Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket — 2023-02-13

Summary

Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket for 2023-02-13, 2023 Regular (20231) session, listing Richard L. Saslaw (D) as Chair and staff Hobie Lehman, Jasmine VanDyke, Marvi Ali and Thomas Stevens. The docket lists bills before the committee, each with a patron and a summary, including HB1375 (Health insurance; tobacco surcharge) and HB1408 (Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers). It also lists HB1921 (earned wage access services; licensure requirements) and HB1924 (Minimum wage; employees with disabilities), and HB2463, which increases the number of State Corporation Commission members.

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TITLE: Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket — 2023-02-13
DATE: 2023-02-13T00:00:00
SESSION: 2023 Regular (20231)
CHAMBER: Senate

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Richard L. Saslaw (D) Chair

STAFF: Hobie Lehman, Jasmine VanDyke, Marvi Ali, Thomas Stevens

DOCKET / AGENDA:

[Senate Bill in Committee]
999. HB1375 - Health insurance; tobacco surcharge.
Patron(s): Greenhalgh
Summary: Health insurance; tobacco surcharge. Eliminates the authority of a health carrier to vary its premium rates based on tobacco use. Under current law, a health carrier may charge premium rates up to 1.5 times higher for a tobacco user than for a nonuser. The provisions of the bill apply to health benefit plans providing individual or small group health insurance coverage entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024. The bill directs the State Corporation Commission to submit an annual report summarizing the reductions in premiums related to the elimination of the tobac
999. HB1408 - Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers.
Patron(s): Brewer
Summary: Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers. Expands the workers' compensation presumption of compensability for certain cancers causing the death or disability of certain employees who have completed five years of service in their position to include bladder and thyroid cancer. The presumption for these cancers does not apply for any individual diagnosed with such a condition before July 1, 2023. This bill is identical to SB 906.
999. HB1410 - Workers' compensation; presumption for arson and hazardous materials investigators.
Patron(s): Marshall
Summary: Workers' compensation; Department of State Police; State Police Officers' Retirement System; presumption for arson, bomb, and hazardous materials investigators. Expands the workers' compensation presumption of compensability for certain cancers causing the death or disability of certain employees who have completed five years of service in their position to include (i) arson investigators or bomb investigators employed by the Department of State Police and (ii) members of the State Police Officers' Retirement System who collect, analyze, or handle hazardous materials, infectious biological sub
999. HB1430 - Energy-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries; pilot program for eligible customer exemptions.
Patron(s): Ware
Summary: Virginia Clean Economy Act; non-bypassable charges; energy-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries; report. Defines EITE industries as companies that are constrained in their ability to pass through carbon costs due to international competition, companies that engage in importation of products that cause emission leakage, and critical infrastructure facilities identified by certain federal agencies. The bill directs the State Corporation Commission to establish an EITE customer exemption pilot program for non-bypassable charges in certain provisions of the Virginia Clean Economy Act related
999. HB1471 - Health insurance; electronic prior authorization and disclosure of certain information.
Patron(s): Fowler
Summary: Health insurance; electronic prior authorization and disclosure of certain information; out-of-pocket costs; report. Requires each health insurance carrier, beginning July 1, 2025, to establish and maintain an online process that (i) links directly to all e-prescribing systems and electronic health record systems that utilize the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs SCRIPT standard and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Real Time Benefit Standard; (ii) can accept electronic prior authorization requests from a provider; (iii) can approve electronic prior authorizatio
999. HB1477 - Corporations; filing and meeting requirements.
Patron(s): Ballard
Summary: Corporations; filing and meeting requirements. Eliminates the requirement that a document filed with the State Corporation Commission pursuant to the Virginia Stock Corporation Act include the terms, including the preferences, rights, and limitations, of each class or series of shares. The bill changes the timeframe during which a corporation must make available for inspection the shareholders list prepared for a shareholders' meeting from two business days after notice of such shareholders' meeting through such shareholders' meeting to five business days after notice of such shareholders' mee
999. HB1544 - Virginia Credit Services Businesses Act; definitions, credit reports.
Patron(s): Campbell, J.L.
Summary: Virginia Credit Services Businesses Act; definitions; credit reports. Amends the definitions of "consumer reporting agency" and "credit services business" as they are used in the Virginia Credit Services Businesses Act and requires that the information statement provided to a consumer by a credit services business under the Act include a complete and accurate statement of a customer's right to receive a free copy of the consumer's credit report annually from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies. The bill contains technical amendments.
