsible for actions committed by others of the same race or skin color by virtue of the individual's race or skin color; the United States is fundamentally racist; or market-based economics is inherently racist. The bill would have finally required each school board to implement policies and procedures to educate school board employees about bullying and the need to create a school environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect and any incident of bullying is taken seriously and handled in a robust manner.

Participation in Female Sports; Civil Cause of Action SB 766 (Kiggans) would have required each elementary or secondary school or a private school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate athletic teams, whether a school athletic team or an intramural team sponsored by such school, based on biological sex as follows: "males," "men," or "boys"; "females," "women," or "girls"; or "coed" or "mixed." Under the bill, male students would not have been permitted to participate on any school athletic team or squad designated for "females," "women," or "girls"; however, this provision would not have applied to physical education classes at schools. The bill would have provided civil penalties for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the bill. Such civil actions would have been required to be initiated within two years after the harm occurred.

Policy on Certain Instructional Material and Related Academic Activities; Annual Parental Notification; Replacement or Alternative Material and Activities; Local Compliance HB 786 (LaRock) would have required the Board of Education to establish, and each local school board to comply with, a policy to require each public elementary or secondary school to annually notify the parent of any student enrolled in a class or course in which the instructional material or related academic activities includes or may include sexually explicit content, as defined in the bill, or content that depicts sexual misconduct, as defined in the bill; permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct, upon request; and provide, as a replacement or an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct, instructional material and related academic activities that do not include sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct to any student whose parent so requests.

Policy on Sexually Explicit Content in Instructional Material HB 1007 (Scott) and HB 1009 (Durant) would have required the Department of Education to develop and each local school board to adopt model policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to ensuring parental notification; directly identifying the specific instructional material and sexually explicit subjects; and permitting the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and provide, as an alternative, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill would have provided that the local school board model policies may be more comprehensive than the model policies developed by the Department.

Powers and Duties of Governor; Limitation on Duration of Executive Orders HB 183 (Marshall) would have limited the duration of any executive rule, regulation, or order issued by the Governor to the completion of the Governor's term in office.

Production of Public Records, Fee Schedules HB 688 (Kory) would have required each school board to develop and post or otherwise make publicly available a fee schedule governing charges for the release of public records to be used by each school within its school division when responding to requests for public records pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The bill would have required such fee schedule to be based on the most recent estimate of the aggregate costs incurred by each school within a school board's division in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requested public records. Finally, the bill would have provided that a school board shall review and update the fee schedule at least annually.

Promotion of Diversity and Respect HB 977 (McGuire) would have required each local school board and employee thereof to promote diversity and respect, with the understanding that all individuals are created equal and diversity is a strength of the United States, and the concept that all cultures have contributed greatly to the rich history of the United States and the way of life that Americans enjoy today. The bill would have prohibited any local school board or employee thereof from training, teaching, or promoting to enrolled students or school board employees the concept that any race is inherently superior or inferior to any other race; any individual, by virtue of his race or skin color, is inherently racist, privileged, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; any individual, by virtue of his race or religion, bears responsibility for the actions committed by other members of his race or religion; any individual's moral character is determined by his race; the United States is a fundamentally or systemically racist country; or capitalism is an inherently racist economic system

Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth; Study, Report HB 87 (Ware) would have established a joint subcommittee to study pandemic response and preparedness in the Commonwealth. In conducting its study, the joint subcommittee would have been tasked with examining existing laws in the Commonwealth and developing recommendations regarding the pandemic response and future needs of the Governor, the General Assembly, local governments, public and private health care systems and other facilities and providers, health districts, the judicial system, K-12 and higher education systems, and the regulatory system.

Public Charter Schools; Applications; Review and Approval HB 344 (Davis), SB 608 (Suetterlein), and SB 635 (Chase) would have permitted the Board of Education (the Board) to receive, review, and rule upon applications for public charter schools and enter into agreements for the establishment of public charter schools. The bill would have also provided that the decision of the Board or a local school board to grant or deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a public charter school agreement would have been final and not subject to appeal.

Public Health Emergency; Emergency Orders and Regulations; Limitations HB 157 (Byron) would have provided that any emergency order or regulation adopted by the Board of Health shall be valid for no more than 45 days and that such order may be extended by the Board for a subsequent period of 45 days, provided that the Board provides notice and receives public comment on the order or regulation proposed to be extended, but that in no case shall such emergency order or regulation be valid for more than 18 months from the effective date of the initial order or regulation.

Public School Libraries; Printed and Audiovisual Materials; Selection, Evaluation, Checkout, and Removal Procedures SB 275 (DeSteph) would have required each local school board to adopt policies that address the selection and evaluation of all printed and audiovisual materials purchased by, donated to, or otherwise made available to the school division that will be available to students in school libraries and would have also required parental consent for students to checkout sexually explicit material. 

