This week, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed over one hundred bills into law including legislation that gives parents more control over what their children are being taught, helps shore up animal cruelty rules, and reforms inadequate sexual assault laws.

“HB 938, carried by Delegate Roxann Robinson, and SB 656, carried by Senator Siobhan Dunnavant, both deliver on my Day One promises to give parents a greater say in their children’s education. I’m pleased to sign them into law, along with many other bipartisan bills that will enhance education, improve public safety, provide tax relief, and make government work better for the people of Virginia,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Below is a summary of the bills that were signed:

HB 938 (Robinson) – Board of Education; stakeholder group; evaluation of and recommendations for certain current and proposed policies and performance standards for public elementary and secondary schools. 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.

SB 656 (Dunnavant) – Department of Education; local school boards; policies on sexually explicit content in instructional material. 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; (ii) directly identifying the specific instructional material and sexually explicit subjects; and (iii) 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 maybe 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.

HB 225 (Coyner) & SB 321 (Vogel) – Health insurance; definition of autism spectrum disorder. Provides 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: (i) prevent the onset of an illness, condition, injury, or disability; (ii) reduce or ameliorate the physical, mental, or developmental effects of an illness, condition, injury, or disability; or (iii) 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.

SB 202 (Newman) – Study; Secretary of Health and Human Resources and Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security; increase use of alternative custody arrangements for individuals subject to an emergency custody or temporary detention order; report. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, together with the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, to study options to increase the use of alternative custody arrangements for individuals who are subject to emergency custody or temporary detention order and to report his findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance and Appropriations by October 1, 2022.

HB 236 (Orrock) Board of Education; authority to temporarily extend certain teachers’ licenses. 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. The bill contains an emergency clause.

HB 223 (Coyner) & SB 437 (Dunnavant)- Insurance for employees of certain public school foundations. Provides that any locality may provide group life, accident, and health insurance programs for employees of certain public school foundations.

SB 212 (Kiggans)- Special license plates; United States Navy; Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Fund. Authorizes the issuance of revenue-sharing special license plates with a design that incorporates the emblem of the United States Navy to active members and certain veterans of the United States Navy. The bill provides that un-remarried surviving spouses of such service members may also be issued such special license plates. The bill creates the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Fund to utilize funds from the license plate fees to support the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society in Virginia.

HB 1278 (Wiley) – Conveyance of certain property; conditions. Authorizes the Department of Wildlife Resources to convey certain property to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. Any deed of conveyance shall include a condition that the property is open to public use, including public fishing, and shall provide that the property shall revert to the Commonwealth if the condition is not met.

SB 221 (Obenshain) – Indexing of wills; pilot program in Rockingham County. Permits the clerk of the Rockingham County Circuit Court to establish a pilot project for an index of wills lodged for safekeeping, with a searchable database available to the public.

SB 227 (Obenshain) – Misdemeanor sexual offenses where the victim is a minor; statute of limitations; penalty. Provides that the prosecution of the misdemeanor offense of causing or encouraging acts rendering children delinquent where the alleged adult offender has consensual sexual intercourse with a minor who is 15 years of age or older at the time of the offense shall be commenced no later than five years after the victim reaches majority provided that the alleged adult offender was more than three years older than the victim at the time of the offense. Under current law, the prosecution of such an offense shall be commenced within one year after commission of the offense.

HB 238 (Orrock) – Land use assessment; forms. Provides that the forms used for revalidation of applications for land use assessment shall be prepared by the Department of Taxation. Under current law, such forms are prepared by the locality. The bill directs the Department to seek input from localities across the Commonwealth in developing such forms.

HB 235 (Orrock) – Rehabilitation hospitals; arrangements for follow-up care. Directs the Board of Health to convene a workgroup to provide recommendations regarding regulations requiring hospitals to develop protocols for connecting patients receiving rehabilitation services to necessary follow-up care. The bill requires the workgroup to report its recommendations to the Board of Health by October 1, 2022.

HB 82 (Kilgore) – Insurance holding company systems; group capital calculation and liquidity stress test. Requires that certain insurers that are members of an insurance holding company system file a group capital calculation in accordance with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Group Capital Calculation Instructions and a liquidity stress test in accordance with the NAIC Liquidity Stress Test Framework. The bill provides exceptions to such reporting requirements and contains various provisions regarding the confidentiality of information contained in such reports. The bill authorizes the State Corporation Commission to require a deposit or bond when an insurer that is a member of an insurance holding company system is in a hazardous financial condition or a condition that would be grounds for the supervision, conservation, or delinquency proceeding.