999. HB1546 - Virginia Antitrust Act; disgorgement and other forms of equitable monetary relief.
Patron(s): Campbell, J.L.
Summary: Virginia Antitrust Act; disgorgement and other forms of equitable monetary relief. Provides that (i) any person threatened with injury or damage to his business or property by reason of a violation of the Virginia Antitrust Act or (ii) the Attorney General on behalf of the Commonwealth, the attorney for the Commonwealth or county attorney on behalf of a county, the city attorney on behalf of a city, or the town attorney on behalf of a town may institute actions and proceedings for injunctive relief, disgorgement, and other forms of equitable monetary relief as the court deems appropriate. The
999. HB1604 - Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act; regulation of rates, proceeding to review base rates.
Patron(s): Ware
Summary: Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act; regulation of rates. Provides, that in any proceeding to establish base rates for Appalachian Electric Power or Dominion Energy Virginia conducted by the State Corporation Commission (the Commission), if the Commission determines in its sole discretion that the utility's existing base rates will, on a going-forward basis, either produce (i) revenues in excess of the utility's authorized rate of return or (ii) revenues below the utility's authorized rate of return, then the Commission is required to order any reductions or increases, as applicable and n
999. HB1637 - Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission or distribution lines, adds projects.
Patron(s): Webert
Summary: Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission or distribution lines; additional projects. Adds one project to the existing pilot program for underground transmission lines. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to approve one additional application filed between January 1, 2023, and October 1, 2023, as a qualifying project to be constructed in whole or in part underground, as a part of the pilot program. The bill requires that the added qualifying project be a newly proposed 230-kilovolt underground line and that (i) an engineering analysis demonstrates that it is
999. HB1640 - Medicare; supplement policies for certain individuals under age 65.
Patron(s): Kilgore
Summary: Medicare supplement policies for certain individuals under age 65 . Requires each insurer issuing Medicare supplement policies or certificates in the Commonwealth to offer the opportunity of enrolling in at least one of its issued Medicare supplement policies or certificates to any individual under age 65 who resides in the Commonwealth, is enrolled in Medicare Part A and B, and is eligible for Medicare by reason of disability, including individuals with end-stage renal disease. Effective January 1, 2024, the bill also prohibits an insurer from charging individuals who become eligible for Medi
999. HB1727 - Credit unions; virtual currency custody services.
Patron(s): Head
Summary: Credit unions; virtual currency custody services. Permits a credit union in the Commonwealth to engage in virtual currency custody services, provided that the credit union has adequate protocols in place to effectively manage the associated risks and comply with applicable laws and, prior to offering virtual currency custody services, the credit union has carefully examined the risks in offering such services through a methodical self-assessment process. To engage in such services, the credit union must implement effective risk management systems, maintain adequate insurance coverage, and main
999. HB1752 - Public utilities; fiber optic broadband lines crossing railroads.
Patron(s): Head
Summary: Public utilities; fiber optic broadband lines crossing railroads. Provides that if a broadband service provider, in the construction of its works, deems it necessary to cross the works of a railroad company, the broadband service provider is required to submit an application to the railroad company. The bill requires the application to include (i) a license fee; (ii) engineering design plans, construction plans, bore plans, fraction mitigation plans, dewatering plans, rigging and lifting plans, and any other pertinent plans deemed necessary and prepared by a registered professional engineer; (
