§ 4-0.00 OPERATING POLICIES

§ 4-0.01 OPERATING POLICIES

a. Each appropriating act of the General Assembly shall be subject to the following provisions and conditions, unless specifically exempt elsewhere in this act.

b. All appropriations contained in this act, or in any other appropriating act of the General Assembly, are declared to be maximum appropriations and conditional on receipt of revenue.

c. The Governor, as chief budget officer of the state, shall ensure that the provisions and conditions as set forth in this section are strictly observed.

d. Public higher education institutions are not subject to the provisions of § 2.2-4800, Code of Virginia, or the provisions of the Department of Accounts' Commonwealth Accounting Policies and Procedures manual (CAPP) topic 20505 with regard to students who are veterans of the United States armed services and National Guard and are in receipt of federal educational benefits under the G.I. Bill.  Public higher education shall establish internal procedures for the continued enrollment of such students to include resolution of outstanding accounts receivable.

e. The provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) shall not apply to grants made in support of the 2019 Commemoration to non-profit entities organized under § 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

f. 1. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia shall establish a policy for granting undergraduate course credit to entering freshman students who have taken one or more Advanced Placement, Cambridge Advanced (A/AS), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), or International Baccalaureate examinations by August 1, 2017. The policy shall:

a) Outline the conditions necessary for each public institution of higher education to grant course credit, including the minimum required scores on such examinations;

b) Identify the course credit or other academic requirements of each public institution of higher education that the student satisfies by achieving the minimum required scores on such examinations; and

c) Ensure, to the extent possible, that the grant of course credit is consistent across each public institution of higher education and each such examination.

2. The Council and each public institution of higher education shall make the policy available to the public on its website.

g. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any public body, including any state, local, regional, or regulatory body, or a governing board as defined in § 54.1-2345 of the Code of Virginia, or any joint meeting of such entities, may meet by electronic communication means without a quorum of the public body or any member of the governing board physically assembled at one location when the Governor has declared a state of emergency in accordance with § 44-146.17, provided that (i) the nature of the declared emergency makes it impracticable or unsafe for the public body or governing board to assemble in a single location; (ii) the purpose of meeting is to discuss or transact the business statutorily required or necessary to continue operations of the public body or common interest community association as defined in § 54.1-2345 of the Code of Virginia and the discharge of its lawful purposes, duties, and responsibilities; (iii) a public body shall make available a recording or transcript of the meeting on its website in accordance with the timeframes established in §§ 2.2-3707 and 2.2-3707.1 of the Code of Virginia; and (iv) the governing board shall distribute minutes of a meeting held pursuant to this subdivision to common interest community association members by the same method used to provide notice of the meeting.

2. A public body or governing board convening a meeting in accordance with this subdivision shall:

a) Give notice to the public or common interest community association members using the best available method given the nature of the emergency, which notice shall be given contemporaneously with the notice provided to members of the public body or governing board conducting the meeting;

b) Make arrangements for public access or common interest community association members access to such meeting through electronic means including, to the extent practicable, videoconferencing technology.  If the means of communication allows, provide the public or common interest community association members with an opportunity to comment; and

3. Public bodies must otherwise comply with the provisions of § 2.2-3708.2 of the Code of Virginia.  The nature of the emergency, the fact that the meeting was held by electronic communication means, and the type of electronic communication means by which the meeting was held shall be stated in the minutes of the public body or governing board.

h. Notwithstanding § 2.2-1510 B., Code of Virginia, the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees, during a state of emergency as declared by the Governor, shall hold at least one, but up to four, public hearings, on the budget bill the Governor submits for the 2021 Regular Session and may hold such hearings through electronic means, if deemed necessary, to ensure the safety of all participants