Bill Text: VA HB954 | 2018 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Healthy Virginia, Commission for; established, report.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-13 - Left in Rules [HB954 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2018-HB954-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Title 30 a chapter numbered 60, consisting of sections numbered 30-376, 30-377, and 30-378, as follows:
§30-376. Commission for a Health Virginia; purpose; membership; terms; compensation and expenses; chairman; meetings; quorum; staffing; recommendations.
A. The Commission for a Healthy Virginia (the Commission) is established in the legislative branch of state government. The purpose of the Commission is to (i) support the mission and vision of a healthy Virginia, (ii) define measurable outcomes that build community competence around health and well-being, and (iii) make policy recommendations for improving the health and well-being of the people of the Commonwealth.
B. The Commission shall have a total membership of 19 members that shall consist of five legislative members, four nonlegislative citizen members, and 10 ex officio members. Members shall be appointed as follows: three 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; two members of the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; two nonlegislative citizen members, at least one of whom shall have a background in public health, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates; and two nonlegislative citizen members, at least one of whom shall have a background in public health, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. The Secretaries of Health and Human Resources, Commerce and Trade, Agriculture and Forestry, Education, Public Safety and Homeland Security, Natural Resources, Technology, and Transportation, the Executive Director of the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, and the Executive Director of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth shall serve ex officio with nonvoting privileges. Nonlegislative citizen members of the Commission shall be citizens of the Commonwealth.
C. Legislative members and ex officio members of the Commission shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed for a term of two years. Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by the expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired term. Legislative members and nonlegislative citizen members may be reappointed. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
D. Legislative members of the Commission shall receive such compensation as provided in § 30-19.12, and nonlegislative citizen members shall receive such compensation for the performance of their duties as provided in §2.2-2813. All members shall be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as provided in §§2.2-2813 and 2.2-2825.
E. The Commission shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman from among its membership, who shall be members of the General Assembly.
F. The Commission shall meet at least quarterly. Meetings shall be held at the call of the chairman or whenever a majority of the members so request. A majority of the voting members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum.
G. Administrative staff support for the Commission shall be provided by the Office of the Clerk of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Delegates as may be appropriate for the house in which the chairman serves. The Division of Legislative Services shall provide legal, research, policy analysis, and other services as requested by the Commission. Technical assistance shall be provided by the Department of Education. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Commission, upon request.
H. No policy recommendation of the Commission shall be adopted if a majority of the House members or both members of the Senate members appointed to the Commission (i) vote against the policy recommendation and (ii) vote for the policy recommendation to fail notwithstanding the majority vote of the Commission.
§30-377. Powers and duties; report.
The Commission shall have the power and duty to:
1. Develop a comprehensive framework for a healthy Virginia that is informed by the structural and social determinants of health and seeks to define the interrelationship of all aspects of the environment to individual and public health;
2. Identify priorities and actions necessary to realize the comprehensive framework for a healthy Virginia;
3. Identify health inequities in the Commonwealth and develop policy recommendations for changes to address such inequities; and
4. Submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an annual report. The chairman shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an annual executive summary of the interim activity, work, and specific policy recommendations of the Commission no later than October 1 of each year. The executive summary shall be submitted for publication as a report document as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.
§30-378. Sunset.
This chapter shall expire on July 1, 2022.
2. That, for its first year of existence, if the Commission for a Healthy Virginia is not funded by a separate appropriation in the appropriation act, the Commission may be funded from the operating budgets of the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate upon the approval of the Joint Rules Committee. If the Commission for a Healthy Virginia is not funded by a separate appropriation in the appropriation act for any year thereafter, this chapter shall expire on July 1 of the fiscal year in which the Commission fails to receive such funding.