999. HB1770 - Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act; retail competitiveness, review proceedings, etc.
Patron(s): Kilgore
Summary: Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act. Authorizes Dominion Energy Virginia, on or before July 1, 2024, to petition the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) for a financing order for deferred fuel costs. The bill sets forth specific transaction terms and other provisions related to the financing order. Before granting a financing order, the Commission is required to find that (i) the proposed issuance of deferred fuel cost bonds is in the public interest and the associated deferred fuel cost charges are just and reasonable and (ii) the structuring and pricing of the deferred fuel co
999. HB1775 - Workers' compensation; anxiety disorder or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Workers' compensation; post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder; law-enforcement officers and firefighters. Provides that an anxiety disorder or depressive disorder, as both are defined in the bill, incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter is compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act on the same basis as post-traumatic stress disorder, except in the case of responding to crime scenes for investigation. The bill provides that a mental health professional must diagnose the covered individual as suffering from anxiety disorder or depressi
999. HB1776 - Business park electric infrastructure program; makes permanent and amends certain provisions.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Business park electric infrastructure program. Makes permanent and amends certain provisions of the Code related to the business park electric infrastructure program conducted by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. The bill requires that the program be conducted in the service territory or transmission zone of each Phase I and Phase II Utility and permits costs incurred by the utility in installing the business park electric infrastructure to be recovered pursuant to a rate adjustment clause approved by the State Corporation Commission. The bill also requires a utility to obtain a c
999. HB1777 - Phase I Utilities; financing for certain deferred fuel costs, biennial reviews, etc.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Phase I Utilities; deferred fuel costs; biennial reviews. Authorizes Appalachian Power to petition the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) for a financing order for deferred fuel costs. The bill sets forth specific transaction terms and other provisions related to the financing order. Before granting a financing order, the Commission is required to find that (i) the proposed issuance of deferred fuel cost bonds is in the public interest and the associated deferred fuel cost charges are just and reasonable and (ii) the structuring and pricing of the deferred fuel cost bonds are reason
999. HB1778 - Financial institutions; certain investments by banks permitted.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Financial institutions; certain investments by banks permitted. Provides that the prohibition on a bank from investing its funds in certain entities does not prevent a bank from (i) investing in (a) a community development corporation; (b) an entity formed primarily to support community-based economic development; (c) an entity qualifying for the federal new markets tax credit; (d) an entity formed for a predominantly civic, community, or public purpose; (e) an entity making qualified rehabilitation expenditures with respect to a qualified rehabilitated building or certified historic structure
999. HB1783 - Natural gas utilities; retail supply choice, definitions.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Natural gas utilities; retail supply choice. Allows every person access to distribution service or retail natural gas from a natural gas company authorized to provide natural gas service to the area where the service will be received. The bill prohibits a public entity from adopting an ordinance, resolution, or any other requirement that limits or prohibits customers from acquiring natural gas service and supply from both utility and non-utility gas companies. The bill prohibits public entities from denying building permits solely based on a proposed utility provider and directs public entitie
999. HB1886 - Insurance agents; definitions, private family leave insurance.
Patron(s): Byron
Summary: Insurance agents; definitions; private family leave insurance. Expands the definitions of "health agent" and "property and casualty insurance agent" to include that such agents may sell, solicit, or negotiate private family leave insurance. The bill also clarifies that private family leave insurance is not included in either limited lines life and health insurance or limited lines property and casualty insurance as they relate to the definitions of "limited lines life and health agent" and "limited lines property and casualty agent" respectively. This bill is identical to SB 1000.
999. HB1895 - Sexual harassment; nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement.
Patron(s): Filler-Corn
Summary: Nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements; prohibited nondisparagement provisions; claims of sexual harassment. Provides that no employer may require an employee or prospective employee to execute or renew any provision in a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement, including any provision regarding nondisparagement, that has the purpose or effect of concealing the details of a sexual harassment claim. Any such provision is against public policy and is void and unenforceable.
999. HB1918 - Health insurance; coverage for audio-only telehealth services, definition.
Patron(s): Batten
Summary: Health insurance; coverage for audio-only telehealth services. Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage beginning January 1, 2024, for the cost of health care services provided through audio-only telehealth services, defined in the bill as counseling interventions designed to facilitate a patient's achievement of human development goals and remediate mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and associated distresses that interfere with mental health and development by a mental health professional delivered to a patient
999. HB1921 - Earned wage access services; licensure requirements, prohibited practices, penalties.
Patron(s): Batten
Summary: Financial institutions; earned wage access services; licensure requirements; penalties. Prohibits any person from providing earned wage access services without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission. The bill provides for qualifications for licensure, posting of a bond, annual fees, recordkeeping, reporting, and disclosure requirements. The bill authorizes the Commission to investigate and examine applicants and licensees, to suspend and revoke licenses, and to impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for violations of the earned wage access services provisions. The bill
999. HB1924 - Minimum wage; employees with disabilities.
Patron(s): Hope
Summary: Minimum wage; employees with disabilities. Provides that individuals with disabilities that are paid at subminimum wage pursuant to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and currently excluded from the Virginia Minimum Wage Act shall be excluded from the Virginia Minimum Wage Act only if those individuals are paid subminimum wage prior to July 1, 2023 by an employer that was authorized to pay a subminimum wage prior to July 1, 2023. This exclusion is in effect until July 1, 2030 when the exclusion is eliminated entirely. The bill also requires the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Service
999. HB2009 - Unemployment compensation; venue for prosecution of certain criminal cases.
Patron(s): Adams, L.R.
