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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2020 SESSION
Chair: Richard L. Saslaw
Date of Meeting: January 13, 2020
Time and Place: 15 minutes after adjournment of the Senate / Senate Room A
Patron: Saslaw
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop the cancer. The measure removes the compensability requirement that the employee who develops cancer had contact with a toxic substance encountered in the line of duty.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers.20100504D
Patron: Cosgrove
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters or certain employees develop the cancer. The measure removes the compensability requirement that the employee who develops cancer had contact with a toxic substance encountered in the line of duty.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers.20100466D
Patron: Suetterlein
Health insurance; catastrophic health 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 requirements that health benefit plans provide minimum levels of coverage only if they cover individuals who are younger than 30 years of age or who qualify for a hardship exemption or affordability exemption. The measure requires the Commissioner of Insurance to apply to the federal government for a state innovation waiver allowing the implementation of the provision allowing catastrophic plans to be offered on the individual market to all individuals. The provision will become effective 30 days after the Commissioner notifies certain persons that the request has been approved.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 38.2-3446.1, relating to health insurance; catastrophic plans.20102858D
Patron: Chafin
Insurance licensing and registration renewal. Makes changes related to the renewal of insurance agents' licensure and registration renewal. In 2019, legislation was enacted that becomes effective January 1, 2021, to change the licensing and registration renewal cycles for agents, public adjusters, and others to a new cycle based on both month and year with biennial renewal. This bill removes references in the current law to biennial renewal, removes a requirement in the law as it will become effective that limited lines agents renew their licenses before May 1, 2021, and adds a requirement in the law as it will become effective that certain settlement agents renew their registrations before May 1, 2021.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 38.2-1845.2, as it is currently effective, 38.2-1845.8, as it is currently effective, 38.2-1845.9, as it is currently effective, 38.2-1888, as it shall become effective, and 55.1-1014, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, relating to biennial insurance licensing and registration.20101598D
Patron: Chafin
Department of Human Resources Management; health insurance for local school board employees. Allows local school boards to elect to have all of their employees and retirees, as well as the dependents of such employees and retirees, be eligible to participate in the state employee health insurance plan in lieu of the current state-administered local health insurance plan. Any participating local school board shall be responsible for whatever portion of the cost of such insurance is not paid by the employee, except any portion that the General Assembly elects to pay.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 2.2-1204 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Department of Human Resource Management; health insurance program for school division employees.20103692D
Patron: Edwards
Medicare supplement policies for certain individuals under age 65. Requires insurers issuing Medicare supplement policies in the Commonwealth to offer the opportunity of enrolling in a Medicare supplement policy to any individual under age 65 who resides in the Commonwealth, is enrolled in Medicare Part B, and is eligible for Medicare by reason of disability. The provisions of the measure are applicable to health plans and health maintenance organizations.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 38.2-4214 and 38.2-4319 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 36 of Title 38.2 a section numbered 38.2-3610, relating to Medicare supplement policies for certain individuals under age 65.20100980D
Patron: Edwards
Pharmacy benefits managers; licensure and regulation. Provides that, beginning January 1, 2021, no person is authorized to provide pharmacy benefits management services or otherwise act as a pharmacy benefits manager without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission. Such licenses are to be renewed annually. The bill also imposes recordkeeping and reporting requirements and provides that information or data acquired therefrom is considered proprietary and confidential and is not subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 34 of Title 38.2 an article numbered 9, consisting of sections numbered 38.2-3465, 38.2-3466, and 38.2-3467, relating to pharmacy benefits managers; licensure and regulation.20101086D
Patron: Edwards
Pharmacy benefit managers; licensure and regulation. Provides that, beginning January 1, 2021, no person is authorized to provide pharmacy benefit management services or otherwise act as a pharmacy benefit manager without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission. Such licenses are to be renewed annually. The bill prohibits a pharmacy benefit manager from participating in spread pricing, defined in the bill, and provides that except for any agreed-upon administrative fee, all funds, including any rebates received by the pharmacy benefit manager in relation to providing pharmacy benefit management services for a carrier, will be distributed to the carrier.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 34 of Title 38.2 an article numbered 9, consisting of sections numbered 38.2-3465 through 38.2-3467, relating to pharmacy benefit managers; licensure and regulation.20101087D
Patron: Bell
