Provides that the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles is limited to reviewing the text of another jurisdiction's law when determining whether a person's driver's license should be administratively revoked or suspended as a result of such person's conviction in the other jurisdiction for an offense substantially similar to an offense under the law of the Commonwealth that requires revocation or suspension of a person's driver's license. The bill also provides that if the Commissioner cannot reasonably determine from the text of the other jurisdiction's law whether such law is substantially similar to the law of the Commonwealth, the Commissioner may, if available, review a certified copy of the final order of the person's conviction in the other jurisdiction. The bill also establishes a process for any person whose driver's license was administratively revoked or suspended prior to July 1, 2017, on the basis of a conviction in another jurisdiction to request a review of such revocation or suspension. The provisions of the act do not apply to any disqualification of eligibility to operate a commercial motor vehicle imposed by the Commissioner pursuant to the Virginia Commercial Driver's License Act.
Sponsored bills
Allows a privately retained counsel in a criminal case to withdraw from representation without leave of court after certification of a charge by a district court by providing written notice within 10 days of the certification to the client, the attorney for the Commonwealth, and the circuit court, provided such withdrawal occurs pursuant to the terms of a written agreement between the attorney and the client. The bill also directs the Judicial Council to review the current process for withdrawal of privately retained counsel in civil cases and submit a report by November 1, 2017, to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice.
Provides that, notwithstanding any voluntary agreement between the U.S. Department of Labor and the franchisee or franchisor, neither a franchisee nor a franchisee's employee shall be deemed to be an employee of the franchisee's franchisor. The measure also provides that this exclusion does not apply with respect to a specific claim for relief made by a franchisee or a franchisee's employee if the franchisor has been found by a court of competent jurisdiction to have exercised a type or degree of control over the franchisee or the franchisee's employees not customarily exercised by a franchisor for the purpose of protecting the franchisor's trademarks and brand.
Increases the grace period after which collection activity for unpaid court fines, costs, forfeitures, penalties, and restitution may be commenced from 30 days to 90 days after sentencing or judgment. The bill also establishes the requirements for deferred or installment payment agreements that a court must offer a defendant who is unable to pay court-ordered fines, costs, forfeitures, and penalties. The bill requires that a court take into account a defendant's financial circumstances, including whether the defendant owes fines and costs to other courts, in setting the terms of a payment agreement, but such decision shall not be based solely on the amount of fines and costs owed. The bill fixes the maximum down payments that a court may require as a condition of entering a payment plan and provides that payments made within 10 days of their due date are timely made. The bill precludes a court from denying a defendant the opportunity to enter into a payment agreement solely because of the crime committed, the total amount owed or that such amount has been referred to collections, any previous default by the defendant or failure to establish a payment history, or the defendant's eligibility for a restricted driver's license. The bill allows all costs and fines owed by a defendant to any one court to be incorporated into one payment agreement and allows a defendant to request a modification of the terms of the agreement, which shall be granted upon a good faith showing of need. The bill requires a court to consider a request by a defendant who has defaulted on a payment agreement to enter into a subsequent agreement and requires the court to fix a down payment for subsequent payment agreements. Finally, the bill provides that the payment agreement includes restitution unless the court has entered a separate order regarding the payment of restitution. This bill is identical to
Requires each school board's procedures for handling challenged controversial instructional materials to include procedures for (i) annually notifying the parent of any student enrolled in a course in which the instructional materials or related academic activities may include sexually explicit content of the potential for such sexually explicit content in such course and (ii) providing, as a replacement for instructional materials or related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional materials or related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill defines "sexually explicit content" as content that involves any criminal sexual assault defined and punishable as a felony under Article 7 (§ 18.2-61 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2 of the Code of Virginia or any act defined and punishable as a felony under § 18.2-361.
Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to establish a program to mitigate, through the use of prepayment analytics, the risk of improper payments to providers of services that are paid through the Department's fee-for-service delivery system who commit fraud, abuse, or errors.
Requires any health benefit plan that is amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2018, that provides coverage for hormonal contraceptives to cover up to a 12-month supply of hormonal contraceptives when dispensed or furnished at one time for a covered person or at a location licensed or otherwise authorized to dispense drugs or supplies. Such a plan is prohibited, in the absence of clinical contraindications, from imposing utilization controls or other forms of medical management limiting the supply of hormonal contraceptives that may be dispensed or furnished by a provider or pharmacy, or at a location licensed or otherwise authorized to dispense drugs or supplies, to an amount that is less than a 12-month supply. The measure does not require a provider to prescribe, furnish, or dispense 12 months of self-administered hormonal contraceptives at one time. The measure also provides that it shall not be construed to exclude coverage for hormonal contraceptives as prescribed by a provider for reasons other than contraceptive purposes, such as decreasing the risk of ovarian cancer or eliminating symptoms of menopause, or for contraception that is necessary to preserve the life or health of an enrollee.
Establishes requirements for the procurement of construction using the construction management and design-build procurement methods by state and local public bodies and covered institutions of higher education, as defined in the bill, and the conditions under which such methods may be used. Public bodies must comply with procedures adopted by the Secretary of Administration for construction management or design-build projects. State public bodies and covered institutions must adopt procedures that include, among other things, a requirement that the state public body or covered institution make a written determination in advance that competitive sealed bidding is not practicable or fiscally advantageous and document the basis for the determination to use the construction management or design-build procurement method. The bill requires the Department of General Services (DGS) to evaluate the proposed procurement method of state public bodies and covered institutions and provide a recommendation regarding the procurement method within five days of receipt of the written determination. If a state public body or covered institution elects to proceed with the project using a construction management or design-build contract despite a DGS recommendation to the contrary, the state public body or covered institution must provide to DGS in writing its reasons for doing so. For local public bodies, construction management contracts may be used for projects whose cost is expected to be less than $10 million, provided that the project is a complex project and the project procurement method is approved by the local governing body. The bill also requires DGS to report to the Governor and certain General Assembly committees annually by December 1 information pertaining to (i) the agency's evaluation of projects submitted by state public bodies and covered institutions and (ii) all completed capital projects in excess of $2 million. This bill is identical to
Authorizes Virginia to become a signatory to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission Interstate Compact. The compact establishes a state safety oversight authority for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Rail System, pursuant to the mandate of federal law, to review, approve, oversee, and enforce the safety of the WMATA Rail System. The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to negotiate, on the Commonwealth's behalf, the terms for revision of the WMATA Compact with the other signatories to the WMATA Compact. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Changes the effective date for the creation of the ABC Authority from July 1, 2018, to January 15, 2018. The bill creates a transition period from January 15, 2018, until December 31, 2018, during which time the current Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will coexist with the ABC Authority to facilitate an orderly and efficient transition and to ensure the continuation of operations during the transition. The bill provides that during the transition period the current ABC Board will be the Board of Directors of the ABC Authority. The bill grants to the ABC Authority the authority to implement and maintain independent payroll and nonpayroll disbursement systems, which are subject to review and approval by the State Comptroller and which include travel reimbursements, revenue refunds, disbursements for vendor payments, petty cash, and interagency payments. The bill also (i) streamlines the suspension and revocation process to encourage settlement of cases before reaching the appeal level to the Board of Directors, (ii) exempts the ABC Authority from mandatory procurement provisions, and (iii) authorizes the Board of Directors to delegate or assign to any officer or employee of the ABC Authority any duties or tasks required to be performed by the ABC Authority but provides that the Board of Directors remains responsible for the performance of any such duties or tasks. The bill contains numerous technical amendments.