HB 193 (Hodges) & SB 759 (Newman) – Drug Control Act; Schedule I; Schedule II; Schedule IV; Schedule V. Adds 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.

HB 1001 (Runion) & SB 55 (Cosgrove) – Amending death certificates. Requires the State Registrar, upon receipt of an affidavit and supporting evidence testifying to corrected information on a death certificate within 45 days of the filing of a death certificate, to amend such death certificate to reflect the new information and evidence. The bill also requires the State Registrar, upon receipt of an affidavit and supporting evidence testifying to corrected demographic information on a death certificate more than 45 days after the filing of a death certificate, to amend such death certificate to reflect the new information and evidence.

HB 284 (Coyner) – Real Estate Appraiser Board; continuing education to include fair housing or appraisal bias courses. Provides that any regulation of the Real Estate Appraiser Board setting out continuing education requirements for real estate appraiser licensees as a prerequisite of license renewal shall include at least two hours of fair housing or appraisal bias courses if the Board requires continuing education for the renewal of such licenses. The bill directs the Real Estate Appraiser Board to promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this act that include a course of at least two hours relating to fair housing or appraisal bias and exempts the initial adoption of such regulations from the Administrative Process Act, except that the Board shall provide an opportunity for public comment prior to the adoption of the regulations. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023.

SB 753 (Morrisey) – Special license plates; THE RICHMOND PLANET. Authorizes the issuance of special license plates commemorating the Richmond Planet newspaper bearing the legend THE RICHMOND PLANET.

HB 218 (Wright) & SB 91 (Ruff) – Charter; Town of Clarksville; town council. Makes various changes related to the Town of Clarksville’s upcoming transition from May to November municipal elections.

HB 219 (Wright) – Charter; Town of Kenbridge. Updates the town’s charter to reflect the upcoming shift in municipal elections from May to November. In addition, the bill reduces the mayor’s term from four years to two years, beginning with the election to be held in November 2024.

HB 220 (Wright) & SB 92 (Ruff) – Charter; Town of Blackstone; elections. Updates election provisions for the Town of Blackstone in Nottoway County to reflect the shift from May to November elections.

HB 957 (Tran) – Classification of real property. Provides that beginning with the taxable year 2022, any locality may declare real property owned by a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who died in the line of duty with a line of duty determination from the U.S. Department of Defense, where such death was not the result of criminal conduct, and where the spouse occupies the real property as his principal place of residence and does not remarry, a separate class of property for local taxation of real property that may be taxed at a different rate than that imposed on the general class of real property, provided that the rate of tax is greater than zero and does not exceed the rate of tax on the general class of real property.

SB 254 (Bell) & HB 426 (Bulova) – Alcoholic beverage control; delivery of alcoholic beverages; third-party delivery license; container. Creates a third-party delivery license that authorizes the licensee to deliver alcoholic beverages purchased by consumers from other retail licensees. The bill establishes conditions for the issuance of third-party delivery licenses, imposes eligibility requirements for delivery personnel, and sets forth requirements for a delivery to be made by such delivery personnel. The bill imposes a $2,500 fine for first-time violations of the delivery requirements and a $5,000 fine for second and subsequent violations. The bill also establishes container requirements for certain alcoholic beverages sold for off-premises consumption or delivery.

SB 63 (Ruff) & HB 16 (Fowler) – Safe haven protections; newborn safety device. Provides an affirmative defense in certain criminal prosecutions and civil proceedings regarding child abuse or neglect to a parent who safely delivers his child within the first 30 days of the child’s life to a newborn safety device located at a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or at an attended emergency medical services agency that employs emergency medical services personnel.

HB 691 (Keam) – Business entities; conversion and domestication. Provides that, for the purposes of the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act, the Virginia Limited Liability Act, and the Virginia Business Trust Act, “entity conversion” has the same meaning as “conversion” as defined in each respective act and that a certificate of entity conversion is the same as a certificate of conversion. Additionally, the bill provides that “incorporation surrender,” “organization surrender,” and “trust surrender” have the same meaning as “domestication” as defined in each such respective act and that a certificate of incorporation surrender, certificate of organization surrender, and a certificate of trust surrender are the same as a certificate of domestication.

