TITLE: Virginia Commerce and Labor (S02) Committee Docket — 2021-01-18
DATE: 2021-01-18T00:00:00
SESSION: 2021 Regular (20211)
CHAMBER: Senate
SOURCE_API: https://lis.virginia.gov/Calendar/api/GetDocketsByIdAsync?docketID=18869
COMMITTEE_PAGE: https://lis.virginia.gov/committee-details?committeeId=23&sessionCode=20211

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

STAFF: Autumn Green, Thomas Stevens

DOCKET / AGENDA:

[Senate Bill in Committee]
  999. SB1159 - Sick leave; use for the care of immediate family members.
       Patron(s): Favola
       Summary: Use sick leave for the care of immediate family members. Requires employers with a sick leave program to allow an employee to use his sick leave for the care of an immediate family member. The measure applies only to employers that have 25 or more employees and that provide paid sick leave that allows an employee to be absent from work in the event of the employee's own incapacity, illness, or injury. The measure applies only to employees who work at least 30 hours per week, and it caps the amount of sick leave that may be used for the care of immediate family members at five days per calendar
  999. SB1182 - Motor vehicle liability insurance; increases coverage amounts.
       Patron(s): Surovell
       Summary: Motor vehicle liability insurance coverage limits. Increases the motor vehicle liability insurance coverage amounts from $25,000 to $30,000 in cases of bodily injury to or death of one person and from $50,000 to $60,000 in cases of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons from any one accident, for policies effective between January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025. For policies effective after January 1, 2025, the bill increases the motor vehicle liability insurance coverage amounts to $50,000 in cases of bodily injury to or death of one person, $100,000 in cases of bodily injury to or de
  999. SB1195 - Motor vehicle insurance; underinsured motor vehicle, uninsured motorist coverage.
       Patron(s): Obenshain
       Summary: Motor vehicle insurance; underinsured motor vehicle. Provides that a policy or contract of bodily injury and property damage liability insurance for the use of a motor vehicle shall contain an endorsement or provisions obligating the insurer to make payment for injury or damage caused by an underinsured vehicle without any credit, set-off, or reduction for the available bodily injury and property damage coverage. The bill provides that a motor vehicle is underinsured when the total amount of bodily injury and property damage coverage applicable to the operation or use of the motor vehicle and 
  999. SB1202 - Uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance policies; bad faith.
       Patron(s): Petersen
       Summary: Uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance policies; bad faith. Provides that if an insurance company denies, refuses, or fails to pay its insured, or refuses a reasonable settlement demand within the policy's coverage limits, for a claim for uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits within a reasonable time after being presented with a demand for such benefits and it is subsequently found that such denial, refusal, or failure was not in good faith, then the insurance company is liable to the insured for the full amount of the judgment and reasonable attorney fees, expenses, and interest.
  999. SB1219 - Paid family and medical leave; SCC's Bureau of Insurance to review and make recommendations, report.
       Patron(s): Favola
       Summary: Bureau of Insurance; paid family leave; report. Directs the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance (the Bureau) to review and make policy recommendations to meet the goals identified in the "Paid Family and Medical Leave Study" published by the Offices of the Secretary of Commerce and Trade and the Chief Workforce Development Advisor in September 2020 as part of a statewide paid family and medical leave program to be administered by the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Bureau to convene a stakeholder group to participate in the process, which is required to include representativ
  999. SB1225 - Broadband services; school boards to appropriate funds for expansion of services for education.
       Patron(s): Boysko
       Summary: Broadband services; education. Authorizes school boards to appropriate funds for the purposes of promoting, facilitating, and encouraging the expansion and operation of broadband services for educational purposes. The bill authorizes school boards to partner with private broadband service providers to promote, implement, and subsidize broadband for educational purposes to the households of students who would qualify for (i) a child nutrition program or (ii) any other program recognized or adopted by the local school board as a measuring standard to identify at-risk students.
  999. SB1228 - Virginia Equal Pay Act; civil penalties.
       Patron(s): Boysko
       Summary: Virginia Equal Pay Act; civil penalties. Prohibits public and private employers from discriminating between employees on the basis of membership in a protected class in the payment of wages or other compensation, including benefits, by paying wages or other compensation to employees who are members of a protected class at a rate less than the rate at which it pays wages or other compensation to employees who are not members of the protected class for substantially similar work. The measure also prohibits an employer from discriminating between employees by providing less favorable employment o
  999. SB1255 - SCC; issuance or renewal of insurance licenses or registrations during an emergency.
       Patron(s): Mason
       Summary: State Corporation Commission; issuance or renewal of insurance licenses or registrations during an emergency. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission to temporarily suspend, authorize extensions of time, or waive requirements for the issuance or renewal of licenses or registrations related to insurance in the event of an emergency.
  999. SB1269 - Health insurance; authorization of drug prescribed for the treatment of a mental disorder.
       Patron(s): McPike
       Summary: Health insurance; authorization of drug prescribed for the treatment of a mental disorder. Requires that any provider contract between a carrier and a participating health care provider with prescriptive authority, or its contracting agent, contain provisions that require, when a carrier has previously approved prior authorization for any drug prescribed for the treatment of a mental disorder listed in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, no additional prior authorization can be required if (i) t
  999. SB1276 - Essential health benefits; abortion coverage.
       Patron(s): McClellan
       Summary: Essential health benefits; abortion coverage. Removes the prohibition on the provision of coverage for abortions in any qualified health insurance plan that is sold or offered for sale through a health benefits exchange established or operating in Virginia.
  999. SB1289 - Health insurance; carrier business practices, etc.
       Patron(s): Surovell
       Summary: Health insurance; provider contracts. Requires that each provider contract include a provision prohibiting a provider from discriminating against any enrollee solely due to the enrollee's status as a litigant in pending litigation or a potential litigant due to being involved in a motor vehicle accident. The bill provides that the State Corporation Commission, if it has cause to believe that a provider has engaged in a pattern of such discrimination, may submit information to the Board of Medicine or the Commissioner of Health for action.
  999. SB1310 - Virginia Human Rights Act; application of laws applicable to employee safety and payment of wages.
       Patron(s): McClellan
       Summary: Employment; domestic service; Virginia Human Rights Act. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws and laws regarding the payment of wages. The measure also provides that the prohibitions on nondiscrimination in employment of the Virginia Human Rights Act apply to employers that employ one or more domestic workers.
  999. SB1330 - Paid family and medical leave program; Virginia Employment Commission to establish.
       Patron(s): Boysko
       Summary: Paid family and medical leave program. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January 1, 2024. Under the program, benefits are paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning in 2023. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewid
  999. SB1341 - Health insurance; association health plan for real estate salespersons.
       Patron(s): Barker
       Summary: Health insurance; association health plan for real estate salespersons. Provides that a licensed insurer may issue a policy of group accident and sickness insurance to an association of real estate salespersons (association), which association shall be deemed the policyholder, and that such association health plan is not considered to be insurance and is not subject to the existing requirements for insurance if certain requirements are met. The bill requires that (i) all members of the association be eligible for coverage and membership, including employer members with at least one employee th
  999. SB1358 - Employment health and safety standards; heat illness prevention.
       Patron(s): Hashmi
       Summary: Employment health and safety standards; heat illness prevention. Requires the Safety and Health Codes Board to adopt regulations establishing standards designed to protect employees from heat illness, defined in the bill. The measure authorizes an employee to bring an action based on a violation of such standards in which injunctive relief and monetary damages may be sought.