Purpose and goals of public education; report. HJ 19 (Greenhalgh) would have requested that the Department of Education study the purpose and goals of public education by encouraging input from the citizens of the Commonwealth, including parents, teachers, school administrators, and local school board members, to clarify (i) the broader purpose of public education in light of the fundamental goal of public education, as expressed by the General Assembly and the Board of Education, and (i) the specific measurable outcomes that education laws, regulations, policies, and practices should help to achieve in order to further such broader purpose and such fundamental goal.

Regional Charter School Divisions HB 356 (Tata) and SB 125 (Obenshain) would have  authorized the Board of Education (the Board) to establish regional charter school divisions consisting of at least two but not more than three existing school divisions in any case in which each such local school division is in close proximity and has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students and at least two such local school divisions have grades three through eight math and English reading Standards of Learning assessment performance in the bottom quartile of the Commonwealth. The bill would have required such regional charter school divisions to be supervised by a school board that consists of eight members appointed by the Board and one member appointed by the localities of each of the underlying divisions. The bill would have authorized the school board, after a review by the Board, to review and approve public charter school applications in the regional charter school divisions and to contract with the applicant. The bill would have required that the state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding of the underlying school district in which the student resides be transferred to such school.

Registered Lobbyists; Information on Disseminated Documents; Civil Penalty SB 559 (Ebbin) would have required a lobbyist registered with the Secretary of the Commonwealth to include in or attach to any document disseminated by such lobbyist to any member of the General Assembly or agent thereof the lobbyist's full legal name, email address, and telephone number. The bill would have provided that any such registered lobbyist that violates the provisions of the bill would have been subject to a civil penalty of $25 per document disseminated.

School Consolidation and Redistricting and Pupil Assignment; Access to Advanced Academic Programs HB 650 (Kory) would have required a school board to demonstrate in advance that the consolidation of schools, redistricting of school boundaries, or adoption of a pupil assignment plan will maintain or increase equitable student access to advanced academic programs.

Renaming Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as Director of Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion HB 1300 (Freitas) and SB 735 (Ruff) would have renamed the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Director of Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion. The Director would have been required to develop a sustainable framework to promote inclusive practices across state government; implement a measurable, strategic plan to  increase opportunities for all Virginians; facilitate methods to turn feedback and suggestions from state employees, external stakeholders, and community leaders into  actionable opportunities; promote ideas, policies, and practices in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to expand entrepreneurship and economic opportunities for disadvantaged Virginians, including Virginians living with disabilities;  facilitate bringing Virginians of different faiths together in service to their communities and the Commonwealth; promote free speech and civil discourse in civic life, including viewpoint diversity in higher education in coordination with the Secretary of Education; promote ideas, policies, and practices to eliminate disparities in prenatal care and to be an ambassador for unborn children; coordinate with the Secretary of Education to ensure the history of the United States is taught in Virginia honestly, objectively, and completely and to respond to the rights of parents in educational and curricular decision making; and perform any other responsibilities as assigned by the Governor. The bill would have made similar renaming changes for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.

School Boards; Method of Selection; Election Required HB 1284 (Taylor) would have required election as the method of selecting the members of each school board in the Commonwealth.

Standards for Certain Public School Library Materials; Parental Review of Library and Other Educational Materials HB 1032 (LaRock) would have required the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and distribute to each local school board and each such school board to enforce throughout the local school division mandatory statewide standards for evaluating, classifying, and removing from any public elementary or secondary school library any explicit material. The bill also permits the Office of the Attorney General to enforce compliance with such standards in any local school division.

Student Citizenship Skills; Certain Instructional Policies Prohibited; Parental Rights; Disclosures; Penalties; Other Remedies HB 781 (Williams) would have required the Board of Education to incorporate into each relevant Standard of Learning and associated curriculum framework a requirement that each student demonstrate the understanding of, among other concepts, the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government, as well as the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic engagement in the United States. The bill would have prohibited the Board and Department of Education and each local school board from teaching, instructing, or training certain individuals and groups, including teachers and students, to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon, or otherwise assent to a divisive concept defined in the bill, or penalizing or discriminating against any such individual or group for refusing to do so.

Student Education Accounts HB 333 (Freitas) would have permitted any school board to establish a program to create savings accounts for students to be used for alternative educational programs.