SB 28 (Marsden) – Economic development; Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund created. Establishes the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund (the Fund), to be administered by the Governor and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority in order to provide grants on a competitive basis to political subdivisions to prepare sites for industrial or commercial development. The bill repeals existing law that created the Major Employment and Investment Project Site Planning Grant Fund and provides that any remaining funds would be allocated to the Fund. The bill also authorizes grants from the Virginia Brownfields Restoration and Economic Redevelopment Assistance Fund for site remediation and requires the prioritization of sites with potential for redevelopment and economic benefits to the surrounding community.

SB 196 (Mason) & HB 20 (Fowler) – Alcoholic beverage control; tax allocation; funding for Virginia Spirits Promotion Fund. Requires that 20 percent of the 20 percent tax levied on alcoholic beverages sold by the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority that is attributable to the sale of spirits produced by a distiller licensee be deposited in the Virginia Spirits Promotion Fund. The bill requires the Virginia Spirits Board to submit an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly by October 1 regarding its activities and use of moneys in the Virginia Spirits Promotion Fund.

SB 93 (Howell) & HB 1 (Wright) – Bonds for public institutions of higher learning; emergency. Authorizes issuance of bonds in an amount up to $100,869,000 for revenue-producing capital projects at James Madison University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The bill contains an emergency clause.

HB 2 (Wright) – Charter; Town of Victoria. Amends the charter for the Town of Victoria to reflect the upcoming shift from May to November municipal elections.

HB 83 (Kilgore) & SB 589 (Pillion) – Charter; Town of St. Charles. Terminates the Town of St. Charles in Lee County.

SB 90 (Stanley) – Breeders of dogs and cats for animal testing facilities; adoption of dogs and cats. Requires a breeder of dogs and cats for sale or transfer to an animal testing facility that no longer has a need for a dog or cat in its possession to offer the animal for adoption prior to euthanizing it. Currently, only animal testing facilities are subject to this requirement.

SB 604 (Stanley) – Animal cruelty; companion animals; penalty. Clarifies that animals are not considered companion animals only when actively involved in bona fide medical or scientific experimentation. Current law exempts animals from the definition of companion animals if they are regulated under federal law as research animals.

SB 88 (Stanley) – Breeders; records of animals sold or transferred to an animal testing facility. Requires any person or entity that breeds dogs or cats for sale or transfer to an animal testing facility to keep records of each animal for five years from the date of the acquisition, transfer, or disposition and to quarterly submit a summary of the records to the State Veterinarian.

HB 1350 (Bell) & SB 87 (Stanley) – Dealers; sale of dogs or cats for experimental purposes. Prohibits a dealer, commercial dog breeder, or cat breeder, including an entity that breeds dogs or cats regulated under federal law as research animals, from importing for sale, selling, or offering for sale a dog or cat bred by a person who has received certain citations on or after July 1, 2023, pursuant to the federal Animal Welfare Act.

SB 210 (Petersen) & HB 19 (Fowler) – Virginia Public Procurement Act; public institutions of higher education; disclosure required by certain offerors; civil penalty. Requires every offeror who is awarded a contract by a public institution of higher education for any construction project that has a total cost of $5 million or more to disclose any contributions the offeror has made within the previous five-year period totaling $25,000 or more to the public institution of higher education or any private foundation that exists solely to support the public institution of higher education. The bill provides that no protest of an award shall lie for a claim that the selected offeror was awarded a contract solely based on such offeror’s contribution to the public institution of higher education.

SB 8 (Petersen) – Hunting on Sundays. Permits hunting on Sunday on public or private land, so long as it takes place more than 200 yards from a place of worship.

HB 927 (Robinson) & SB 3 (Suetterlein)- Elections; voting systems; reporting absentee results by precinct. Includes in the definition of “voting system” on-demand ballot printing systems and ballot marking devices used to manufacture or mark ballots to be cast by voters on electronic voting and counting machines. The bill also requires general registrars to report to the Department of Elections the number and results of absentee ballots cast by voters assigned to each precinct in the registrar’s locality. The Department is directed by the bill to establish standards for ascertaining and reporting such information.

HB 1067 (Scott, P.A.) & SB 355 (Stuart) – Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program; Fredericksburg wastewater treatment facility. Adds the Fredericksburg wastewater treatment facility to the list of priority projects for the Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program. The bill provides that the new nutrient technology requirements applicable to the Fredericksburg wastewater treatment facility shall take effect when the expanded facility receives its certificate to operate.