Summary: Unemployment compensation; venue for prosecution of certain criminal cases. Provides that the venue for criminal cases involving false statements, representations, or nondisclosures by an employing unit or an individual with regard to an unemployment claim lies in the county or city wherein the statement, representation, or nondisclosure originates or, alternatively, is received by the Virginia Employment Commission. Under current law, the venue for such cases lies solely in the county or city wherein such statement, representation, or nondisclosure is received by the Commission. This bill is
999. HB2010 - Virginia Employment Commission; Commissioner shall have authority to issue subpoenas, etc.
Patron(s): Adams, L.R.
Summary: Virginia Employment Commission; attorney authorization; powers. Provides that the Commissioner of the Virginia Employment Commission may authorize any attorney employed by the Commission to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records deemed necessary as evidence in connection with the investigation or adjudication of any disputed claim or the administration of the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act. The bill permits any party to file a motion to quash any such subpoena prior to the date production i
999. HB2026 - Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities, Department of Forestry advisory panel, report.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities; Department of Forestry advisory panel; report. Removes the renewable energy requirement for each Phase I and Phase II Utility to retire all biomass-fired electric generating units that do not co-fire with coal by December 31, 2028. The bill provides that biomass-fired facilities may qualify as renewable energy standard eligible sources, provided that they are in operation as of January 1, 2023, and (i) supply no more than 10 percent of their annual net electrical generation to the electric grid or no more than 15 percent of their annual total useful
999. HB2132 - Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act; various changes to Act.
Patron(s): Wilt
Summary: Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act. Makes various changes to the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act. The bill (i) requires excavators to review updates in the 811 positive response system and conduct additional safety verifications before digging, (ii) allows an excavator to schedule a locate request 12 days in advance, (iii) creates a criminal penalty for any person who knowingly and intentionally excavates after being notified by a representative of the Commission of a determination that such excavation constitutes an immediate threat to safety or property and such representati
999. HB2179 - Commercial delivery services; authorized use for notice to an employer for violation of safety prov.
Patron(s): Morefield
Summary: Department of Labor and Industry; Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; notice of disciplinary action; method of delivery to allow for confirmation of delivery. Authorizes the use of commercial delivery services with signed and dated acknowledgment of delivery by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry when providing notice to an employer of any proposed penalty for a violation of a safety or health provision or of the employer's failure to abate a violation of a safety or health provision. Under current law, the Commissioner is authorized to provide such required notices only
999. HB2198 - Essential health benefits benchmark plan; Bureau of Insurance to select a new plan.
Patron(s): Byron
Summary: Health insurance; essential health benefits benchmark plan. Requires the Bureau of Insurance to select a new essential health benefits benchmark plan for the 2025 plan year that includes, in addition to the essential health benefits package included in the existing benchmark plan, coverage for prosthetic devices and components and formula and enteral nutrition products as medicine. The bill contains an emergency clause. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Health Insurance Reform Commission. This bill is identical to SB 1399.
999. HB2199 - Health Insurance Reform Commission; review of essential health benefits benchmark plan.
Patron(s): Byron
Summary: Health Insurance Reform Commission; review of essential health benefits plan. Requires that the Health Insurance Reform Commission review the essential health benefits benchmark plan and establish a process for such review. The bill requires the Commission, in coordination with the Bureau of Insurance, to conduct a review of the essential health benefits benchmark plan in 2025 and every five years thereafter. The bill requires during such review (i) the Bureau to convene a stakeholder work group to make recommendations to the Commission, (ii) the Bureau to estimate the effects of certain refer
999. HB2201 - Association health plans; rates based on employer member's risk profile.
Patron(s): Byron
Summary: Association health plans; base rates based on employer member's risk profile. Provides that for association health plans, an insurer may (i) establish base rates formed on an actuarially sound, modified community rating methodology that considers the pooling of all participant claims and (ii) utilize each employer member's specific risk profile to determine contribution rates for each individual employer member's share of the premium by actuarially adjusting above or below established base rates. This bill is identical to SB 1171.
