K12 Education Bills - Passed Bill Report

Fairfax County Public Schools

Office of Government Relations

This report describes all the K12 Education related legislation adopted during the 2022 General Assembly Regular and Special Sessions.  Legislation signed by the Governor will go into effect on July 1, 2022 unless otherwise specified in the legislation itself.

Summaries are linked to the Division of Legislative Services’ web pages for text, up to date summary information, and fiscal impact statements. If a bill of interest is not found in one category, please check another as legislation often can fit under multiple categories.

UPDATED: 09/07/2022

 

BUSES, BUILDINGS, AND SAFETY – PASSED

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.

 

CONDUCT & DISCIPLINE - PASSED

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.

 

FINANCE/PURCHASING/FOOD SERVICES – PASSED

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.
 

INSTRUCTION AND STANDARDS OF LEARNING – PASSED

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.

 

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY – PASSED

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.

 

PERSONNEL – PASSED

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.

 

RETIREMENT AND INSURANCE – PASSED

 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.

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.

 

SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNANCE – PASSED

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.

 

STANDARDS OF QUALITY/STANDARDS OF ACCREDITATION – PASSED

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.

 

SPECIAL SERVICES – PASSED

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.
 

STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND ATHLETIC PROGRAMS – PASSED

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.

 

STUDENT TESTING – PASSED

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.

 

TAXATION – PASSED

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.