HB 1131 (Williams) & SB 417 (Stanley) – Virginia Code Commission; workgroup to review public notices required to be published by localities. Directs the Virginia Code Commission to convene a workgroup to review requirements throughout the Code of Virginia for localities to provide public notice for intended actions and events, including (i) the varying frequency for publishing notices in newspapers and other print media, (ii) the number of days required to elapse between the publications of notices, and (iii) the amount of information required to be contained in each notice, and make recommendations for uniformity and efficiency. The bill requires the Commission to submit a report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology summarizing the work and any recommendations of the workgroup by November 1, 2022.

SB 15 (Favola) & HB 1156 (Byron) – Private family leave insurance. Establishes family leave insurance as a class of insurance. The bill defines “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 (i) the birth of a child or adoption of a child by the employee; (ii) placement of a child with the employee for foster care; (iii) care of a family member of the employee who has a serious health condition; or (iv) 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 bill, 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 bill prohibits 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 bill prohibits 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 has been filed with the Commission. The bill provides 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.

SB 433 (Dunnavant) & HB 1081 (Byron) – Health insurance; calculation of enrollee’s contribution; high deductible health plan. Provides 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. The bill provides such limitations do not apply with respect to items or services that are considered preventive care.

SB 629 (Stuart) – Season for taking oysters. Extends from March 1 to March 31 the close of the season for taking oysters by patent tongs from public oyster beds, rocks, or shoals. Under current law, the season begins on October 1. The bill allows the Marine Resources Commission to close the season for any area in the Commonwealth where the use of patent tongs is permitted when, in its opinion, the condition of the oysters’ warrants.

SB 653 (Cosgrove) – Definition of public aircraft; sunset. Extends from September 1, 2023, to July 1, 2025, the sunset of changes made to the definition of “public aircraft” by the 2018 Session of the General Assembly.

HB 654 (Wampler) – Certain GO Virginia Grants; matching funds; sunset. Extends from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, the sunset of the provision that allows a locality to use grant funds awarded by the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission as matching funds for GO Virginia grants.

SB 511 (Suetterlein) – Opioid treatment program pharmacy; medication dispensing; registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Allows registered nurses and licensed practical nurses practicing at an opioid treatment program pharmacy to perform the duties of a pharmacy technician, provided that all take-home medication doses are verified for accuracy by a pharmacist prior to dispensing.

HB 530 (Batten) – Driver training. 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 the 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.

HB 542 (Batten) – Elections administration; reclassification of assistant registrars. Reclassifies assistant registrars as deputy registrars.

SB 547 (DeSteph) – Virginia Parole Board; monthly reports. Requires the Virginia Parole Board (the Board) to publish a statement regarding any action taken by the Board on the parole of a prisoner within 30 days of such action and to include in such statement information regarding the length of sentence and the date such sentence was imposed for each prisoner considered for parole.

HB 553 (O’Quinn) – Secretary of Transportation; commercial driver’s licenses. 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.

HB 556 (O’Quinn) – Charter; City of Bristol; election of council members; city manager; chief financial officer monthly statement for presentation. Changes the date of elections in the City of Bristol from May to November and the start of terms from July to January. The bill clarifies the term inaugural or organizational meeting and changes meeting dates referred from July to January. The bill changes the expiration dates and references for filling vacancies on other boards from June to December and July to January. The bill provides that the city manager’s term commences at the inaugural or organizational meeting and changes the term expiration from June to December of the same calendar year. The bill provides that the chief financial officer’s statement for presentation to the council by the city manager is to be submitted either no later than the twenty-fifth day of each month or as soon as practicable thereafter. The bill updates the term “councilman” to “council member” in the charter.

SB 567 (Stuart) – State Water Control Board; regulations; issuance of certain permits. Directs the State Water Control Board to amend certain regulations to provide that Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits may also be issued to an existing sewage treatment plant constructed and placed into service prior to January 1, 2001, that serves at least 10 houses but no more than 25 houses if such sewage treatment plant has a documented history of substantial noncompliance and cannot feasibly be connected to a publicly owned sewage treatment plant.

SB 590 (Pillion) – License to teach dentistry; foreign dental program graduates. Allows the Board of Dentistry to grant, without examination, a faculty license to teach dentistry in an accredited dental program to a graduate of a dental school or college or the dental department of an institution of higher education in a foreign country that has been granted a certification letter from the dean or program director of an accredited dental program confirming that the applicant has clinical competency and clinical experience that meet the credentialing standards of the dental school with which the applicant is to be affiliated. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2025.