Workers' compensation; occupational disease presumptions. Adds correctional officers and full-time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles to the list of public safety employees who are entitled to presumptions that hypertension, heart disease, and certain infectious diseases are occupational diseases compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 65.2-402 and 65.2-402.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases.20102384D
Patron: Barker
Health insurance; mental health parity; required report. Codifies an existing requirement that the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance (the Bureau) make an annual report regarding claims information for mental health and substance use disorder benefits. The bill adds information regarding network adequacy to such report and requires the Bureau to submit the report to the House Committee on Commerce and Labor and the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor by September 1 of each year. The bill directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to conduct a third-party review of the Bureau's report. The bill requires JLARC, in conducting its review, to examine the information compiled by the Bureau from 2017 through 2020 and any other information it deems relevant and to report (i) its findings regarding mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits parity with medical and surgical benefits and access to mental health and substance abuse disorder services and (ii) its recommendations, if any, to the House Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the Twenty-First Century by December 1, 2020.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 38.2-3412.1 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal the third enactment of Chapter 649 of the Acts of Assembly of 2015, relating to health insurance; mental health parity; required report.20103378D
Patron: Stanley
Utility easements. Provides that any utility easement, granted before, on, or after July 1, 2020, whether granted publicly or privately, by statute, local ordinance, deed, or other recorded instrument, or by prescription, shall be deemed to include the laying, hanging, and maintenance of fiber optic cable. The bill further provides that any utility easement shall also be deemed to include access over private or public lands to permit the grantee to have physical access to such cable, unless the instrument granting the easement was recorded prior to July 1, 2020, and specifically states otherwise.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to utility easements.20100783D
Patron: Bell
Workers' compensation; occupational disease presumptions. Adds correctional officers and full-time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles to the list of public safety employees who are entitled to a presumption that certain infectious diseases are compensable occupational diseases.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases.20104974D
Patron: Dunnavant
JLARC; association health plans for the individual market; review. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), as part of its review and evaluation of the agencies and programs under the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to examine and review the implications of the establishment, implementation, and administration of a program, to be known as the Commonwealth Care Health Benefits Program (the Program), under which a division of the State Corporation Commission (the Commission), or nonprofit corporation established by the Commission, will be the sponsor of association health plans through which it will sell individual health insurance coverage in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that JLARC shall request and consider information and input from the Commission's Bureau of Insurance and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. The bill provides that elements of the Program to be reviewed and examined by JLARC shall include the following: (i) implementation of the Program would be contingent on the approval of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services of a state innovation waiver under § 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); (ii) the Commission will retain staff sufficient to establish and implement the Program; (iii) the Program will arrange for a number of third-party administrators, sufficient to ensure competition but in no event fewer than two; (iv) the Program will design and implement health plans that are comparable those currently sold through the federal exchange; (v) the covered benefits provided under a plan offered through the Program would provide coverage that a large group plan or association health plan subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is required to provide so long as one or more health plans provide additional benefits as may be required to provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as plans currently offered on the exchange pursuant to the ACA or otherwise to comply with the Guardrail requirements of the ACA; (vi) the Program will address the establishment of a reinsurance program; (vii) health plan premiums for individuals with a household income between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be subsidized; (viii) the Program will offer a cost-sharing reduction feature that removes disincentives to Program participation by low-income individuals who are enrolled in the Medicaid program; (ix) individuals will still be able to purchase individual health insurance coverage outside of the Program; (x) premiums for the plans offered through the Program will be set by the third-party administrators, subject to approval by the Commission with assistance of qualified actuaries; (xi) the Program would be designed and operated in order to ensure that any shortfall in revenues is addressed by the reinsurance program and by self-funding a reserve that is determined by the Corporation's actuary to be adequate, and (xii) the Program will include premium incentives for compliance with wellness or chronic disease management benefit programs. The bill requires JLARC to report its findings and conclusions to the Joint Committee for Health and Human Resources Oversight.