Teaching or Promotion of Certain Concepts in Public Elementary and Secondary Education; Declaration As Unlawful and Discriminatory Practice HB 787 (LaRock) would have declared it an unlawful and discriminatory practice for any local school board or employee or contractor thereof to teach any public elementary or secondary school student to believe or promote to any such student as valid the belief that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex; an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual's race or sex; an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by the individual's race or sex; or an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex, but would have permitted any local school board or employee or contractor thereof to teach to any public elementary or secondary school student content that includes the past or present belief, by any individual or group, in any such concept.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology; Admissions Requirements HB 486 (Subramanyam) would have required the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology academic year Governor's School in Fairfax County to annually admit for first-time enrollment as freshmen at least 100 students who reside in the Loudoun County school division.

Translation of Essential Information, Fund to Assist Localities with; Established HB 1070 (Cordova) would have established the Fund to Assist Localities with Translation of Essential Information to be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development for the purpose of making grants to local governments to address the lack of translated documents for those citizens and taxpayers of the Commonwealth and its localities for whom English is a second language. The bill provides that the Fund shall make grants to local governments for the purpose of translating essential documents into foreign languages.

Treatment of Transgender Students; Model Policies HB 988 (Wyatt) and SB 20 (Hackworth) would have eliminated the requirement that each school board adopt policies that are consistent with the model policies developed by the Department of Education concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Procedure for Requesting Records HB 331 (Krizek) would have added a requirement that a request for public records made pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act be made in writing and sent by the requester to the public body by registered mail, certified mail, or any other similar first-class mail tracking method used or approved by the United States Postal Service.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Charges for Production of Public Records HB 599 (Roem) would have prohibited a public body from charging a requester for any costs incurred during the first two hours spent accessing or searching for requested records when such requester has made four or fewer individual record requests to such public body within 31 consecutive days. The bill would have provided that for any additional time spent accessing or searching for such records, or when such requester makes five or more individual record requests to such public body within any 31-consecutive-day period, the public body shall not charge an hourly rate for accessing or searching for the records exceeding the lesser of the hourly rate of pay of the lowest-paid individual capable of fulfilling the request or $33 per hour. The bill would have allowed a public body to petition the appropriate court for relief from the $33 per hour fee cap upon showing by a preponderance of the evidence that there is no qualified individual capable of fulfilling the request for $33 per hour or less and would have required such petition to be heard within seven days of when the petition is made, provided that the public body has sent and the requester has received a copy of the petition at least three working days prior to filing.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Meeting Definition HB 687 (Kory) would have changed the definition of "meeting" for purposes of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to mean an assemblage of at least a quorum of the members of a public body.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Meetings Conducted Through Electronic Meetings SB 214 (McPike) would have amended existing provisions concerning electronic meetings by keeping the provisions for electronic meetings held in response to declared states of emergency, repealing the provisions that are specific to regional and state public bodies, and allowing public bodies to conduct all-virtual public meetings where all of the members who participate do so remotely and that the public may access through electronic communications means. Definitions, procedural requirements, and limitations for all-virtual public meetings are set forth in the bills, along with technical amendments.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Meetings Held Through Electronic Communication Means; Local Advisory Boards and Commissions HB 722 (Gooditis) would have allowed a local public body that serves in an advisory capacity to gather through electronic communication means without a quorum of the public body physically assembled at one primary or central meeting location if certain conditions, outlined in the bill, are met.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Procedure for Requesting Records HB 331 (Krizek) would have added a requirement that a request for public records made pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act would have been required to made in writing and sent by the requester to the public body by registered mail, certified mail, or any other similar first-class mail tracking method used or approved by the United States Postal Service.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Public Records Database HB 154 (March) would have required the establishment of a publicly available, centralized database for all public records. All public bodies would have been required to transfer any public records in its possession to the database.

Children's Services Act; Community Policy and Management Teams and Family Assessment and Planning Teams; Parent Representative HB 427 (Herring) provides that the parent representative member of the community policy and management team and the family assessment and planning team may be a parent who is employed by a public or private program that receives CSA funds or an agency represented on the community policy and management team or family assessment and planning team if no other parent representative is available. The bill also requires the State Executive Council for Children's Services to inventory current efforts to recruit and retain parent representatives and compile a list of best practices for including and elevating parent voices on community policy and management teams and family assessment and planning teams. 

Children's Services Act; Parent Representatives; Community Policy and Management Teams; Family Assessment and Planning Teams SB 435 (Barker) removes provisions that prohibit a parent representative from serving as a member of a community policy and management team (CPMT) or a family assessment and planning team (FAPT) if such parent representative is employed by a public or private program that receives funds pursuant to the law or agencies represented on a family assessment and planning team and interacts directly on a regular and daily basis with children or supervises employees who interact directly on a regular basis with children. The bill would direct the State Executive Council for Children's Services to inventory current efforts to recruit and retain parent representatives on CPMTs and FAPTs and compile a list of best practices for including and elevating parent voices within CPMTs and FAPTs for distribution to local Children's Services Act programs. The bill requires the State Executive Council for Children's Services to provide a copy of this report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions no later than November 1, 2022.