HB 65 (Edmunds) – Live nutria. Provides that the existing prohibition against possession, sale, or liberation of nutria does not apply to employees of the Department of Wildlife Resources or certain federal agencies or any persons involved in research or management activities with such agencies.

HB 1305 (Williams) – Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick County. Authorizes the reestablishment of a general hospital in Patrick County.

HB 117 (Kilgore) – Attorneys; examinations and issuance of licenses; requirements. Requires, before an applicant is permitted to take the Virginia bar exam, that the applicant furnishes to the Board of Bar Examiners satisfactory evidence that he has satisfactorily completed legal studies amounting to at least five semesters, or the equivalent of at least five semesters on a system other than a semester system, of full-time study at a law school approved by the American Bar Association or the Board of Bar Examiners. Under current law, an applicant is required to have completed all degree requirements of such law school.

SB 121 (Hackworth) – Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; Board for Contractors; exemption from licensure. Exempts from the “licensure requirements for contractors” any work undertaken by a person providing construction, remodeling, repair, improvement, removal, or demolition valued at $25,000 or less per project on behalf of a properly licensed contractor. Current law provides this exemption to such work valued at $5,000 or less per project.

SB 128 (Obenshain) – Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity; definitions; small business. Redefines “small business” for the purpose of programs for the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and programs for the Virginia Public Procurement Act to allow a cooperative association organized pursuant to Chapter 3 (Cooperative Associations) of Title 13.1 as a nonstock corporation to qualify as a small business if it is at least 51 percent independently controlled by one or more members who are U.S. citizens or legal resident aliens and, together with affiliates, has 250 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years.

HB 145 (Head) – Practice of physician assistants. Removes the requirement that physician assistants appointed as medical examiners practice as part of a patient care team. For hospice program licensing, the bill adds physician assistants to the list of hospice personnel who may be part of a medically directed interdisciplinary team. The bill removes a reference to physician assistants in the definition of patient care team podiatrist. Finally, the bill permits physician assistants working in the field of orthopedics as part of a patient care team to utilize fluoroscopy for guidance of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, provided other requirements are met.

HB 161 (Runion) & SB 99 (Hanger Jr.) – Charter; Town of Grottoes. Establishes a new charter for the Town of Grottoes in Rockingham County and repeals the current charter, which was created in 1997. The proposed charter sets out the organization of the town’s government and contains powers typically granted to towns.

HB 170 (Marshall) – Correctional facilities; work release programs. Directs the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to convene a workgroup to study inmate work release programs. The bill provides that the workgroup shall report its findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Chairmen of the House Committee for Courts of Justice, House Committee on Public Safety, Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, and Senate Committee on the Judiciary by December 1, 2022.

SB 432 (Dunnavant) – Sales tax; taxable accommodations. Provides that, for purposes of the retail sales and use tax on accommodations, the term “accommodations” does not include rooms or space offered by a person in the business of providing conference rooms, meeting space, or event space if the person does not also offer rooms available for overnight sleeping. The substantive provisions of the bill are given retroactive effect to September 1, 2021, but no taxpayer shall be entitled to a refund for any taxes remitted prior to July 1, 2022.

HB 190 (Hodges) – Charter; Town of Urbanna. Extends the term for the elected mayor of the Town of Urbanna in Middlesex County from two years to four years and spells out specific responsibilities of the office. The bill also staggers and extends the terms for council members from two years to four years.

HB 197 (Webert) – Public elementary and middle schools; student growth assessments. Requires 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.

SB 749 (McDougle) – Antique motor vehicles and antique trailers; license plates. Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to accept multiple requests for the same license plate number for antique motor vehicles and antique trailers if the number combination is not currently registered on license plates embossed with the year matching the plate being requested and only one license plate with the same number combination has been issued for use after 1973 or, if the plate requested is for a motorcycle, 1976.

HB 214 (Robinson) – Redevelopment and housing authorities; naming convention. Provides that a locality that establishes a redevelopment and housing authority may name such authority an appropriate name and title. Current law requires the authority to be known as the “___________ (insert name of locality) Redevelopment and Housing Authority.” The bill contains technical amendments.

SB 145 (Cosgrove) – Unlawful use of subaqueous beds; replacement of piers. Excludes the maintenance or replacement of previously authorized piers from Virginia Marine Resources Commission permitting requirements, so long as the reconstructed pier is in the existing footprint of the original pier.

