Summary: Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; conservationofficers. Adds conservation officers of the Department of Conservationand Recreation as members of the Virginia Law Officers' RetirementSystem. Conservation officers would accrue retirement benefits underthe Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System only for creditableservice earned on or after July 1, 2016.

Summary: Line of Duty Act; training and beneficiary identification.Requires that the training that law-enforcement and public safetyofficers receive concerning the Line of Duty Act benefits to whichthey and their beneficiaries are entitled be conducted semiannually.The bill requires each such officer entitled to Line of Duty Act benefitsto provide to his agency or locality the name and address of his beneficiaryand to recertify this information at least once every three years.

Summary: State Sickness and Disability Program. Eliminatesthe one-year waiting period for eligibility for disability benefitsfor vested local government employees commencing employment in a stateposition covered under the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), StatePolice Officers' Retirement System, Virginia Law Officers' RetirementSystem, or the hybrid retirement program. Under current law, employeeswho enter state service on or after July 1, 2009, are required towait one year before they can receive benefits under the state sicknessand disability program for nonwork related disabilities. The billeliminates this waiting period for local government employees whohave at least five years of creditable service under VRS (includingthe hybrid retirement program) or the Law Enforcement Officers' RetirementSystem (LEORS) upon commencing employment in a state position withno break in service. In addition, for purposes of determining thedisability benefit payable, the bill provides that any such employeeupon entering state service will be deemed to have a beginning balanceof months of state service equal to the number of months of VRS orLEORS creditable service credited to him as of his beginning employmentdate. The provisions of the bill donot affect disability benefits payable or eligibility for such benefitsrelating to illnesses or injuries occurring prior to July 1, 2016.

Summary: Workers' compensation; fee schedules for medical services. Directsthe Workers' Compensation Commission (the Commission) to adopt regulationsestablishing fee schedules setting the maximum pecuniary liability of theemployer for medical services provided to an injured person pursuant to theVirginia Workers' Compensation Act, in the absence of a contract under whichthe provider has agreed to accept a specified amount for the medical service.The regulations implementing the fee schedules shall become effective onJanuary 1, 2018. The initial fee schedules will set amounts based on areimbursement objective, which is the average of all amounts paid to providersin the same category of providers for the medical service in the same medicalcommunity. The Commission is required to retain a firm to assist it inestablishing the initial fee schedules. The firm will recommend a methodologythat will provide statistically valid estimates of the reimbursement objectivefor fee scheduled medical services within the medical communities.Reimbursements for medical services provided to treat traumatic injuries andserious burns are excluded from the fee schedules and liability for theirtreatment costs will be based, absent a contract, on 80 percent of theprovider's charges. However, the required reimbursement will be 100 percent ofthe provider's charges if the employer unsuccessfully contests thecompensability of the claim. The Commission is required to review and revisethe fee schedules in the year after they become effective and bienniallythereafter. The liability of the employer for certain medical services notincluded in a fee schedule will be set by the Commission. A stop-loss featureallows hospitals to receive payments or reimbursements that exceed the feeschedule amount for certain claims when the total charges exceed a chargeoutlier threshold, which initially is 150 percent of the maximum fee for theservice set forth in the applicable fee schedule. Providers are prohibited fromusing a different charge master or schedule of fees for any medical serviceprovided for workers' compensation patients than the provider uses for healthcare services provided to patients who are not claimants. The measure requiresthe Commission, when determining whether the employee's attorney's work withregard to a contested claim resulted in an award of benefits that inure to thebenefit of a third-party insurance carrier or health care provider, and indetermining the reasonableness of the amount of any fee awarded to an attorney,to consider only the amount paid by the employer or insurance carrier to thethird-party insurance carrier or health care provider for medical servicesrendered to the employee through a certain date and not to consider additionalamounts previously paid to a health care provider or reimbursed to athird-party insurance carrier. The Commission shall have an independent,peer-reviewed study conducted every two years. The regulations setting feeschedules are exempt from the Administrative Process Act if the Commissionutilizes a regulatory advisory panel to assist in the development of suchregulations and provides an opportunity for public comment on the regulationsprior to adoption. The measure prohibits certain practices involving the use bythird parties of contracts whereby a provider agrees to accept payment of lessthan the fee scheduled amount, including restricting the sale, lease, or otherdissemination of information regarding the payment amounts or terms of a providercontract without the express written consent and prior notification of allparties to the provider contract and prohibiting an employer from shopping forthe lowest discount for a specific provider among the provider contracts heldin multiple PPO networks. The regulatory advisory panel is directed to makerecommendations to the Commission prior to July 1, 2017, on workers'compensation issues relating to (i) pharmaceutical costs not previouslyincluded in the fee schedules; (ii) durable medical equipment costs notpreviously included in the fee schedules; (iii) certain awards of attorneyfees; (iv) peer review of medical costs; (v) prior authorization for medicalservices; and (vi) other issues that the Commission assigns to it. The existingpeer review provisions are repealed. The measure has an emergency clause and is identical to SB 631.