COVID-19; Guidelines SB 431 (Dunnavant) requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health, to recommend options for isolation and quarantine for students and employees at public schools who contract or are exposed to COVID-19 and develop guidelines for such schools and recommend such guidelines for use as an alternative to quarantine. The bill requires such guidelines to be immediately distributed to local school boards and to reflect the most updated recommendations to limit the amount of time out of the classroom, including options for no quarantine, as recommended for asymptomatic individuals.

Language Development for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing; Assessment Resources for Parents and Educators; Advisory Committee; Report HB 649 (Carr) and SB 265 (Hashmi) require the Department of Education, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, to (i) select, with input from an advisory committee that the bill establishes, language developmental milestones and include such milestones in a resource for use by parents of a child from birth to age five who is identified as deaf or hard of hearing to monitor and track their child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy; (ii) disseminate such resource to such parents; (iii) select existing tools or assessments for educators for use in assessing the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing; (iv) disseminate such tools or assessments to local educational agencies and provide materials and training on their use; and (v) annually produce a report that compares the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing with the language and literacy development of their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing and make such report available to the public on its website. The bills state that the advisory committee function would terminate effective June 30, 2023.

Practice of Licensed Professional Counselors HB 242 (Adams) adds licensed professional counselors to the list of eligible providers who can disclose or recommend the withholding of patient records, face a malpractice review panel, and provide recommendations on involuntary temporary detention orders.

School Attendance; 4-H Educational Programs and Activities HB 246 (Kilgore) and SB 596 (Pillion) provide that students who miss a partial or full day of school while participating in 4-H educational programs and activities shall not be counted as absent for the purposes of calculating average daily membership and shall receive course credit in the same manner as they would for a school field trip. These bills direct each local school board to develop policies and procedures for students to make up missed work and may determine the maximum number of school days per academic year that a student may spend participating in 4-H educational programs and activities to not be counted absent. 

School Attendance; Attendance at Pow Wow HB 1022 (Guzman) provides that, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, any student who is a member of a state-recognized or federally recognized tribal nation that is headquartered in the Commonwealth and who is absent from school to attend such tribal nation's pow wow gathering shall be granted one excused absence per academic year, provided that the parent of such student provides to the student's school advance notice of such absence in the manner required by the school.

School Health Services Committee; Report HB 215 (Robinson) and SB 62 (Favola) establish the legislative School Health Services Committee to review and provide advice to the General Assembly and other policy makers regarding proposals that require local school boards to offer certain health services in a school setting. The bills require the Committee to submit its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor by October 1 of each year. The Committee would sunset on July 1, 2025. 

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; Instruction Concerning Post-graduate Opportunities for High School Students HB 1299 (Coyner) and SB 738 (Morrissey) require the Department of Education to collect and distribute to public schools and publicly post on its website information that assists high school students in making more informed decisions about their futures after graduating from high school and in doing so ensure that such students are aware of the costs and benefits of different educational and certificate programs. These bills direct the Department to annually collect and compile such information in consultation with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and any other entity that can assist the Department with collecting and compiling such information and to update its distribution materials accordingly each year. These bills require the Department to post and distribute the information to school boards, with any relevant updates, no later than October 1 each year and requires each school board to ensure that the information is readily available to each high school student and distributed to each high school student who expresses an interest in attending an institution of higher education or completing another training program as described in the bill.

Student-Athlete Mental Health Awareness Day HJ 4 (Webert) designates May 27, in 2022 and in each succeeding year, as Student-Athlete Mental Health Awareness Day.

Children's Services Act; Special Education Programs SB 356 (Stuart) would expand eligibility for services under the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private school special education program to a public school special education program established and funded jointly by a local governing body and school division located within Planning District 16.

School Health Services Information; Survey SB 704 (Kiggans) would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to, at least annually, survey all local school divisions and use such data to strengthen the comprehensive availability of school health services information. The bill provides that information to be collected in the survey shall include: staffing levels of school health personnel, the prevalence of students with chronic health conditions, the percentage of students with health services written in their records, the number of visits to the school health office and dispositions, health services provided by each school, and (vi) any other information deemed appropriate. The bill would require each local school division to complete each survey.  Note:  A letter will be sent to the Virginia Department of Education and the new Health Commission requesting that the data being collected be examined.

Special Assistant to the Governor for Disability Rights Advocacy; position created; report HB 595 (Krizek) would create the position of Special Assistant to the Governor for Disability Rights Advocacy (the Special Assistant) for the purpose of representing Virginians with disabilities in a comprehensive and authoritative manner by ensuring that all state agencies provide adequate services, resources, and accommodations to such persons.