HB 184 (Marshall) – Virginia Stormwater Management Programs; regional industrial facility authorities. Authorizes a locality that administers a Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) or a Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program (VESMP) to administer such program of a regional industrial facility authority of which the locality is a member. The bill requires that such administration be conducted in accordance with an agreement entered into with all relevant localities and the existing VSMP or VESMP for the property.

SB 183 (Ruff) – Cemetery Board; appointment of receiver upon revocation or surrender of the license to operate cemetery in Virginia. Requires the Cemetery Board to petition a court of record having equity jurisdiction over the licensee or any of the funds held by him if the Board has reason to believe that (i) the licensee is not able to adequately protect the interest of the person involved; (ii) the licensee has had his license suspended, revoked, or surrendered; and (iii) the conduct of the licensee or the operation of the cemetery threatens the interests of the public. Current law allows but does not require, the Board to file such a petition upon a showing of at least one of the three requirements. If a receiver is appointed, the bill provides that the expenses of such receivership and a reasonable fee, as determined by the court, shall be paid from the assets of the cemetery company.

HB 1178 (Avoli) – Department of Labor and Industry; seizure first aid information. Directs the Department of Labor and Industry to disseminate information regarding seizure first aid, defined in the bill, to all employers and employees in the Commonwealth and requires all employers of 25 or more employees to physically post this information in a prominent location in the workplace. The bill incorporates the “Good Samaritan” provision of the Code of Virginia that shields a person from liability when rendering emergency care in good faith under certain circumstances.

HB 1092 (Kilgore) – Nonrepairable and rebuilt vehicles; sunset. Repeals the sunset clause for certain amendments related to definitions of nonrepairable and rebuilt vehicles. As enacted in 2017, the amendments would have expired on July 1, 2021. However, language in Item 436 of Chapter 552 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, Special Session I (the Appropriation Act), provided that, notwithstanding any other law, the amendments would remain in place until July 1, 2022. The bill makes the amendments permanent.

HB 146 (Head) – Insurance; examinations; provider complaints. Provides 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 a contractual dispute.

HB 267 (McNamara) & SB 12 (Suetterlein) – Local taxes; surplus revenues. Grants localities permissive authority to return surplus personal property tax revenues to taxpayers. Under current law, localities may return only surplus real property tax revenues.

HB 200 (Webert) – Real property tax; exemptions. Provides that the property of an organization that is tax-exempt by classification shall include the property of a single-member limited liability company whose sole member is such an organization.

HB 1215 (Ransone) – Physical education; personal safety training. 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.

HB 1204 (Kilgore) – Renewable energy certificates; priority of procurement. Requires American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia, for renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) program compliance years 2023 and 2024, to prioritize procurement of renewable energy certificates (RECs) from renewable energy standard sources (RPS eligible sources) located in the Commonwealth, provided that such RECs are cost-competitive when compared with out-of-state sources at the time of procurement. Additionally, the bill requires each utility to include in its annual filing for RPS program compliance years 2023 and 2024 a plan for prioritizing procurement of RECs from RPS eligible sources that are both (i) cost-competitive and (ii) eligible for the Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund and Program.

HB 99 (Head) – Continuing education; funeral service licensees, funeral directors, and embalmers. Provides that approved continuing education courses for funeral service licensees, funeral directors, and embalmers shall include either one hour of compliance with laws and regulations governing the profession or one hour of preneed funeral arrangements per year, provided that at least one hour of continuing education regarding preneed funeral arrangements is completed every three years. Current law requires at least one hour of compliance with laws and regulations governing the profession and at least one hour of preneed funeral arrangements per year. The bill contains technical amendments.

HB 91 (Head) – Board of Health; fee for Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth. Removes the requirement that the Board of Health prescribe a reasonable fee to cover the administrative cost and preparation of a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth.

HB 93 (Head) – Department of Health; home care organizations; license renewal. Changes the license renewal requirement for home care organizations from an annual renewal to a triennial renewal. The bill prohibits the Department of Health, upon renewal of a home care organization license, from requiring home care organizations to submit financial documents other than those required for initial licensure.

HB 84 (Kilgore) – Volunteer audiologists. Permits out-of-state audiologists to volunteer to provide free health care to an underserved area of the Commonwealth under the auspices of a publicly supported nonprofit organization that sponsors the provision of health care to populations of underserved people if they do so for a period not exceeding three consecutive days and if the nonprofit organization verifies that the practitioner has a valid, unrestricted license in another state.