Summary: Commission on Employee Retirement Security and Pension Reform established. Creates the Commission on Employee Retirement Security and Pension Reform (the Commission) in the legislative branch to study and make recommendations relating to the financial soundness of retirement plans covering state and local government employees; the suitability of retirement plans offered or maintained for current state and local government employees and the attributes of retirement plans that will be suitable for future employees; the impact on state and local governments of the anticipated retirement of experienced employees between 2016 and 2026 and strategies for replacing such employees; and the elements of compensation and benefits packages that are essential to attracting and retaining a highly productive state and local government workforce.The Commission will be composed of 11 legislative members, eight nonlegislative citizen members, and two state officials. Legislative members from the House of Delegates will include the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, and three members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates. Legislative members from the Senate will include the Majority Leader of the Senate, any Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance who is not the Majority Leader of the Senate, and three members of the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules. Five nonlegislative citizen members will be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, one of whom will be appointed from a list of five nominees jointly submitted by the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League, one of whom will be appointed from a list of three nominees submitted by the Virginia Governmental Employees Association, and one of whom will be appointed from a list of three nominees submitted by the Virginia Education Association. The Senate Committee on Rules will appoint three nonlegislative citizen members, one of whom will be appointed from a list of five nominees jointly submitted by the Virginia Sheriffs' Association and the Virginia State Police Association. The Directors of the Department of Human Resource Management and the Virginia Retirement System will serve on the Commission ex officio with nonvoting privileges. All other Commission members will have voting privileges.The Commission will initially focus on the financial soundness of retirement plans covering state and local government employees and strategies for reducing unfunded liabilities under such plans. The Commission is authorized to employ actuaries and other experts, conduct statistical analyses, engage in financial modeling, and undertake such other activities as are consistent with its duties. The costs for such actuaries, experts, statistical analyses, and financial models utilized to study retirement plans, retirement options, and other retirement matters on behalf of state and local employees participating in the Virginia Retirement System will be paid by the Virginia Retirement System. The costs for any non-retirement analysis or consultation will not be paid from funds of the Virginia Retirement System.The Department of Human Resource Management will provide staff support to the Commission. Technical assistance will be provided by the staff of the Virginia Retirement System, the Committee on House Appropriations, the Committee on Senate Finance, and the Division of Legislative Services.The bill provides for the Commission's work to end on July 1, 2021.

Summary: Health insurance for local employees. Allowslocalities and local school boards to elect to have their employeesparticipate in the state employee health insurance plan. The billdirects the Department of Human Resource Management to adopt regulationsimplementing the provisions of this bill by January 1, 2017.

Summary: Virginia Retirement System; hybrid retirementprogram. Modifies the hybrid retirement program by (i) increasingthe mandatory employer contribution to the defined contribution componentfrom 1% to 2% of creditable compensation, (ii) decreasing the employer'smaximum matching contribution to the defined contribution componentfrom 2.5% to 1.5% of creditable compensation, (iii) increasing the employee's mandatory contribution to the defined contribution componentfrom 1% to 2% of creditable compensation, (iv) decreasing the employee'smaximum contribution to the voluntary defined contribution component from 4% to 3% of creditable compensation, (v) decreasing from three years to two years the period in which a new member of the hybridretirement program is required to make the maximum voluntary contributionto the defined contribution component, and (vi) decreasing the employee'scontribution to the defined benefit component from 4% to 3% of creditablecompensation. The bill also sets a new employee's voluntary contributionrate to the defined contribution component at 0.5% unless the employeeopts out.

Summary: Line of Duty Act; probation and parole officers.Expands the definition of a deceased person under the Line of DutyAct to include probation and parole officers whose death occurs asa direct or proximate result of the performance of their duty.

Summary: Health insurance for local employees. Allowslocal school boards and local governing bodies to elect to have alltheir employees and retirees, as well as the dependents of employeesand retirees, eligible to participate in the state employee healthinsurance plan. The local school boards and governing bodies shallbe responsible for whatever portion of the cost of such insuranceis not paid by the employee, except any portion that the General Assemblyelects to pay. The school board and governing body of a given locality must both elect to participate in the state plan in order for theiremployees to participate.

Summary: Line of Duty Act; certification expiration fortemporarily disabled persons. Prohibits the expiration of a statecertification of any person subject to the Line of Duty Act who,as a result of the performance of his duties, has become temporarilymentally or physically disabled so as to prevent the performance ofhis duty for no longer than 24 months and who is required to havesuch certification for his employment. The bill requires the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services to develop rules and regulations allowingsuch person up to 12 months after he has returned to work to completeany recertification requirements. The bill has a delayed effectivedate of July 1, 2017.

Summary: Line of Duty Act. Revises the Line of Duty Act (the Act) by codifying revisions to the Act from the appropriation act and, among other changes, transferring overall administration of the Act to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), transferring administration of health insurance benefits under the Act to the Department of Human Resource Management (the Department), and creating separate health benefits plans for beneficiaries under the Act. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2017, except that a final enactment requiring each nonparticipating employer to pay its pro rata share of estimated implementation costs to the VRS and the Department becomes effective July 1, 2016.