Virginia House adopts judicial appointments conference report, orders EMS pharmacy work group and clears a slate of bills

The Virginia House of Delegates adopted a conference report on Senate Bill 1327 and approved a floor substitute to create a work group on emergency medical services (EMS) controlled-substance handling, then passed a large bundle of mostly uncontested bills and several commemorative resolutions during its Feb. 19 session.

The conference report for Senate Bill 1327, which the clerk made available to members earlier in the morning, was explained on the floor by Delegate Elizabeth B. Hope (Arlington). Hope said the conference agreement would add three judges — a general district court judge in Prince William County, a JDR (juvenile and domestic relations) judge in Virginia Beach’s 2nd circuit and another general district court judge in the Middle Peninsula — and outlined a process for localities and the Supreme Court to make further caseload assessments in coming months. "What we're gonna be doing, the process going forward... is a bill that's gonna be coming through here to ask JLARC to do a study to help us go in and figure out the case load so we can properly assess how many judges are supposed to be in each district," Hope said on the floor. The conference report was agreed to by recorded voice and roll-call, Ayes 96, Noes 0.

Separately, lawmakers debated and approved a floor substitute to Senate Bill 1318 (as printed in the calendar as Senate Bill 13 18), which addresses access to certain controlled-substance registrations for emergency medical service agencies and tasks the Department of Health/Board of Health with further study. Delegate Marcus A. Sickles (Fairfax) offered and described the floor substitute as a Section 1, work-group measure that will expire…