HB 50 (Fariss) – Safe haven protections; hotline to provide information about infant relinquishment laws and options. Directs the Department of Social Services to establish a toll-free, 24-hour hotline to make information about the Commonwealth’s safe haven laws that provide for relinquishment of an infant, infant relinquishment locations, and support and resources available for parents available to the public and to make information about the hotline, including the toll-free number that may be used to contact the hotline, available on its website. The bill also directs the Department to undertake a campaign to increase public awareness of the Commonwealth’s laws providing for the relinquishment of an infant and the hotline established pursuant to the bill.

HB 49 (Fariss) – James State Scenic River. Designates an additional 37-mile portion of the James River running through Nelson and Appomattox Counties as a component of the Virginia Scenic Rivers System. The bill also provides that nothing in the Scenic Rivers Act shall preclude the construction, use, or removal of any asset that traverses certain portions of the James River.

HB 44 (Ware) – Standard nonforfeiture provisions for life insurance; minimum nonforfeiture amounts; interest rates. Decreases the minimum nonforfeiture amount interest rate from one percent to 0.15 percent.

HB 1326 (Kilgore) – Electric utilities; removal of waste coal from previously mined sites; Commission on Electric Utility Regulation; sunset. Provides that, in furtherance of the need to address the environmental hazards of abandoned coal mines, the removal of waste coal from previously mined sites in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth is in the public interest. The bill extends the sunset date for the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2024, and provides that the Commission may review information on the approximate volume and number of waste coal piles present in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth and options for cleaning up such waste coal piles.

HB 272 (Marshall) & SB 501 (Lewis) – Local land use approvals; extension of approvals to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Extends from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, the sunset date for various local land use approvals that were valid and outstanding as of July 1, 2020. The bill also provides that its provisions shall not be construed to extend previous extensions related to the COVID-19 housing crisis. This bill is identical to SB 501.

HB 62 (Ward) – Insurance; obsolete provisions and notice. Removes an exception to the regulation of insurance rates by the State Corporation Commission relating to certain automobile bodily injury and property damage liability insurance policies. The bill removes provisions requiring the Commission to mail a copy of certain orders regarding motor vehicle insurance forms to insurers and rate service organizations and instead requires the Commission to provide notice of such orders. Finally, the bill repeals a provision requiring that coverage of airtrip accident policies extend in certain cases to connecting or returning planes.

HB 648 (Kory) – Comprehensive plan; substantial accord; parks. Clarifies provisions related to whether certain public facilities are substantially in accord with the adopted comprehensive plan by adding parks to the types of public uses that may, with certain types of land use applications, be excepted from the requirement for submittal to and approval by the planning commission or the governing body for the purpose of determining substantial accord.

SB 677 (Lewis) – Workers’ compensation; cost of living supplements. 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.

SB 34 (Marsden) – Electronic credentials; fee. Makes discretionary the amount of the fee, up to $10 per year, assessed by the Department of Motor Vehicles for each individual issued electronic credentials or granted access to an electronic credential. Under current law, the fee is fixed at $10 per year. The bill authorizes the Department to issue electronic registration cards to individuals who hold a valid physical registration card and clarifies when a physical registration card is required.

HB 286 (Adams, D.M) – Nurse practitioners; declaration of death and cause of death. Authorizes autonomous nurse practitioners, defined in the bill, to declare death and determine the cause of death; allows nurse practitioners who are not autonomous nurse practitioners to pronounce the death of a patient in certain circumstances; and eliminates the requirement for a valid Do Not Resuscitate Order for the deceased patient for declaration of death by a registered nurse, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner who is not an autonomous nurse practitioner.

HB 141 (McQuinn) & SB 158 (Hashmi) – Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund established. Establishes the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund for the purpose of awarding grants to eligible state-recognized and federally recognized Indian tribes, private nonprofit organizations, and localities for the eligible costs of acquiring land or permanent protective interest therein, and of undertaking preservation activities on such land, that is of cultural or historic significance to Black, indigenous, or people of color communities. The bill provides that land or interests acquired with grant funds shall grant the Board of Historic Resources or other holders a perpetual preservation interest in the property.

SB 477 (McClellan) & HB 140 (McQuinn) – Historical African American cemeteries. Changes the date of establishment that qualifies historical African American cemeteries for appropriated funds to care for such cemeteries from prior to January 1, 1900, to prior to January 1, 1948, and provides that the total number of graves in a qualifying cemetery shall be the number of markers of African Americans who were interred in such cemetery prior to January 1, 1948. Under current law, the total number of graves is the number of markers of African Americans who lived at any time between January 1, 1800, and January 1, 1900.