Counseling, Board of; Licensure of Professional Counselors Without Examination HB 1240 (Scott, P.A.) would have required the Board to issue a license as a licensed professional counselor without examination to a person who has applied for such a license and who satisfies all other education, experience and fitness to practice requirements set forth in regulation and who, in the judgment of the Board is qualified to practice professional counseling.

Department of Health; Certain Communication Prohibited HB 156 (Byron) would have prohibited any person employed by or who has entered into a contract to provide initiating communication regarding health-related matters with a minor on behalf of the Department or local department of health without the consent of the minor's parent, except as otherwise required by law.

Immunizations; Authority of the Commissioner of Health; Religious Exception HB 306 (Freitas) would have exempted a person, including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects to administration of a vaccine on religious grounds from mandatory immunization requirements during an epidemic.

Required Immunizations; Regulations HB 915 (Orrock) would have provided that a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis of each child in the Commonwealth shall cause such child to be vaccinated in accordance with the Regulations for the Immunization of School Children of the State Board of Health (the Board) and that regulations of the Board setting forth such requirements shall be subject to the Administrative Process Act.

Students Who Need or Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication; Instruction; Eligibility; Staff Training HB 1047 (Tran) would have provided that no student who needs or uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), which the bill defines as any device, tool, support, or service, or any combination thereof, that facilitates any form of communication, other than oral speech, that can be used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas, shall be denied the opportunity for inclusion in regular classrooms or the provision of age-appropriate instruction on the basis that such student may require support with AAC.

School Counselors; Staffing Ratios; Flexibility HB 829 (Wilt) permits school boards to fulfill the staffing ratio requirements for school counselors by employing, under a provisional license issued by the Department of Education for three school years with an allowance for an additional two-year extension with the approval of the division superintendent, any professional counselor licensed by the Board of Counseling, clinical social worker licensed by the Board of Social Work, psychologist licensed by the Board of Psychology, or other licensed counseling professional with appropriate experience and training, provided that any such individual makes progress toward completing the requirements for full licensure as a school counselor during such period of employment or in the event that the school board does not receive any application from a licensed school counselor, professional counselor, clinical social worker, or psychologist or another licensed counseling professional with appropriate experience and training to fill a school counselor vacancy in the school division, entering into an annual contract with another entity for the provision of school counseling services by a licensed professional counselor, clinical social worker, or psychologist or another licensed counseling professional with appropriate experience and training.

Stakeholder Group; Evaluation of and Recommendations for Certain Current and Proposed Policies and Performance Standards for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools HB 938 (Robinson) requires the Board of Education to collaborate with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Secretary of Education to convene a group of stakeholders to include parents, public school principals, public school superintendents, public school board members, public school teachers, institutions of higher education, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, industry partners and employers, and other concerned stakeholders to evaluate, to implement where possible, and to otherwise make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the following goals: (i) promoting excellence in instruction and student achievement in mathematics; (ii) expanding the Advanced Studies Diploma as an option for students in public high schools in the Commonwealth; (iii) increasing the transparency and honesty of performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth; (iv) ensuring that performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools prioritize the attainment of grade-level proficiency and growth during the course of a school year and from school year to school year in reading and mathematics for all students, especially in grades kindergarten through five; (v) ensuring that the Commonwealth's proficiency standards on Standards of Learning assessments in reading and mathematics are maintained; and (vi) ensuring a strong accreditation system that promotes meaningful accountability year-over-year. The bill requires the Secretary of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, no later than November 30, 2022, to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health the results of such evaluation and recommendations to achieve such goals.

Standards of Quality; employment of principals SB 490 (McClellan) requires one principal full time in each elementary school, to be employed on a 12-month basis. Under current law, principals in elementary schools are required as follows: one half-time to 299 students and one full-time at 300 students. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect 12/01/2022.

English Language Learners SB 156 (Hashmi) would require state funding to be provided to support, in the 2022-2023 school year and thereafter, a new division-wide ratio of English learner students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions of 22 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency.

School Quality Profiles; Teacher Data SB 662 (Lucas) would require the Department of Education to include on each School Quality Profile data on teachers' race and proficiency in any language other than English.  Note: A letter from the Chairman of House Education will be sent requesting that the data currently being collected be examined for the purpose of determining how best to use it.

English Language Learners HB 1184 (Guzman) would have required state funding to be provided to support new division-wide ratios of English learner students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions, as follows:  for each English language learner identified as proficiency level one, one position per 25 students; for each English language learner identified as proficiency level two, one position per 30 students; for each English language learner identified as proficiency level three, one position per 40 students; and (iv) for all other English language learners, one position per 50 students.

