Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket — 2023-01-23

Summary

A committee docket for the Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee dated 2023-01-23, session 2023 Regular (20231), with Richard L. Saslaw (D) listed as Chair. The agenda lists Senate Bills in Committee, each with a patron and a summary. SB849, patron Chase, prohibits a public utility from installing a smart meter on a customer's premises without first obtaining the customer's consent. SB1003, patron DeSteph, requires coverage for hearing aids for children 18 years of age or younger, with one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. SB1464, patron Vogel, creates the Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program.

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Full text

TITLE: Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket — 2023-01-23
DATE: 2023-01-23T00:00:00
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. SB849 - Public utilities; customer consent to install smart meter.
       Patron(s): Chase
       Summary: Public utilities; customer consent to install smart meter. Prohibits a public utility from installing a smart meter, defined in the bill, on the premises of a customer without first obtaining such customer's consent to such installation. The bill requires a public utility, for any smart meter installed by a public utility prior to July 1, 2023, to provide the customer an opportunity to consent to the previous installation. The bill requires a public utility to offer to remove a smart meter without cost to the customer that was installed without obtaining the customer's consent. The bill prohib
  999. SB927 - Health carrier fair business standards; SCC's Bureau of Insurance to evaluate.
       Patron(s): Favola
       Summary: State Corporation Commission; work group; health carrier fair business standards. Directs the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance to convene a work group to develop recommendations for regulatory and legislative changes necessary to improve the process for determining if an insurance carrier has failed to implement minimum fair business standards in the performance of its provider contracts for the prompt payment of claims. The Bureau shall submit a report of the findings and recommendations of the work group by December 1, 2023. This bill is identical to HB 1739.
  999. SB984 - Electric utilities; net metering.
       Patron(s): Mason
       Summary: Electric utilities; net metering. Provides that a contract that provides for the ownership, maintenance, or operation of an electrical generating facility by a third party through a lease agreement with fixed monthly payments does not constitute the sale of electricity and does not cause an eligible customer-generator or the third party that owns, maintains, or operates the electrical generating facility through such a lease agreement to be considered an electric utility. The bill prohibits an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator from being required to provid
  999. SB1003 - Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors.
       Patron(s): DeSteph
       Summary: Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when an otolaryngologist recommends such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The bill prohibits the State Corporation Commission from using any special fund revenues dedicated to the Commission's other
  999. SB1018 - Railroad companies; notice of certain action.
       Patron(s): Edwards
       Summary: Railroad companies; notice of certain action. Requires a railroad company operating in the Commonwealth that submits an application to the federal government for consolidation, merger, abandonment, or discontinuance to notify, in addition to the State Corporation Commission and the Governor, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and the Executive Director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority of such action.
  999. SB1029 - Public utilities; fiber optic broadband lines crossing railroads.
       Patron(s): Stanley
       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. SB1075 - Phase I Utilities; financing for certain deferred fuel costs, biennial reviews, etc.
       Patron(s): Ruff
       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. SB1120 - Virginia Employment Commission; Commissioner shall have authority to issue subpoenas, etc.
       Patron(s): Stanley
       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. SB1121 - Coal mine methane; options to encourage capture & beneficial use.
       Patron(s): Hackworth
       Summary: Coal mine methane; capture and beneficial use; Department of Energy to evaluate policy options; report. States that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to encourage the capture and beneficial use of coal mine methane, defined in the bill. The bill directs the Department of Energy to evaluate policy options to encourage the capture and beneficial use of coal mine methane and submit a report of its findings by November 15, 2023. This bill is identical to HB 1643.
  999. SB1145 - Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act; various changes to Act.
       Patron(s): McPike
       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. SB1153 - Financial institutions; certain investments by banks permitted.
       Patron(s): Lewis
       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. SB1154 - Health insurance; online credentialing system, processing of new applications.
       Patron(s): Mason
       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. SB1157 - Health insurance; coverage for audio-only telehealth services.
       Patron(s): Marsden
       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. SB1166 - Energy planning & electric utility oversight; membership for Com. on Electricity Utility Regulation.
       Patron(s): Surovell
       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. SB1171 - Association health plans; rates based on employer member's risk profile.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       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 HB 2201.
