Home care organizations; licensure. Provides that no license to establish or operate a home care organization shall be issued or renewed until such time as all existing home care organizations have been inspected. The bill also prohibits a home care organization from maintaining its office in a private residence or virtual office.
State Board of Health; permanent pump and haul of sewage; agritourism. Requires the State Board of Health to amend regulations to exempt the pumping and hauling of sewage associated with an agritourism activity from the prohibition on pumping and hauling sewage on a permanent basis unless done under the auspices and supervision of a government entity.
Kei vehicles; operation and requirements. Prohibits kei vehicles, as defined in the bill, from being operated on any limited access highway, interstate highway, or highway with a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour or more. The bill provides for the licensing and registration of kei vehicles by the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill prohibits localities from placing certain restrictions on kei vehicles and prohibits the imposition of liability for motor vehicle dealers for any damages that are directly or indirectly attributable to the sale of a kei vehicle that was not manufactured in accordance with federal safety standards. The bill directs the State Air Pollution Control Board to develop and adopt emissions inspection standards for kei vehicles and directs the Superintendent of State Police to promulgate any regulations necessary for conducting safety inspections of kei vehicles.
Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity; Virginia Public Procurement Act; definition of "small business"; direct procurement; set-asides. Amends the definition of "small business," for purposes of provisions related to the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and the Virginia Public Procurement Act, to mean a business that is at least 51 percent independently owned and controlled by one or more individuals, or in the case of a cooperative association, 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 50 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $5 million or less averaged over the previous three years and for which the individual owners do not have a combined net worth exceeding $1.5 million. Current law defines a small business as such, but with 250 or fewer employees and average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years, with no limit on the combined net worth of individual owners. The bill allows any public body to directly solicit or award a contract of less than $200,000 to a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business, or to a business identified by a public body as a service disabled veteran-owned or military family-owned business, without engaging in the competitive sealed bidding or competitive negotiation process. The bill also provides that purchases made by a public body for goods, services, and construction up to $100,000 that are not directly awarded shall be set aside for award to small businesses.
Reports of fetal death; miscarriage; personally identifiable information not required. Provides that any fetal death report relating to a miscarriage shall not include a patient's name or any other personally identifiable information. The bill further directs the Department of Health to update its regulations in accordance with the provisions of the bill.
Electric utilities; small portable solar generation devices; local regulation; Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Permits any electric utility customer to own and operate a small portable solar generation device, defined in the bill as a nationally certified, plug-in solar photovoltaic device with a maximum power output of no more than 1,200 watts that is intended primarily to offset part of the customer's electricity consumption. The bill prohibits an investor-owned utility, municipal utility, or electric cooperative from imposing interconnection requirements, charging any fee related to the device, or requiring that the customer obtain the utility's approval before installing or using the device. Under the bill, no electric utility or electric cooperative shall be liable for damage or injury caused by a small portable solar generation device. Small portable solar generation devices are excluded under the bill from the provisions of net metering programs applicable to eligible agricultural customer-generators, eligible customer-generators, or small agricultural generating facilities. The bill also restricts landlords owning more than four rental dwelling units from prohibiting a tenant from installing a small portable solar generation device on the exterior of the tenant's premises, provided that reasonable restrictions may be established concerning size, manner, and placement.
Tow truck drivers; temporary registration. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to offer a temporary registration or driver authorization document to tow truck drivers that is effective upon submission of an application for registration and that expires upon issuance or denial of permanent registration. Under current law, the Department is authorized, but not required, to offer such temporary registration or driver authorization document.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; definitions; meetings; quorum and electronic communication. Amends the definition of "meeting" for purposes of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act such that any assemblage of a quorum of the constituent membership of a public body constitutes a meeting. Under current law, as many as three members or a quorum, if less than three, of the constituent membership of a public body constitutes a meeting. The bill additionally authorizes members of a public body participating through electronic communication in a meeting in which other members are participating in person to count toward the quorum as if the individual were physically present, should such member's physical absence be due to an approved cause of absence.
Electric utilities; small portable solar generation devices. Permits any electric utility customer to own and operate a small portable solar generation device, defined in the bill as a nationally certified, plug-in solar photovoltaic device with a maximum power output of no more than 1,200 watts at a single premise that is not designed to be interconnected with the electric grid and is intended primarily to offset part of the customer's electricity consumption. The bill prohibits an investor-owned utility, municipal utility, or electric cooperative from imposing interconnection requirements, charging any fee related to the device, or requiring that the customer obtain the utility's approval before installing or using the device. Under the bill, no electric utility or electric cooperative shall be liable for damage or injury caused by a small portable solar generation device.
Public utilities; reopening rate case in certain instances. Provides that if an application is filed with the State Corporation Commission for approval of the acquisition or disposition of control involving a public utility and such application is filed within 24 months after the entry of a final order in a rate increase proceeding, the Commission may, on its own initiative or upon petition of any interested person, reopen such rate increase proceeding.
Local rent stabilization authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt rent stabilization provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under rent stabilization may be required to give up to a two-month written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's rent stabilization allowance, described in the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent during any 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for the region in which the locality sits, states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to annually by June 1 publish such allowance on its website. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from any such ordinance. The bill also requires such ordinance to provide a procedure by which a landlord may apply for an exemption from the rent stabilization provisions in situations where the net operating income generated by the rental facility has not been maintained due to escalating operating expenses or for other appropriate reasons as established by the locality. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in the ordinance that shall not exceed $2,500 per separate violation.
Alcoholic beverage control; special events; mixed beverage caterer's licenses. Expands the definition of "special event" used in the context of alcoholic beverage control to include events where a duly organized nonprofit corporation or association is engaged to be the concession operator entitled to the net proceeds from the sale of alcoholic beverages for such event. The bill also allows mixed beverage caterers' licenses to be granted to a person regularly engaged in the business of providing food and beverages to others for service at cultural or sporting events sponsored by a locality, destination marketing organization, or regional attractions marketing agency.
