Del. Hugo summarizes legislation that has passed House of Delegates

We have recently reached the mid-point of the 2015 legislative session, known as crossover. At this time I would like to brief you on several of the actions taken by the General Assembly and some initiatives of my own. These are a few measures I believe to be of particular importance to Virginia’s 40th District in Western Fairfax and Prince William counties.

HB 1400 (Budget Bill) - The House has brought forward a fiscally responsible budget that sets aside $99.5 million for the state’s rainy day fund, eliminates $42.5 million in debt and $10.2 million in fees proposed by Governor McAuliffe, and rejects Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, while strengthening existing safety net programs for those in need.

We have come together on both sides of the aisle to pass bills that prioritize transportation needs around the Commonwealth.

HB 1887 (Jones) – Streamlines and reforms the transportation funding allocation formula. Under this legislation 40% of funding will be spent to fix bridges and pavements, 30% will be sent to local districts for local projects, and 30% will be spent on key statewide needs. Status: Passed House 96-2.

HB 1470 (LaRock) – Eliminates the exemption for transit projects, requiring transit projects funded by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to be evaluated on the same performance-based standard as all other transportation projects. Status: Passed House 97-0.

HB 1662 (Rust/Hugo) – Provides a long-term regulatory framework that will ensure that Transportation Network Companies such as Uber and Lyft continue to thrive in the Commonwealth. Provides for licensing, background checks, and insurance of drivers, as well as the rights of riders and provides for DMV oversight of these new and innovative ways that Virginians are getting from place to place. Status: Passed House 67-28, Passed Senate 36-0-2, on Governor’s Desk

This year we have put particular focus on helping our veterans. We have secured funding for the building of two new veterans care centers in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

HB 1275 & 1276 (Cox) – Provides $32.5 million in previously-authorized state funding for the construction of a Veterans Care Center in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Status: Both Passed the House 99-0.

Regarding education, we are taking important steps to continue to attract and retain the best teachers available for Virginia schools, helping technical students be better prepared to enter the job market, and unburdening school systems from unreasonable regulation. Below are a few examples of commonsense measures that the House has passed.

Teacher Pay Raise – The House budget includes $55 million in state funding for a 1.5 percent teacher pay raise. This is the second teacher pay raise offered by the General Assembly in three years.

HB 1307 & 1334 (Landes) – Creates additional safeguards to protect the privacy of student information. HB 1307 prohibits the collection of student social security numbers. HB 1334 requires the Department of Education to develop uniform policies related to the collection, storage and use of student’s personally-identifiable information. Status: Passed House 98-0.

HB 1336 (Landes) – Requires the State Council of Higher Education to develop a standardized system for granting college credits to students who have successfully completed one or more Advanced Placement, Cambridge Advanced (A/AS), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) or International Baccalaureate courses. Status: Passed House 95-3.

HB 2238 (LaRock) – Creates Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts for eligible special-needs students. The Education Savings Accounts would be administered by local governments. Qualified students would receive 90 percent of the state’s share of funding, which could be accessed through a debit card to use on educational expenses. Status: Passed House 62-38.

We have also continued our work to make the Commonwealth’s higher education system more available to Virginians. Virginia has world class universities and colleges, and working to make sure that more of our citizens have the opportunity to afford an education here is a high priority.

HB 1897 (Cox) – Caps the student athletic fees that colleges and universities may charge as a percentage of overall athletic revenue. The caps are applied differently to Virginia’s Division I, Division II and Division III schools. Institutions will have five years to incrementally reduce these fees. Status: Passed House 97-0.

HB 1895 (Rush) – Gives public, four year, higher education institutions in Virginia an incentive to offer a “Flat-Fee Degree” or discounted tuition and reduced fees for students seeking degrees that prepare them for employment in high-demand fields. Status: Passed House 96-0.

HB 2320 (Cline) - Establishes a degree program whereby an undergraduate student in Virginia may complete, through the use of online, community college, or public or private college or university courses, the course credit requirements to receive a bachelor’s degree at a tuition cost not to exceed $4,000 per academic year, or a total of $16,000. Status: Passed House 98-0.

HB 1400 (Budget Bill) – The House budget proposal includes $19.8 million targeted to additional enrollment slots at Virginia schools and to increasing graduation rates. The budget proposal continues to build on the 2011 “Top Jobs of the 21st Century” legislation, which mapped out a plan to increase access to higher education in Virginia and to hold down costs for families.

As the national discussion on campuses’ response to sexual assault continues, we have passed measures that will protect our students and help justice be served in instances of alleged sexual assault. We must make it clear that there will be no tolerance for these crimes on the campuses of our colleges and universities. We have worked together in the House to strengthen reporting requirements and put in place safeguards that ensure that any reported assault is brought to the attention of law enforcement.

HB 1930 (R.Bell) – Requires colleges to provide independent counseling services to victims and to inform them of all their legal options, requires mandatory reporting of sexual assaults where necessary to protect the health or safety of the public, and requires that all cases be confidentially reviewed by a team that includes law enforcement. Status: Passed House 97-3.

HB 1785 (Massie) – Requires that mutual aid agreements between a campus police force and a law-enforcement agency contain provisions requiring campus police to notify the local Commonwealth’s Attorney within 48 hours of any investigation involving felony criminal sexual assault occurring on campus property or other property related to the institution of higher education that is victim-initiated or is required to be reported to the campus community. Status: Passed House 100-0.

Finally, I would like to inform you about some of the measures that I have brought to the House of Delegates. These include: helping increase transparency in higher education, addressing the needs of the families of our first responders who have died in the line of duty, and strengthening Virginia’s laws against sex traffickers.

HB 1980 - Requires each four-year public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to maintain information on its website related to undergraduate retention and graduation rates, tuition and mandatory student fee increases, the use of student fees, postsecondary education and employment, and the institution’s finances. Status: Passed House 98-0.

HB 1964 – Establishes Virginia’s first standalone sex-trafficking offense statute and provides that any person who engages in human sex trafficking is guilty of a Class 5 felony. The new crime was added to the definition of violent felony for many purposes. They include separate sentencing guidelines, obtaining a multi-jurisdictional grand jury, carrying out asset forfeiture, and if a minor is solicited, the Sex Offender Registry. Status: Passed House 100-0.

HJ 597 – The First Resolution of a constitutional amendment in Virginia which would exempt the spouses of first responders who are killed in the line of duty from real personal property taxes. Status: Passed House 97-0.

HB 2267 - Creates the Virginia Solar Energy Development Authority to facilitate, coordinate, and support the development of the solar energy industry and solar-powered electric energy facilities in the Commonwealth. Status: Passed House 80-19-1.

HB 1741 - Extends incentives to invest in high tech companies in Virginia, attracting more innovative companies to start and stay here in the Commonwealth. Status: Passed House 98-0, Passed Senate 36-0.

Hugo may be reached for more information at (703) 815-1201 or at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).