Evaluation of and Recommendations for Certain Current and Proposed Policies and Performance Standards for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools SB 558 (Suetterlein) would have required the Board of Education to collaborate with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Secretary of Education to evaluate, to implement where possible, and to otherwise make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the following goals: promoting excellence in instruction and student achievement in mathematics, including elimination of the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative and an evaluation of any other proposed changes to the Mathematics Standards of Learning, increasing the number of academic year Governor's Schools in the Commonwealth and maintaining standards of excellence for students in all such schools; preserving the Advanced Studies Diploma as an option for students in public high schools in the Commonwealth while maintaining or increasing course and credit requirements for such diploma; increasing the transparency and honesty of performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth and ensuring that such measures do not obscure or conceal disparities in performance among student groups; ensuring that performance measures for public elementary and secondary schools prioritize the attainment of grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics for all students, especially in grades kindergarten through five; ensuring that the Commonwealth's proficiency standards on Standards of Learning assessments in reading and mathematics are rigorous in comparison with assessments administered by other states and national assessments in reading and mathematics; and restoring a strong accreditation system that promotes meaningful accountability year-over-year.

High School Graduation; Alternative Pathways to the Advanced Studies Diploma. HB 340 (Davis) would have directed the Board of Education to establish two pathways to the advanced studies high school diploma, and associated diploma seals for students who successfully follow and demonstrate excellence on such pathways: one pathway that requires advanced coursework in a career and technical education field but does not require coursework in world language and another pathway that requires advanced coursework in world language but does not require coursework in a career and technical education field.

Standards of Quality; Work-Based Learning; Teacher Leaders and Mentors; Principal Mentors; Certain Personnel Positions and Initiatives HB 1135 (Bourne) would have made several changes to the Standards of Quality relating to school personnel in Standard 2, work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. 

Virginia Student Environmental Literacy; Plan; Grant Fund and Program HB 636 (Carr) would have required the Board of Education, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Health, any other stakeholder that it deems appropriate, and the public, and in order to assist each local school board in developing and implementing a program of instruction for grades kindergarten through 12 that is aligned to the Standards of Learning and would have emphasized environmental literacy as an essential skill and concept of citizenship that is necessary for responsible participation in American society and in the international community.

Health Carriers; Licensed Athletic Trainers HB 45 (Ware) and SB 525 (Barker) require health insurers and health service plan providers whose policies or contracts cover services that may be legally performed by a licensed athletic trainer to provide equal coverage for such services when rendered by a licensed athletic trainer when such services are performed in an office setting.

Heat-Related Illness; Guidelines SB 161 (Hashmi) direct the Department of Education, in conjunction with stakeholders, to develop guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches and student athletes and their parents or guardians of the nature and risk of heat-related illness, how to recognize the signs of heat-related illness, and how to prevent heat-related illness to be distributed to local school divisions by August 1, 2022.

Student-Athlete Mental Health Awareness Day HJ 4 (Webert) designates May 27, in 2022 and in each succeeding year, as Student-Athlete Mental Health Awareness Day.

Child Abuse and Neglect; Limitations Period on Sexual Abuse of a Minor Claims; Background Check and Training Requirements for Youth Sports Coaches and Staff SB 483 (McClellan) would have eliminated the civil statute of limitations period for injury resulting from sexual abuse occurring during the infancy of the abused person and allows persons who have previously been time-barred from filing such an action due to the expiration of the limitations period in effect prior to July 1, 2022, to file such an action.

High School Interscholastic Athletic Competition; Prevention of Hate Speech and Ethnically or Racially Insensitive Expressions HB 844 (Lopez) and SB 285 (Ebbin) would have required the organization governing high school athletics and academic activities for public and approved nonboarding nonpublic high schools (the organization), with such funds as may be appropriated by the General Assembly for such purpose pursuant to the general appropriation act, to develop rules and standards for the prevention of inequities involving the use of hate speech or ethnically or racially insensitive expressions during athletic and academic competitions sponsored by the organization's member schools, procedures for the enforcement of and penalties for the violation of such rules and standards, and training materials on such rules and standards.

High School Student Athletes; Compensation for Name, Image, or Likeness HB 1298 (Price) would have prohibited any high school student-athlete who participates in an athletic competition from entering into any contract to receive compensation in exchange for the use of such student's name, image, or likeness.  Note that this legislation passed both the House and Senate but was vetoed by the Governor.