  999. SB1189 - Disability insurance; disability arising out of childbirth.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       Summary: Disability insurance; disability arising out of childbirth. Requires each insurer proposing to issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providing short-term disability income protection coverage whose policies provide coverage for short-term disability arising out of childbirth to, notwithstanding a disability determination or medical necessity requirement, provide for 12 weeks of income protection coverage for a payable benefit of at least 12 weeks immediately following childbirth. The provisions of the bill apply to any such a policy renewed, delivered, or issued fo
  999. SB1208 - Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office; Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to establish.
       Patron(s): Reeves
       Summary: Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority; Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office. Directs the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of establishing a Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office to serve as the official representation of the Commonwealth in Taiwan by promoting and offering services relating to economic development and trade.
  999. SB1261 - Health insurance; electronic prior authorization and disclosure of certain information.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       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. SB1273 - Health insurance; coverage for doula care services.
       Patron(s): Boysko
       Summary: Health insurance; doula care services. Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations whose policy, contract, or plan includes coverage for obstetrical services to provide coverage for doula care services provided by a state-certified doula. The bill requires such coverage to include coverage for at least eight visits during the antepartum or postpartum period and support during labor and delivery. The bill provides that health insurance carriers are (i) not required to pay for duplicate services actually rendered by both a state-certified doula
  999. SB1285 - Health insurance; catastrophic plans.
       Patron(s): Peake
       Summary: Health insurance; catastrophic plans. Authorizes health carriers to offer catastrophic plans on the individual market and to offer such plans to all individuals. The measure provides that a catastrophic plan is deemed to provide an essential health benefits package and to meet certain requirements of federal law. A catastrophic plan is a high-deductible health care plan that provides essential health benefits and coverage for at least three primary care visits per policy year. Under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), as amended, catastrophic plans satisfy re
  999. SB1298 - Liquefied petroleum gas; filling, refilling, or otherwise delivering during qualifying emergency.
       Patron(s): Deeds
       Summary: Filling, refilling, or otherwise delivering liquefied petroleum gas during a qualifying emergency. Provides that when a qualifying emergency, as defined in the bill, is in effect, a residential customer who can demonstrate that he has less than a 24-hour supply of petroleum gas in his liquefied petroleum gas container shall make a good faith effort to procure delivery of liquefied petroleum gas from the owner of the container. If the owner is unable to fulfill the customer's good faith request within 24 hours, the bill allows the customer to have an emergency supplier fill, refill, or otherwis
  999. SB1363 - Registered apprentices; persons 16 yrs. of age or older may serve in barbershop/cosmetology salon.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       Summary: Registered apprentices; children 16 years of age or older; barbershop or cosmetology salon. Permits children 16 years of age or older who are registered apprentices to serve in a barbershop or cosmetology salon licensed by the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology in accordance with the Board's regulations.
  999. SB1364 - Electric utilities; control of smart thermostat prohibited.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       Summary: Electric utilities; control of smart thermostat prohibited. Prohibits an electric utility from making either ad hoc or scheduled adjustments to a customer's smart thermostat, defined in the bill, regardless of whether such adjustment is part of a curtailment or demand response measure, is part of an energy efficiency program, or is otherwise designed to reduce current or anticipated demand.
  999. SB1370 - Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission or distribution lines, adds projects.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       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. SB1417 - Electric utilities; proposed cost recovery, alternative to rate adjustment clause.
       Patron(s): Suetterlein
       Summary: Electric utilities; cost recovery; alternative to rate adjustment clause. Provides that in any proceeding regarding petitions for a rate adjustment clause, the State Corporation Commission may, as an alternative to a rate adjustment clause, authorize recovery of any proposed cost through the utility's rates for generation and distribution services, if the Commission, in its discretion, determines that such cost recovery better serves ratepayers while still providing the utility the opportunity to recover its costs and earn a fair rate of return.
  999. SB1419 - Electric utilities; retail competition, renewable energy.
       Patron(s): Suetterlein
       Summary: Electric utilities; retail competition; renewable energy. Allows individual retail customers of an electric utility to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed supplier. The measure eliminates (i) provisions that prohibit such a purchase from a licensed supplier that is an incumbent electric utility that is not the incumbent electric utility serving the exclusive service territory in which the customer is located and (ii) a condition that permits such purchases only if the electric utility serving the applicable exclusive service territory does not
  999. SB1420 - Business park electric infrastructure program; makes permanent and amends certain provisions.
       Patron(s): Pillion
       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. SB1464 - Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program; created.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       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 HB 2386.