999. HB2216 - Health insurance; coverage for mobile crisis response services and residential crisis units.
Patron(s): Leftwich
Summary: Health insurance; mental health benefits; coverage for mobile crisis response services and residential crisis stabilization units. Requires health insurance carriers to provide coverage for mobile crisis response services, defined in the bill, and support and stabilization services provided in a residential crisis stabilization unit, defined in the bill, to the extent that such services are covered in other settings or modalities, regardless of any difference in billing codes. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources,
999. HB2262 - Health insurance; online credentialing system, processing of new applications.
Patron(s): Hodges
Summary: Health insurance; provider credentialing; processing of new applications. Requires a health insurance carrier that credentials the physicians, mental health professionals, or other providers in its network to establish reasonable protocols and procedures for processing of new provider credentialing applications. The bill requires that if the carrier accepts applications through an online credentialing system, the carrier must notify a new provider applicant through the online credentialing system that the application is received. If the carrier does not accept applications through an online cr
999. HB2275 - Energy planning & electric utility oversight; membership for Com. on Electricity Utility Regulation.
Patron(s): Kilgore
Summary: Energy planning and electric utility oversight. Increases from 10 to 14 the membership of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (the Commission) by adding three nonlegislative citizen members with expertise in ratepayer advocacy and the Attorney General or his designee from the Division of Consumer Counsel as an ex officio member; requires the Commission to annually elect a chairman and vice-chairman, meet twice annually, and receive an annual report from the State Corporation Commission by November 1 regarding the implementation of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act; require
999. HB2354 - Health care provider panels; changes to provisions related to continuity of care.
Patron(s): Orrock
Summary: Health care provider panels; continuity of care. Makes various changes to provisions related to the continuity of care for an enrollee after a provider is terminated from a health insurance carrier's provider panel. The bill requires a carrier that uses a provider panel to establish procedures for notifying an enrollee of (i) the termination from the carrier's provider panel of a provider who was furnishing health care services to the enrollee or furnished health care services to the enrollee in the six months prior to the notice and (ii) the right of an enrollee upon request to continue to re
999. HB2386 - Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program; created.
Patron(s): O'Quinn
Summary: Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program; created. Creates the Virginia Power Innovation Fund with funding to be used solely for the purposes of research and development of innovative energy technologies, including nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and utilization, and energy storage. The bill also creates the Virginia Power Innovation Program to use moneys from the Fund to (i) establish a Virginia nuclear innovation hub and (ii) award competitive grants to support energy innovation. This bill is identical to SB 1464.
999. HB2418 - Workers' compensation; group self-insurance associations.
Patron(s): Wampler
Summary: Workers' compensation; group self-insurance associations. Provides that, subject to approval of the State Corporation Commission, two or more workers' compensation group self-insurance associations may merge if the resulting group self-insurance association assumes in full all obligations of the merged group self-insurance associations.
999. HB2422 - Home solicitation sale; clarifies definition.
Patron(s): Batten
Summary: Home solicitation sale; definition. Clarifies that the definition of a "home solicitation sale" includes a solicitation of the sale or lease of goods or services in which the seller engages in a solicitation without prior invitation or appointment. The bill excludes from the definition of "home solicitation sale" (i) consumer sales made by an entity regulated by the Bureau of Insurance, an affiliate of any such entity, or a dealer licensed by the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board and (ii) sales made entirely by telephone or electronic means at the initiation of the buyer without any other contact bet
999. HB2444 - Offshore wind capacity; development, cost recovery.
Patron(s): Bloxom
Summary: Development of offshore wind capacity; cost recovery. Requires the State Corporation Commission, in conducting its review of requests for cost recovery by a Phase II Utility for costs associated with generating facilities utilizing energy derived from offshore wind, to give due consideration to the economic development benefits of the project for the Commonwealth, including capital investments and job creation, arising from project construction and operation and the manufacture of wind turbine generator components and subcomponents. The bill also accelerates the timeline from 2034 to 2032 for
999. HB2463 - State Corporation Commission; increases number of members.
Patron(s): Byron
Summary: State Corporation Commission; members. Increases, until the next expiration of a member's term, the number of members of the State Corporation Commission from three to four. The bill provides that the newest member will serve a term of six years that begins July, 1, 2023. The bill provides that upon the next expiration of a term of a member of the Commission or upon the expiration of the remaining term of a vacancy, whichever occurs earlier, no member shall be elected to fill the expired seat, and the Commission shall consist of three members.

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