A BILL to review the implications of establishing association health plans for the individual market; state innovation waiver.20101921D
Patron: McPike
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop the cancer. The measure also incorporates some of the recommendations of the 2019 study of the workers' compensation system and disease presumptions conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission by (i) reducing the required number of years of service from 12 to five; (ii) removing the requirement that the employee's years of service be continuous; and (iii) providing that an eligible employee may meet the toxic exposure requirement by demonstrating either exposure to a toxic substance, as is currently required, or participation in responses to fire scenes, either during the fire or afterward as part of clean-up or investigation. The measure also removes the definition of a "toxic substance" as one that is a known or suspected carcinogen as defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers.20105047D
Patron: Hashmi
Health insurance; short-term limited-duration medical plans. Prohibits carriers from issuing in the Commonwealth any short-term limited-duration medical plan with a duration that exceeds three months or that can be renewed or extended, or if the plan's issuance would result in a covered person being covered by a short-term limited-duration medical plan for more than three months in any 12-month period. The measure prohibits a carrier from issuing a short-term limited-duration medical plan during an annual open enrollment period. The measure also requires carriers to rebate premiums from short-term limited-duration medical plans when the medical loss ratio for such plans is less than 85 percent.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1 of Chapter 34 of Title 38.2 a section numbered 38.2-3407.21, relating to health insurance; short-term limited-duration medical plans.20102773D
Patron: DeSteph
Health plans; calculation of enrollee's contribution to out-of-pocket maximum or cost-sharing requirement; rebates. Requires any carrier issuing a health plan in the Commonwealth to count the amount of any rebates received or to be received by the carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager in connection with the dispensing or administration of a prescription drug when calculating the enrollee's overall contribution to any out-of-pocket maximum or any cost-sharing requirement under the carrier's health plan.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 38.2-3407.20 of the Code of Virginia, relating to health plans; calculation of enrollee's contribution to out-of-pocket maximum or cost-sharing requirement; rebates.20102635D
Patron: Reeves
Utility easements; encroachments. Declares that the damages to which a provider of utility services is entitled when the owner of the servient tract improves, occupies, or otherwise encroaches on an easement in which the provider has utility facilities shall be determined only on the basis of (i) any reduction in the value of such easement as a result of such construction, occupation, or other encroachment and (ii) the additional costs reasonably anticipated to be incurred by the entity in its provision of utility services. If the owner of the servient tract and the provider are unable to agree upon the appropriate amount of damages, either party may request the State Corporation Commission to determine the amount.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to utility easements; damages from encroachments.20102331D
Patron: Vogel
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters and certain employees develop the cancer. The measure removes the compensability requirement that the employee who develops cancer had contact with a toxic substance encountered in the line of duty. The measure also removes the definition of a toxic substance as a known or suspected carcinogen, as defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, that causes or is suspected to cause specific types of cancers for which the presumption of compensability exists.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain cancers.20102297D
Patron: Peake
Utility easements; broadband or other communications services. Declares that it is policy of the Commonwealth that (i) existing or future easements for the location and use of electric facilities be used to provide or expand broadband or other communications services; (ii) such use of such easements is in the public interest; (iii) the use of such easements for the provision of broadband or other communications services, where no additional poles are erected, does not constitute a change in the physical use of the easement, interfere with or impair any vested rights of the owner or occupier of the servient estate, nor does it place any additional burden on the servient estate; and (iv) the installation and operation of broadband or other communications services within an existing or future electric easement are merely changes in the manner, purpose, or degree of the granted use as appropriate to accommodate a new technology. The measure also establishes that in the absence of any express prohibition on the installation and operation of broadband services in an existing electric easement, the installation and operation of broadband services within the existing electric easement shall be deemed as a matter of law to be permitted uses within the scope of every easement for the location and use of electricity facilities. The measure also limits the damages that a landowner may be awarded in any trespass action against a public utility or a broadband service provider or any of its employees, agents, officers, attorneys, directors, representatives, or contractors arising from the installation, maintenance, or operation of any utility poles, wires, conduit, or other infrastructure or fiber optic cabling to the lesser of actual damages or $2,000 per tract of land.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the use of electric utility easements to provide communications services.20104755D
Patron: Vogel