[Senate Bill in Committee]
  999. SB849 - Public utilities; customer consent to install smart meter.
       Patron(s): Chase
       Summary: Public utilities; customer consent to install smart meter. Prohibits a public utility from installing a smart meter, defined in the bill, on the premises of a customer without first obtaining such customer's consent to such installation. The bill requires a public utility, for any smart meter installed by a public utility prior to July 1, 2023, to provide the customer an opportunity to consent to the previous installation. The bill requires a public utility to offer to remove a smart meter without cost to the customer that was installed without obtaining the customer's consent. The bill prohib
  999. SB927 - Health carrier fair business standards; SCC's Bureau of Insurance to evaluate.
       Patron(s): Favola
       Summary: State Corporation Commission; work group; health carrier fair business standards. Directs the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance to convene a work group to develop recommendations for regulatory and legislative changes necessary to improve the process for determining if an insurance carrier has failed to implement minimum fair business standards in the performance of its provider contracts for the prompt payment of claims. The Bureau shall submit a report of the findings and recommendations of the work group by December 1, 2023. This bill is identical to HB 1739.
  999. SB984 - Electric utilities; net metering.
       Patron(s): Mason
       Summary: Electric utilities; net metering. Provides that a contract that provides for the ownership, maintenance, or operation of an electrical generating facility by a third party through a lease agreement with fixed monthly payments does not constitute the sale of electricity and does not cause an eligible customer-generator or the third party that owns, maintains, or operates the electrical generating facility through such a lease agreement to be considered an electric utility. The bill prohibits an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator from being required to provid
  999. SB1003 - Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors.
       Patron(s): DeSteph
       Summary: Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when an otolaryngologist recommends such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The bill prohibits the State Corporation Commission from using any special fund revenues dedicated to the Commission's other
  999. SB1018 - Railroad companies; notice of certain action.
       Patron(s): Edwards
       Summary: Railroad companies; notice of certain action. Requires a railroad company operating in the Commonwealth that submits an application to the federal government for consolidation, merger, abandonment, or discontinuance to notify, in addition to the State Corporation Commission and the Governor, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and the Executive Director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority of such action.
  999. SB1029 - Public utilities; fiber optic broadband lines crossing railroads.
       Patron(s): Stanley
       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. SB1075 - Phase I Utilities; financing for certain deferred fuel costs, biennial reviews, etc.
       Patron(s): Ruff
       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. SB1120 - Virginia Employment Commission; Commissioner shall have authority to issue subpoenas, etc.
       Patron(s): Stanley
       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. SB1121 - Coal mine methane; options to encourage capture & beneficial use.
       Patron(s): Hackworth
       Summary: Coal mine methane; capture and beneficial use; Department of Energy to evaluate policy options; report. States that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to encourage the capture and beneficial use of coal mine methane, defined in the bill. The bill directs the Department of Energy to evaluate policy options to encourage the capture and beneficial use of coal mine methane and submit a report of its findings by November 15, 2023. This bill is identical to HB 1643.
  999. SB1145 - Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act; various changes to Act.
       Patron(s): McPike
       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. SB1153 - Financial institutions; certain investments by banks permitted.
       Patron(s): Lewis
       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. SB1154 - Health insurance; online credentialing system, processing of new applications.
       Patron(s): Mason
       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. SB1157 - Health insurance; coverage for audio-only telehealth services.
       Patron(s): Marsden
       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. SB1166 - Energy planning & electric utility oversight; membership for Com. on Electricity Utility Regulation.
       Patron(s): Surovell
       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. SB1171 - Association health plans; rates based on employer member's risk profile.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       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 HB 2201.
  999. SB1189 - Disability insurance; disability arising out of childbirth.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       Summary: Disability insurance; disability arising out of childbirth. Requires each insurer proposing to issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providing short-term disability income protection coverage whose policies provide coverage for short-term disability arising out of childbirth to, notwithstanding a disability determination or medical necessity requirement, provide for 12 weeks of income protection coverage for a payable benefit of at least 12 weeks immediately following childbirth. The provisions of the bill apply to any such a policy renewed, delivered, or issued fo
  999. SB1208 - Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office; Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to establish.