Schools; Athletics; Participation in Female Sports; Civil Cause of Action SB 766 (Kiggans) would have required each elementary or secondary school or a private school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate athletic teams, whether a school athletic team or an intramural team sponsored by such school, based on biological sex as follows: "males," "men," or "boys"; "females," "women," or "girls"; or "coed" or "mixed." Under the bill, male students would not have been permitted to participate on any school athletic team or squad designated for "females," "women," or "girls"; however, this provision would not have applied to physical education classes at schools. The bill would have provided civil penalties for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the bill. Such civil actions would have been required to be initiated within two years after the harm occurred.

Students Who Receive Home Instruction; Participation in Interscholastic Programs HB 511 (March) and HB 522 (March) would have prohibited public schools from joining an organization governing interscholastic programs that does not deem eligible for participation a student who receives home instruction; has demonstrated evidence of progress for two consecutive academic years; is in compliance with immunization requirements; is a person of school age for whom public school is free has not reached the age of 19 by August 1 of the current academic year; is an amateur who receives no compensation but participates solely for the educational, physical, mental, and social benefits of the activity; complies with all disciplinary rules and is subject to all codes of conduct applicable to all public high school athletes; and complies with all other rules governing awards, all-star games, maximum consecutive semesters of high school enrollment, parental consents, physical examinations, and transfers applicable to all high school athletes.

Youth sports leagues; background checks and training requirements for coaches and staff HB 1043 (Tran) would have directed the Department of Education to make recommendations regarding appropriate background check and training requirements for coaches, staff members, and other volunteers of competitive sports leagues in which persons under the age of 18 participate.

Standards of Learning Summative Assessment Revisions HB 585 (VanValkenburg) directs the Secretary of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene and consult a work group to revise the Standards of Learning summative assessments of proficiency and to develop a plan for implementation of such revised assessments that shall consider best practices and innovations in summative assessments of proficiency, alternative approaches to current and new assessment items, assessment items that include open-ended questions, long-form writing, and other tasks, a plan for pilot implementation of such assessment items prior to the 2027–2028 school year, the development of a bank of vetted sample assessment items, recommended legislative and regulatory changes and funding necessary to implement approaches considered by the work group, and a proposed timeline for implementation. The bill requires the Department of Education to submit its initial plan for implementation of revised Standards of Learning summative assessments developed by the work group to the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2023, with annual updates on implementation of such plan no later than November 1 each year thereafter through 2027.

Student Growth Assessments; NWEA MAP Growth Assessment Program HB 197 (Webert) would require the Board of Education, in implementing the through-year growth assessment system for the administration of reading and mathematics assessments in grades three through eight, to seek input and suggestions from each interested local school division in the Commonwealth regarding ways in which the administration of such assessments and the reporting of assessment results can be improved, and shall, to the extent possible, incorporate such input and suggestions into the through-year growth assessment system.

Assessing Individual Student Growth SB 430 (Dunnavant) would require the Department of Education to create or request proposals for a system for value-added modeling to assess growth of students in public schools. The bill would require each school board in the Commonwealth to, upon the creation of such system, implement the system and make reports made by the system available to parents or guardians for their child's report and the Department.

Certain Standards of Learning Assessments; Method of Administration HB 433 (Bulova) would have required the reading and mathematics Standards of Learning assessments in grades three through eight and the science assessments administered to students in grade five and after the student receives instruction in the grade six science, life science, and physical science Standards of Learning and before the student completes grade eight to be traditional achievement tests and the Virginia Studies and Civics and Economics assessments to be performance based and to measure the test taker's ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned in the class.

Task Bank for Performance-Based Assessments SB 760 (Suetterlein) would have required the Department of Education to develop a task bank for performance-based assessments that is built using vetted tasks that have been developed by practitioners and aligns with the Department's Virginia Quality Criteria Review Tool for Performance Assessments, the content in the standards of quality, and the skills in the Profile of a Graduate. The bill would provide that school divisions may select tasks from the task bank.

Income Tax Deduction; Eligible Educators HB 103 (Greenhalgh) provides for taxable years 2022, 2023, and 2024 an income tax deduction of the lesser of $500 or the actual amount paid or incurred by an eligible educator, defined in the bill as an individual who for at least 900 hours during the taxable year served as a Virginia licensed teacher, instructor, student counselor, principal, special needs personnel, or student aide for public or private primary or secondary school students in Virginia, for qualifying expenses, defined in the bill as expenses incurred for participation in professional development courses and the purchase of books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services), other educational equipment, and supplementary materials used directly in service to Virginia students as an eligible educator.  NOTE: this legislation goes into effect December 1, 2022.

Local Taxes; Surplus Revenues HB 267 (McNamara) grants localities permissive authority to return surplus personal property tax revenues to taxpayers.

Sales Tax; Exemption for Food Purchased for Human Consumption and Essential Personal Hygiene Products HB 90 (McNamara) and SB 451 (Boysko) provide a state sales and use tax exemption beginning January 1, 2023, for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. The bills also provide, 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. NOTE: this legislation goes into effect December 1, 2022.

