Del. R. Steven Landes, (R-Weyers Cave) today highlighted his legislation that has been passed in the House of Delegates and now stands before the Virginia State Senate for consideration. All but two of the bills patroned by Landes advanced to the Senate.
“I am pleased to say the vast majority of the bills I introduced were passed by the House of Delegates and have moved to the Senate for consideration,” Landes said. “The legislation I have carried promotes economic development, fosters education innovations, and increases healthcare choice, access and affordability. In addition to these bills, I am proud of my work on the proposed House budget, which is conservative, responsible and structurally balanced. It invests in core government functions and key priorities, while protecting the Commonwealth’s taxpayers,” noted Landes.
The following pieces of legislation have been passed by the Virginia House of Delegates and are before the Virginia State Senate for consideration:
- House Bill 514, Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund; wild fish and shellfish, clarifies that commercially-harvested wild fish and commercially-harvested wild shellfish are included within the definition of “agricultural products.”
- House Bill 515, Higher Educational Institutions; Institutional 6-Year Plan, Economic Development, Report, requires each public institution of higher education to annually report to the Governor and the General Assembly on the institution’s active contributions to efforts to stimulate the economic development of the Commonwealth, the area in which the institution is located, and, for those institutions subject to a management agreement, the areas that lag the Commonwealth in terms of income, employment, and other factors.
- House Bill 516, Board of Education; policy on sexually explicit instructional material, requires the Board of Education to establish a policy on sexually explicit materials for public elementary and secondary schools.
- House Bill 517, Warrantless arrest; certain cases, allows a law-enforcement officer to make warrantless arrests for misdemeanors not committed in the officer’s presence involving reckless handling of a firearm; trespass on property where hunting, trapping, or fishing has been prohibited; or killing deer by use of certain lights when any such arrest is based on probable cause upon personal investigation.
- House Bill 685, Direct primary care agreements, defines direct primary care in the Code; sets forth conditions under which doctors may enter into agreements with patients; outlines consumer protections and disclaimers that these direct primary care practices must provide for patients stating clearly that an agreement is not insurance; prohibits doctors from double billing with third party payers for services outlined in the agreement; and establishes that agreements alone do not constitute insurance and that patients still need insurance to cover health care services not provided for in the agreement, such as hospitalizations and specialty care.
- House Bill 832, Vacancies in constitutional offices; special elections, allows the governing body of a county or city in which a vacancy in a constitutional office has occurred to request in its petition for a writ of election that the circuit court order the special election to be held at the next ensuing general election and allows the court to issue such writ. The bill also authorizes the governing body to petition the circuit court to request that no special election be ordered when the vacancy occurs within the 12 months immediately preceding the end of the term of that office and requires the court to grant such a request. The bill also contains technical amendments.
- House Bill 858, Virginia International Trade Corporation, establishes the Virginia International Trade Authority to promote international trade in the Commonwealth by coordinating private and public efforts to stimulate the international trade segment of the state’s economy and marketing products and services. The bill also requires the Authority to provide to the General Assembly by November 1, 2016, a plan for the establishment of a coalition of organizations providing international trade programs and services in the Commonwealth.
- House Bill 859, Sales and use tax exemption; beer-making equipment, provides a sales and use tax exemption for machinery, tools, equipment, and materials used in the commercial production of beer and materials such as labels and boxes for future use in packaging the beer for shipment or sale.
- House Bill 904 Alcoholic beverage control; limited mixed beverage license for retail cigar shops, creates a new limited mixed beverage license for retail cigar shops. The bill sets out the privileges of this new license, including that the licensee may serve wine, beer, or mixed beverages on the premises to any such bona fide customer. The bill also defines cigar shop and sets out the state and local license taxes for this license.
- House Bill 1044, Prescription Monitoring Program; disclosures, provides the Director of the Department of Health Professions the ability to identify potential misuse of covered substances by recipients and to identify prescribing practices indicative of fraudulent activity.
- House Bill 1303 Governing boards of public institutions of higher education; educational programs for members; member reappointment, prohibits the reappointment of any member of the board of visitors of a four-year public institution of higher education or the State Board for Community Colleges who fails to attend during his first four-year term the statutorily required educational programs provided by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia that address the role, duties, and responsibilities of such governing boards.
- House Joint Resolution 112, Study; future of public elementary and secondary education in the Commonwealth; report, creates a Joint Subcommittee of the House Education Committee and the Senate Education Committee to study the need for revisions to or reorganization of the Standards of Quality with particular emphasis on the effective use of technology; emerging education issues in Virginia; and the future of public elementary and secondary education.
- House Joint Resolution 120 Study; JLARC to study biosolids and industrial residuals; report, directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to analyze scientific literature on the health effects of biosolids and wastes resulting from industrial processes, and evaluate the feasibility of requiring municipal utilities to upgrade their facilities to improve the quality of said materials.
Landes represents the 25th House District, which includes parts of Albemarle, Augusta, and Rockingham Counties. Landes is currently serving his eleventh term in the Virginia House of Delegates.