Workers' compensation; post-traumatic stress disorder; law-enforcement officers and firefighters. Provides that post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter is compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act if a mental health professional examines a law-enforcement officer or firefighter and diagnoses the individual as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the individual's undergoing a qualifying event, which includes an event occurring in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2020, in which a law-enforcement officer or firefighter views a deceased minor, witnesses the death of a person or an incident involving the death of a person, witnesses an injury to a person who subsequently dies, has physical contact with and treats an injured person who subsequently dies, transports an injured person who subsequently dies, or witnesses a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent disfigurement of the victim. Other conditions for compensability include (i) if the post-traumatic stress disorder resulted from the law-enforcement officer or firefighter acting in the line of duty and, in the case of a firefighter, such firefighter complied with certain federal Occupational Safety and Health Act standards; (ii) if the law-enforcement officer's or firefighter's undergoing a qualifying event was a substantial factor in causing his post-traumatic stress disorder; (iii) if such qualifying event, and not another event or source of stress, was the primary cause of the post-traumatic stress disorder; and (iv) if the post-traumatic stress disorder did not result from any disciplinary action, work evaluation, job transfer, layoff, demotion, promotion, termination, retirement, or similar action of the officer or firefighter. The measure establishes procedural requirements on employers that contest a claim for such benefits. The measure also establishes requirements for resilience and self-care technique training.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-107, relating to workers' compensation; compensability of post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter.20104533D
Patron: Dunnavant
Health plans; calculation of enrollee's contribution to out-of-pocket maximum or cost-sharing requirement; rebates. Requires any carrier issuing a health plan in the Commonwealth to count the amount of any rebates received or to be received by the carrier or its pharmacy benefits manager in connection with the dispensing or administration of a prescription drug when calculating the enrollee's overall contribution to any out-of-pocket maximum or any cost-sharing requirement under the carrier's health plan.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 38.2-3407.20 of the Code of Virginia, relating to health plans; calculation of enrollee's contribution to out-of-pocket maximum or cost-sharing requirement; rebates.20104282D
Patron: Suetterlein
Public utilities; third-party advertising prohibited. Requires the State Corporation Commission to include in its procedures for public utilities for services not found to be competitive that a public utility is prohibited from (i) sending by mail or electronically to its customers any third-party advertising or other promotional materials or (ii) authorizing a third party to use the public utility's name, logo, or trademarks in advertising or other promotional materials sent by mail or electronically to the public utility's customers.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 56-247.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public utilities; third-party advertising prohibited.20104749D
Patron: Surovell
Alternative and efficient energies; subsidies and rebates. Creates incentive programs relating to the adoption of alternative and efficient energies. The bill establishes the Energy Efficiency Subsidy Program to fund grants to subsidize residential energy efficiency measures and creates a rebate program for purchasers or lessees of certain zero-emissions vehicles.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 15.1 of Title 45.1 an article numbered 3, consisting of sections numbered 45.1-179.12, 45.1-179.13, and 45.1-179.14, and by adding in Chapter 15 of Title 46.2 an article numbered 10, consisting of a section numbered 46.2-1583, relating to alternative and efficient energies; subsidies and rebates.20102581D
Patron: McPike
Workers' compensation; occupation disease presumptions; PTSD. Establishes a presumption that if certain firefighters, law-enforcement officers, hazardous materials officers, animal protection police officers, or 9-1-1 emergency call takers, dispatchers, or similarly situated employees (i) receive a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from a licensed physician, licensed clinical psychologist, licensed professional counselor, or licensed clinical social worker; (ii) suffer death or any impairment resulting in total or partial disability from work caused by the PTSD; and (iii) receive a statement from such a provider that the PTSD was caused by a single critical event or multiple exposures to critical events that occurred in the course of the employment, then the PTSD is an occupational disease, suffered in the line of duty, that is covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act unless such presumption is overcome by a preponderance of competent evidence to the contrary. The measure provides that a "critical event" includes an event that results in serious injury or death to an individual; deals with a minor who has been injured, killed, abused, exploited, or a victim of a crime; deals with mass casualties; results in injury to or the death of a coworker; involves an immediate threat to the life of the claimant or another individual; or involves the abuse, cruelty, injury, exploitation, or death of an animal.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 65.2-402 of the Code of Virginia, relating to workers' compensation; presumption that post-traumatic stress disorder is an occupational disease.20101165D
Patron: Lewis
Utility easements; location of broadband facilities. Declares that it is policy of the Commonwealth that (i) existing easements for the location and use of electric facilities be used to provide or expand broadband services; (ii) such use of existing easements to provide or expand broadband services is in the public interest; (iii) the use of such existing easements for the provision of broadband services, where no additional poles are erected, does not constitute a change in the physical use of the easement, interfere with or impair any vested rights of the owner or occupier of the servient estate, or place any additional burden on the servient estate; and (iv) the installation and operation of broadband services within an existing electric easement are merely changes in the manner, purpose, or degree of the granted use as appropriate to accommodate a new technology. The measure also establishes that in the absence of any express prohibition on the installation and operation of broadband services in an existing electric easement, the installation and operation of broadband services within the existing electric easement shall be deemed as a matter of law to be permitted uses within the scope of every easement for the location and use of electricity facilities. The measure also limits the damages that a landowner may be awarded in any trespass action against a public utility arising from the installation, maintenance, or operation of any utility poles, wires, conduit, or other infrastructure or fiber optic cabling to the lesser of actual damages or $2,000 per landowner bringing a claim.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the use of existing utility easements to provide or expand broadband services.20104980D