       Patron(s): Reeves
       Summary: Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority; Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office. Directs the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of establishing a Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office to serve as the official representation of the Commonwealth in Taiwan by promoting and offering services relating to economic development and trade.
  999. SB1261 - Health insurance; electronic prior authorization and disclosure of certain information.
       Patron(s): Dunnavant
       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. SB1273 - Health insurance; coverage for doula care services.
       Patron(s): Boysko
       Summary: Health insurance; doula care services. Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans, and health maintenance organizations whose policy, contract, or plan includes coverage for obstetrical services to provide coverage for doula care services provided by a state-certified doula. The bill requires such coverage to include coverage for at least eight visits during the antepartum or postpartum period and support during labor and delivery. The bill provides that health insurance carriers are (i) not required to pay for duplicate services actually rendered by both a state-certified doula
  999. SB1285 - Health insurance; catastrophic plans.
       Patron(s): Peake
       Summary: Health insurance; catastrophic plans. Authorizes health carriers to offer catastrophic plans on the individual market and to offer such plans to all individuals. The measure provides that a catastrophic plan is deemed to provide an essential health benefits package and to meet certain requirements of federal law. A catastrophic plan is a high-deductible health care plan that provides essential health benefits and coverage for at least three primary care visits per policy year. Under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), as amended, catastrophic plans satisfy re
  999. SB1298 - Liquefied petroleum gas; filling, refilling, or otherwise delivering during qualifying emergency.
       Patron(s): Deeds
       Summary: Filling, refilling, or otherwise delivering liquefied petroleum gas during a qualifying emergency. Provides that when a qualifying emergency, as defined in the bill, is in effect, a residential customer who can demonstrate that he has less than a 24-hour supply of petroleum gas in his liquefied petroleum gas container shall make a good faith effort to procure delivery of liquefied petroleum gas from the owner of the container. If the owner is unable to fulfill the customer's good faith request within 24 hours, the bill allows the customer to have an emergency supplier fill, refill, or otherwis
  999. SB1363 - Registered apprentices; persons 16 yrs. of age or older may serve in barbershop/cosmetology salon.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       Summary: Registered apprentices; children 16 years of age or older; barbershop or cosmetology salon. Permits children 16 years of age or older who are registered apprentices to serve in a barbershop or cosmetology salon licensed by the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology in accordance with the Board's regulations.
  999. SB1364 - Electric utilities; control of smart thermostat prohibited.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       Summary: Electric utilities; control of smart thermostat prohibited. Prohibits an electric utility from making either ad hoc or scheduled adjustments to a customer's smart thermostat, defined in the bill, regardless of whether such adjustment is part of a curtailment or demand response measure, is part of an energy efficiency program, or is otherwise designed to reduce current or anticipated demand.
  999. SB1370 - Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission or distribution lines, adds projects.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       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. SB1417 - Electric utilities; proposed cost recovery, alternative to rate adjustment clause.
       Patron(s): Suetterlein
       Summary: Electric utilities; cost recovery; alternative to rate adjustment clause. Provides that in any proceeding regarding petitions for a rate adjustment clause, the State Corporation Commission may, as an alternative to a rate adjustment clause, authorize recovery of any proposed cost through the utility's rates for generation and distribution services, if the Commission, in its discretion, determines that such cost recovery better serves ratepayers while still providing the utility the opportunity to recover its costs and earn a fair rate of return.
  999. SB1419 - Electric utilities; retail competition, renewable energy.
       Patron(s): Suetterlein
       Summary: Electric utilities; retail competition; renewable energy. Allows individual retail customers of an electric utility to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed supplier. The measure eliminates (i) provisions that prohibit such a purchase from a licensed supplier that is an incumbent electric utility that is not the incumbent electric utility serving the exclusive service territory in which the customer is located and (ii) a condition that permits such purchases only if the electric utility serving the applicable exclusive service territory does not
  999. SB1420 - Business park electric infrastructure program; makes permanent and amends certain provisions.
       Patron(s): Pillion
       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. SB1464 - Virginia Power Innovation Fund and Program; created.
       Patron(s): Vogel
       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 HB 2386.

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