Summary: Alkaline hydrolysis; registration; regulations. Establishes a registration requirement for alkaline hydrolysis providers. The bill defines alkaline hydrolysis and adds alkaline hydrolysis and hydrolyzed remains to statutes dealing with cremation and cremains. The bill grants the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers the power to regulate and inspect alkaline hydrolysis providers and their operations. The bill requires the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to consult with the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Health, and representatives of wastewater treatment facilities and funeral service associations to promulgate regulations related to alkaline hydrolysis.

Summary: State hospitals; discharge planning; report. Provides that (i) when an individual is to be discharged from Central State Hospital, Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, or Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute in 30 days or less after admission, the appropriate community services board shall implement the discharge plan developed by the state facility and (ii) when an individual is to be discharged from any other state facility in 30 days or less after admission, or from a state hospital more than 30 days after admission, the appropriate community services board or behavioral health authority shall be responsible for the individual's discharge planning. Under current law, community services boards and behavioral health authorities provide discharge planning for all individuals discharged from state hospitals, regardless of the duration of their stay. The bill requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to make certain annual reports by August 1 to the Governor and the General Assembly and to provide the General Assembly with a one-time evaluation of the impacts of the changes to discharge planning implemented by the bill by November 1, 2025. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 179. 

Summary: Public pools; regulations. Directs the Boardof Health to adopt regulations governing swimming pools and otherwater recreational facilities operated for public use, includingswimming pools and other water recreational facilities operated inconjunction with a tourist facility or health spa.

Summary: Law-enforcement officers; exposure to bodilyfluids; petition to the general district court by local attorney for the Commonwealth. Allows a local attorney for the Commonwealthin the county or city in which such exposure occurred to file a petitionfor an order requiring testing and disclosure of test results onbehalf of a law-enforcement officer when a law-enforcement officer is directly exposed to the bodily fluid of a person in a manner thatmay, according to the then-current guidelines of the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, transmit human immunodeficiency virusor hepatitis B or C viruses and such person refuses to submit to testing. Current law limits who may file a petition to the exposed law-enforcement officer or his employer.

Summary: Vital records; birth certificates; adoption; members of the military. Directs the State Registrar to expedite issuance of a new birth certificate upon receipt of certain documentation for a person born in the Commonwealth if at least one adoptive parent is an active duty or retired member of the military or military reserves. The bill directs the court decreeing the adoption to deliver such records to the State Registrar no later than five business days from such decree. This bill is identical to SB 325.

Summary: Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy; protocol; information; training. Requires the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to take certain actions upon the finding that an individual died from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), defined in the bill. The bill directs the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to publish information on SUDEP and a SUDEP death investigation form on its website. Additionally, the bill requires the Chief Medical Examiner and local medical examiners to complete training in the investigation of SUDEP on a triennial basis. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.

Summary: Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; facilities licensed to provide inpatient substance use disorder treatment; valid discharge plans. Directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to amend its regulations to require that any facility licensed by the Department to provide inpatient substance use disorder treatment be required to prepare and record a valid discharge plan upon the discharge or withdrawal of any individual from the facility who has received substance use disorder treatment while admitted to such facility. The bill requires such discharge plan to include the provision of funds withheld from the individual's prior payments to the facility to assist the individual in the execution of such discharge plan. The bill requires the regulations to provide that failure by a facility to prepare and record valid discharge plans may result in civil penalties, license suspension, or license revocation.

Summary: Physicians; informed consent; procedure observationby students or trainees for teaching purposes. Requires physiciansto notify patients that students or trainees may observe a procedureand requires physicians to obtain informed consent before such observationmay occur.

Summary: Adoption; award of damages; death by wrongful act. Provides that, in a case for death by wrongful act, the child of a decedent who has been adopted after the death of such decedent shall be included in the class of beneficiaries entitled to an award of damages resulting from such case, provided that a court had not previously terminated the parental rights of such decedent. This bill is identical to SB 209.

Summary: Office of the Children's Ombudsman; children's residential facility. Authorizes the Office of the Children's Ombudsman to request that the Department of Social Services, the local department of social services, a children's residential facility, or a child-placing agency grant access and provide consent to interview children in foster care who are the subject of or the complainant in an investigation. The bill also contains technical amendments.

Summary: Civil commitments and temporary detention orders; definition of mental illness; neurocognitive disorders and neurodevelopmental disabilities; Secretary of Health and Human Resources to evaluate placements for certain individuals; report. Specifies that for the purpose of civil commitments and temporary detention orders, behaviors and symptoms that manifest from a neurocognitive disorder or neurodevelopmental disability are excluded from the definition of mental illness and are, therefore, not a basis for placing an individual under a temporary detention order or committing an individual involuntarily to an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The bill provides that if a state facility has reason to believe that an individual's behaviors or symptoms are solely a manifestation of a neurocognitive disorder or neurodevelopmental disability, the state facility may require that a licensed psychiatrist or other licensed mental health professional reevaluate the individual's eligibility for a temporary detention order before the individual is admitted and shall promptly authorize the release of an individual held under a temporary detention order if the licensed psychiatrist or other licensed mental health professional determines the individual's behaviors or symptoms are solely a manifestation of a neurocognitive disorder or neurodevelopmental disability. The foregoing provisions of the bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2025 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to evaluate, identify, and develop placements for individuals with neurocognitive disorders and neurodevelopmental disabilities, as well as any statutory or funding changes needed to prevent inappropriate placements for such individuals, and to report his findings and recommendations by November 1, 2024. As introduced, this bill is a recommendation of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission and the Behavioral Health Commission. This bill is identical to SB 176.

Summary: Office of the Children's Ombudsman; powers.Grants the Children's Ombudsman with regard to children receivingchild-protective services, in foster care, or placed for adoptionand children who may have died as a result of alleged abuse or neglectthe power to directly oversee local departments of social services,reverse the decisions of local departments of social services, andpetition a court to reverse any custody or visitation changes madeas a result of the error of a local department of social services.

Summary: Department of Health Professions; veterinarymedicine; exceptions for care of animals injured in line of duty.Provides an exception to the unauthorized practice of veterinarymedicine for any law-enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergencymedical services personnel who provides emergency treatment to anyanimal in his care that is injured in the line of duty.