Patron: Pillion
Pharmacy benefits managers. Requires pharmacy benefits managers to register with the Commissioner of the Bureau of Insurance. The measure prohibits a carrier on its own or through its contracted pharmacy benefits manager or representative of a pharmacy benefits manager from (i) causing or knowingly permitting the use of any advertisement, promotion, solicitation, representation, proposal, or offer that is untrue, deceptive, or misleading; (ii) charge a pharmacist or pharmacy a fee related to the adjudication of a claim; (iii) engaging, with the express intent or purpose of driving out competition or financially injuring competitors, in a pattern or practice of reimbursing retail community pharmacies or pharmacists in the Commonwealth consistently less than the amount that the pharmacy benefits manager reimburses a pharmacy benefits manager affiliate for providing the same pharmacist services; (iv) collecting or requiring a pharmacy or pharmacist to collect from an insured a copayment for a prescription drug at the point of sale in an amount that exceeds the lesser of the contracted copayment amount, the amount an individual would pay for a prescription drug if that individual was paying cash, or the contracted amount for the drug; (v) reimbursing a pharmacy or pharmacist an amount less than the amount that the pharmacy benefits manager reimburses a pharmacy benefits manager affiliate for providing the same pharmacist services, calculated on a per-unit basis using the same generic product identifier or generic code number and reflecting all drug manufacturer's rebates, direct and indirect administrative fees, and costs and any remuneration; (vi) penalize or give an inducement to a covered individual for the purpose of having the covered individual use a specific retail community pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, or another network pharmacy provider that is a pharmacy benefits manager affiliate; (vii) prohibiting a pharmacist or pharmacy from offering and providing direct and limited delivery services including incidental mailing services, to an insured as an ancillary service of the pharmacy; (viii) charging a fee related to the adjudication of a claim without providing the cause for each adjustment or fee; (ix) steer a covered individual to a pharmacy in which the pharmacy benefit manager maintains an ownership interest or control without making a written disclosure to and receiving acknowledgment from the covered individual; or (x) penalizing or retaliating against a pharmacist or pharmacy for exercising rights provided by this measure. The measure also prohibits a carrier from (a) imposing provider accreditation standards or certification requirements inconsistent with, more stringent than, or in addition to requirements of the Virginia Board of Pharmacy or other state or federal entity; (b) including any mail order pharmacy or pharmacy benefits manager affiliate in calculating or determining network adequacy; or (c) conducting spread pricing in the Commonwealth. The measure requires each carrier to ensure that, before a particular drug is placed or continues to be placed on a Maximum Allowable Cost List, the drug meets certain standards, is available for purchase in the Commonwealth, and is not obsolete. The measure establishes requirements allowing network pharmacy providers to readily access the maximum allowable cost specific to that provider and requires Maximum Allowable Cost Lists to be updated every seven days. The measure requires the establishment of reasonable appeal procedures. The measure also imposes recordkeeping and reporting requirements and provides that information or data acquired therefrom is considered proprietary and confidential and is not subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 34 of Title 38.2 an article numbered 9, consisting of sections numbered 38.2-3465 through 38.2-3471, relating to regulation of pharmacy benefits managers.20104480D
Patron: Cosgrove
Workers' compensation; post-traumatic stress disorder; law-enforcement officers and firefighters. Provides that post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter is compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act if a mental health professional examines a law-enforcement officer or firefighter and diagnoses the individual as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the individual's undergoing a qualifying event, which includes an event occurring in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2020, in which a law-enforcement officer or firefighter views a deceased minor, witnesses the death of a person or an incident involving the death of a person, witnesses an injury to a person who subsequently dies, has physical contact with and treats an injured person who subsequently dies, transports an injured person who subsequently dies, or witnesses a traumatic physical injury that results in the loss of a vital body part or a vital body function that results in permanent disfigurement of the victim. Other conditions for compensability include (i) if the post-traumatic stress disorder resulted from the law-enforcement officer or firefighter acting in the line of duty and, in the case of a firefighter, such firefighter complied with certain federal Occupational Safety and Health Act standards; (ii) if the law-enforcement officer's or firefighter's undergoing a qualifying event was a substantial factor in causing his post-traumatic stress disorder; (iii) if such qualifying event, and not another event or source of stress, was the primary cause of the post-traumatic stress disorder; and (iv) if the post-traumatic stress disorder did not result from any disciplinary action, work evaluation, job transfer, layoff, demotion, promotion, termination, retirement, or similar action of the officer or firefighter. The measure establishes procedural requirements on employers that contest a claim for such benefits. The measure also establishes requirements for resilience and self-care technique training.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-107, relating to workers' compensation; compensability of post-traumatic stress disorder incurred by a law-enforcement officer or firefighter.20105380D