SB 194 (Mason) – Insurance; public adjusters; standards of conduct. Prohibits a public adjuster from engaging in any activity that may reasonably be construed as a conflict of interest, including soliciting or accepting any remuneration of any kind or nature, directly or indirectly, except as set forth in a public adjusting contract with an insured. Additionally, the bill provides that for the purposes of the prohibition on a public adjuster having a financial interest in an insured’s claim, “financial interest” includes participation by a public adjuster, directly or indirectly, in the reconstruction, repair, or restoration of damaged property that is the subject of a claim adjusted by that public adjuster. The bill contains technical amendments.

HB 138 (McQuinn) & SB 476 (McClellan) – Central Virginia Transportation Authority; membership. Adds the Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Region Airport Commission as an ex officio, nonvoting member of the Central Virginia Transportation Authority.

SB 129 (Morrissey) – Study; Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; alkaline hydrolysis workgroup; report. Directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to convene a workgroup to study how to legalize, implement, and regulate the process of alkaline hydrolysis in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Board to report the results of the study to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare, and Institutions on or before November 1, 2022.

HB 1108 (Rasoul) – Public schools; instruction concerning gambling. Requires instruction concerning gambling and the addictive potential thereof to be provided by the public schools as prescribed by the Board of Education. The bill requires 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.

HB 1112 (Cordoza) – Virginia Marine Resources Commission; saltwater fishing licenses. Requires the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to provide an option to purchase a multiyear recreational saltwater fishing license.

HB 1251 (Fowler) – Alcoholic beverage control; operation of government stores; sale of nonalcoholic spirit alternatives. Allows government stores of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to sell nonalcoholic spirit alternatives.

HB 239 (Adams, D.M.) & SB 263 (Hashmi) – Housing and Supportive Services Interagency Leadership Team initiative; housing and services for adults 65 years of age or older. Directs the Department for Housing and Community Development to expand the existing Housing and Supportive Services Interagency Leadership Team (ILT) initiative to include adults 65 years of age or older as a target subpopulation and seek input from appropriate stakeholders to facilitate the development of strategies for increasing the supply of permanent supportive housing for adults 65 years of age or older.

HB 285 (Adams, D.M.) – Clinical nurse specialist; practice agreements. Provides that a nurse practitioner licensed by the Boards of Medicine and Nursing in the category of clinical nurse specialist who does not prescribe controlled substances or devices may practice in the practice category in which he is certified and licensed without a written or electronic practice agreement, provided that he (i) only practice within the scope of his clinical and professional training and limits of his knowledge and experience and consistent with the applicable standards of care, (ii) consult and collaborate with other health care providers based on the clinical condition of the patient to whom health care is provided, and (iii) establish a plan for referral of complex medical cases and emergencies to physicians or other appropriate health care providers. The bill also provides that a nurse practitioner licensed by the Boards in the category of clinical nurse specialist who prescribes controlled substances or devices shall practice in consultation with a licensed physician in accordance with a practice agreement between the nurse practitioner and the licensed physician.

SB 169 (Peake) – Licensed practical nurses; authority to pronounce death. Extends to licensed practical nurses the authority to pronounce the death of a patient in hospice, provided that certain conditions are met. Current law provides that physicians, registered nurses, and physician assistants may pronounce death.

HB 52 (Morefield) & SB627 (Hackworth) – Charter; Town of Tazewell; board of zoning appeals. Increases the term length for members of the board of zoning appeals for the Town of Tazewell from two to five years.

SB 325 (Reeves) – Alcoholic beverage control; transportation of alcoholic beverages. Increases from one gallon to three gallons the amount of alcoholic beverages that a person may transport into the Commonwealth and consolidates current law regarding the transportation of alcoholic beverages into or within the Commonwealth. The bill contains technical amendments.

HB 1083 (Leftwich) – Tax assessments; notices. Requires the Department of Taxation to identify on bills for omitted tax assessments the date the initial tax return or payment was received by the Department, any payment amounts received from the taxpayer, and an explanation of the taxes, penalties, and interest related to such assessment beginning on January 1, 2023.

SB 185 (Ruff) & HB269 – Income tax; major business facility job tax credit; sunset. Extends the sunset of the major business facility job tax credit from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2025. This week, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed over one hundred bills into law including legislation that gives parents more control over what their children are being taught, helps shore up animal cruelty rules, and reforms inadequate sexual assault laws.