Bill Text: VA HB1976 | 2021 | 1st Special Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; mission of Authority, membership.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-03-18 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0264) [HB1976 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2021-HB1976-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§32.1-122.7 and 32.1-122.7:1 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§32.1-122.7. Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; purpose.
A. There is hereby created as a public body corporate and as a
political subdivision of the Commonwealth the Virginia Health Workforce
Development Authority (the Authority), with such public and corporate
powers as are set forth in §32.1-122.7:2. The Authority is hereby constituted
as a public instrumentality, exercising public and essential governmental
functions with the power and purpose to provide for the health, welfare,
convenience, knowledge, benefit, and prosperity of the residents of the
Commonwealth and such other persons who might be served by the Authority. The
Authority is being established to move the Commonwealth forward in
achieving its vision of ensuring a quality health workforce for all Virginians.
B. The mission of the Authority is to facilitate the
development of a statewide health professions pipeline that identifies,
educates, recruits, and retains a diverse, appropriately geographically
distributed, and culturally competent quality workforce. The mission of
the Authority is accomplished by: (i) providing the statewide infrastructure
required for health workforce needs assessment and planning that maintains
engagement by health professions training programs in decision making and
program implementation; (ii) serving as the advisory board and setting
priorities for the Virginia Area Health Education Centers Program; (iii)
coordinating with and serving as a resource to relevant state, regional, and
local entities, including the Department of Health Professions Workforce
Data Center, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the Joint
Commission on Health Care, the Southwest Virginia Health Authority, or any
similar regional health authority that may be developed; (iv) informing state
and local policy development as it pertains to health care delivery, training,
and education; (v) identifying and promoting evidence-based strategies for
health workforce pipeline development and interdisciplinary health care service
models, particularly those affecting rural and other underserved areas; (vi)
supporting communities in their health workforce recruitment and retention
efforts and developing partnerships and promoting models of participatory
engagement with business and community-based and social organizations to foster
integration of health care training and education; (vii) advocating for
programs that will result in reducing the debt load of newly trained health
professionals; (viii) identifying high priority target areas within each region
of the Commonwealth and working toward health workforce development initiatives
that improve health measurably in those areas; and (ix) fostering or
creating innovative health workforce development models that provide both
health and economic benefits to the regions they serve; (x) developing
strategies to increase diversity in the health workforce by examining
demographic data on race and ethnicity in training programs and health
professional licensure; (xi) identifying ways to leverage technology to
increase access to health workforce training and health care delivery; and
(xii) developing a centralized health care careers roadmap in partnership with
the Department of Health Professions that includes information on both licensed
and unlicensed professions and that is disseminated to the Commonwealth's
health care workforce stakeholders to raise awareness about available career
pathways.
§32.1-122.7:1. Board of Directors of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority.
The Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority shall be
governed by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall
consist have a total membership of 13 15 members to
be that shall consist of three legislative members, nine nonlegislative
citizen members, and three ex officio members. Members shall be appointed
as follows: two members of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Delegates in accordance with the principles of
proportional representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates;
one member of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules;
seven and nine nonlegislative citizen members, three of whom shall
be representatives of health professional educational or training programs,
three five of whom shall be health professionals or employers or
representatives of health professionals, and one of whom shall be a
representative of community health, to be appointed by the Governor; and the.
The Commissioner of Health or his designee, the Chancellor of the Virginia
Community College System or his designee, and the Director of the Department of
Health Professions or his designee, who shall serve as ex officio
members with voting privileges. Members appointed by the Governor shall be
citizens of the Commonwealth.
Legislative members and state government officials
ex officio members shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office.
All appointments of nonlegislative citizen members shall be for two-year terms
following the initial staggering of terms. Appointments to fill vacancies,
other than by expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired terms.
Legislative and citizen members may be reappointed; however, no citizen member
shall serve more than four consecutive two-year terms. The remainder of any
term to which a member is appointed to fill a vacancy shall not constitute a
term in determining the member's term limit. Vacancies shall be filled in the
same manner as the original appointments.
The Board of Directors shall elect a chairman and
vice-chairman annually from among its legislative members. A majority of
the members of the Board of Directors shall constitute a quorum.
The Board of Directors shall report biennially on the activities and recommendations of the Authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, the Chief Workforce Development Advisor, the State Board of Health, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Joint Commission on Health Care, the Governor, and the General Assembly. In any reporting period where state general funds are appropriated to the Authority, the report shall include a detailed summary of how state general funds were expended.
The accounts and records of the Authority showing the receipt and disbursement of funds from whatever source derived shall be in a form prescribed by the Auditor of Public Accounts. The Auditor of Public Accounts, or his legally authorized representative, shall examine the accounts of the Authority as determined necessary by the Auditor of Public Accounts. The cost of such audit shall be borne by the Authority.