The 2024 Virginia General Session has adjourned. With almost 50 new legislators and the Democrats having the majority in both the Senate and House of Delegates, there were a lot of changes and new faces to meet this session! As always, VOS advocated on your behalf for the issues that matter to our members and our patients. Read below for some of the highlights of the past two months!
Our biggest accomplishment this session was the defeat of legislation that would have repealed the current medical malpractice cap. SB 493 would have removed the limit on recoveries for medical malpractice acts in which the patient was 10 or younger. Removing or modifying the medical malpractice cap in any way could significantly increase the cost of providing and receiving healthcare in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Medical malpractice insurance costs would increase for all providers, including state hospitals, which would not only cost more General Fund dollars but would also increase the cost of health care for patients. Before Virginia’s medical malpractice schedule was enacted in 2012, the costs of medical malpractice insurance plans were exorbitant and were so high that only some providers could afford it. Increased costs would impact physicians’ considerations to practice medicine in Virginia and stand to decrease medical school student and residency retention.
In 2012, the House of Medicine, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and the General Assembly reached a compromise on a medical malpractice cap with an agreement that it would be in place for 20 years and no attempts would be made to undo that for at least 20 years. With all the turnover in the legislature the past decade, most of the legislators who agreed to that deal are no longer in office. As a result, we’ve seen efforts in recent years to repeal the current law. The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association has stayed true to their word and not advocated for these bills. The bill initially passed the Senate Courts committee on a vote of 8-4 with 4 abstentions. Thankfully, it was later defeated in the Senate Finance committee. The patron, Senator Stanley, has said he will introduce legislation again next year- so we know that this fight is far from over.
There was also legislation this year, HB 1389 (Maldonado) to amend the definition of “practice of athletic training” in the Code to more accurately describe what is already current practice. We vetted this legislation very careful and were comfortable with the language.
The General Assembly also passed HB 971 (Tran), which will allow nurse practitioners to practice independently after three years of clinical experience. The current law requires five years and there were multiple bills this year to change it to two years. The Medical Society of Virginia worked with the patrons and the nurse practitioners to reach a compromise of three years, with the understanding this will not change anytime in the near future.
And for the first time in a few years, we had a small victory on COPN reform! Senator Hashmi, the new Chair of the Senate Education and Health committee, introduced SB 277, which directs the Board of Health to convene the State Health Services Plan Task Force to make recommendations on expedited review of certain projects. The biggest win of this is that it was the Chair of the committee, who is also a Democrat, that chose to champion this legislation. It is important that COPN remain a non-partisan issue and that we have advocates on both sides of the aisle.
After the General Assembly adjourns, Governor Youngkin has 30 days to act on all the legislation that was passed. The Governor can either sign, amend, or veto the bill. If he amends it or vetoes it, it will be considered at the “Reconvene Session”. This is when the legislature returns to vote on the Governor’s actions. In order to overturn a veto, there has to be a 2/3 vote to do so. The legislature can accept or reject amendments on a simple majority vote. We anticipate a record number of vetoes this year, due to the political differences between the legislature and the Executive Office. In particular, the issue of whether to build a sports arena in Alexandria for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals is still unresolved and causing a significant amount of conflict. Governor Youngkin strongly supports the proposal, but the Chair of the Senate Finance committee, Senator Louise Lucas, has expressed strong opposition to it. There are rumors that a special legislative session will be called in May or June to address the arena issue.
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