Additional Local Sales and Use Tax to Support Schools HB 545 (Hudson) and HB 63 (Edmunds) would have expanded authority to Prince Edward County and the City of Charlottesville to impose an additional local sales and use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent, with the revenue used only for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools. SB 298 (Deeds) would have added the City of Charlottesville to the list of localities that, under current law, are authorized to impose an additional local sales and use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent, with the revenue used only for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools.

Additional Local Sales and Use Tax; Use of Revenues for Construction or renovation of Schools SB 472 (McClellan) would have allowed any county or city to levy a local general retail sales tax and a local use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent as determined by its governing body to provide revenues solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools if such levy is approved in a voter referendum.

Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program HB 788 (LaRock) would have increased from 65 percent to 75 percent the tax credit for the value of the monetary or marketable securities donation made by a taxpayer to an eligible scholarship foundation.

Home Instruction and Private School Tax Credit HB 784 (LaRock) would have created an individual, nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years 2022 through 2026, for amounts paid by the parent or legal guardian of a child for the child's home instruction expenses or tuition for attending an accredited private school in Virginia.

Income Tax Credits; Neighborhood Assistance Program and Education Improvement Scholarships SB 27 (Ruff) would have made several amendments to expand the availability of the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) and Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits (EISTC). Note:  SB 709 (DeSteph) was incorporated into this bill.

Income Tax Deduction; Teaching Material Expenses HB 846 (Lopez) would have provided an income tax deduction beginning in taxable year 2022 for the lesser of $500 or the actual purchase price of teaching materials purchased by a teacher and used in teaching Virginia public primary or secondary school students.

Income Tax; Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits SB 16 (Hackworth) would have increased the aggregate annual cap on the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits from $25 million to $50 million, increased the value of the credit from 65 percent to 80 percent, and removed the credit's current sunset of January 1, 2028.

Increasing the Progressivity of Virginia's Individual Income Tax System; Report HJ 24 (Watts) would have required the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to continue its study of increasing the progressivity of Virginia's individual income tax system and to also study the composite index of local ability-to-pay public school funding formula and changes that could be made to the indicators of such local ability-to-pay or the weights assigned thereto and permitting local governing bodies to tax adjusted gross income in order to promote greater fairness and more equitable access to the resources needed to provide excellence in public education in every local school division in the Commonwealth.

Local Taxing Authority HB 75 (Ware) would have restricted localities from imposing a transient occupancy tax at a rate that exceeds five percent and provides that any tax revenues from a rate of greater than two percent but less than five percent shall be spent solely for tourism-related and travel-related purposes. The bill would have also lowered the amount of food and beverage tax that counties can impose from six percent to a total of four percent. Under the bill, a county would have been able to impose a food and beverage tax at up to two percent without restriction, but that would have required approval via a referendum in order to impose the tax at four percent.

Sales Tax; Additional Local Tax for Schools SB 37 (Norment) would have added Isle of Wight County to the list of localities that, under current law, are authorized to impose an extra one percent local sales tax. Revenue from the tax may have been used only for constructing or renovating schools.

Sales Tax; Exemption for Food Purchased for Human Consumption and Essential Personal Hygiene Products SB 380 (McDougle), SB 571 (Newman) and SB 609 (DeSteph) would have exempted food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products (the grocery tax) from all state, regional, and local sales taxes. These bills would have dedicated state sales tax revenue to provide a supplemental school payment to counties and cities.

Tax to Support Schools HB 531 (Hudson) and HB 1099 (LaRock) would have permitted any county or city to impose an additional local sales and use tax of up to 1 percent, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by voters at a local referendum. The revenues of such a local tax would have been used solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools.

Taxation in the Commonwealth HB 1343 (Watts) would have made numerous changes to the Commonwealth's tax structure. The bill would have provided that the standard deduction for individual income taxes shall be set permanently at $4,500 for individuals and $9,000 for married persons. Beginning with taxable year 2022, individual income tax brackets, the filing threshold, the amount of the standard deduction, and the amount of personal exemptions would have been adjusted on an annual basis in accordance with the yearly change in the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U).

Telework Expenses Tax Credit HB 1104 (Guzman) would have reinstated the telework expenses tax credit for taxable years 2022 through 2031. The previous version of the credit expired on January 1, 2019. The bill would have removed requirements that were in place under the previous version of the credit, such as requiring the employee and employer to sign a telework agreement. The bill would have also eliminated a previous requirement that credit claimants apply for and reserve credits in advance and instead direct the Department of Taxation to develop procedures for claiming the credit.