WTCSB supports community services boards utilizing the state health insurance plans. The cost for family coverage through TLC is $1,300 per month for the high deductible plan and $2,200 per month for a $500 deductible plan. This is a hardship for all of our staff but especially the lower paid positions. Depending on the position, the cost of a family plan could be almost half of a lower paid positions salary. As a result, lower paid staff often do not select family coverage. The cost of the insurance also causes issues with recruiting. Once candidates receive the cost, they either decline the position and/or rescind after accepting due to the cost of the family plan in particular. We have tried moving away from TLC but the cost was only lower the first year.

NAMI Virginia strongly supports this bill as it should help with recruitment and retention of personnel who are critical in the evaluation and treatment of mental health conditions.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee: I would like to offer support to HB 1594 and to thank Delegates Gooditis and Webert for their leadership on this very important topic. Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services is a multi-jurisdiction Community Services Board serving Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Our Board serves a largely rural area and employees approximately 400 staff. In December Governor Youngkin announced his plan to transform Behavioral Healthcare in Virginia, We applaud the Right Help, Right Now plan and its 6 pillars. Pillar 5 of the Governor’s plan states “we must make the behavioral health workforce a priority, particularly in underserved communities” It is precisely the underserved communities that are predominantly served by our multi-jurisdictional community services boards and until we make sustainable and systemic changes to our system, we will continue the rhetoric of wanting to make a difference and end up spinning our wheels with little traction. Multijurisdictional CSB employees are neither state nor local employees. Due to their relatively small number of covered lives, health insurance costs to employees are high and volatile from one year to the next. As such, either our staff suffer and pay when we are hit with large cost increases or services are reduced to our communities. Multi-jurisdictional CSB employees are already participants in the state retirement system, so ample precedent exists for considering them as state employees for the purpose of health insurance. Additionally, allowing multi-jurisdictional CSB employees to participate in the state employee health plan has relatively low risk to the state plan. This change will have a major impact in improving the ability of our and other rural CSBs to provide mental health, substance use, and developmental disability services to the adults and children who rely upon us. Lastly, I leave you with the words from a staff within our organization: The largest area of concern is the insurance cost for family plans. Before employment with RRCS I worked tirelessly to start and grow my family’s small business. I’m fortunate that my husband was willing to take it over once I decided to get back into my field of study. I LOVE working , but if I NEEDED this job for income, I would not be able to work at RRCS simply because of the cost of the insurance premiums. Right now, I pay approximately $18531.84 a year for medical and dental insurance I have a single mother friend that put in her notice to leave her previous job to work for RRCS. She was shocked to find out the cost of insurance for her and her two young children. She ended up getting her children on Medicaid, but because her salary was already on the borderline, when there was an increase in pay, her children lost the Medicaid. This is a professional, educated woman that has dedicated her life to improving the lives of others – and her children had no insurance because she simply couldn’t afford it. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony. Jim LaGraffe Executive Director Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services January 26, 2023

Greetings. My name is James Person, and I am a Loudoun County Public Schools retired principal. Since retiring, I have worked in various capacities for Loudoun County Public Schools as a retiree. These roles have included filling in as an administrator at multiple schools at elementary, middle, and high school levels as well as serving in various roles in our Transportation Division, including interim director. I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you today on behalf of retired professionals and the school division. Under current VRS requirements as stipulated in the Code of Virginia, for a retired employee to return to a critical needs position, as identified by VDOE, and to continue to receive their pension: The retiree must have a 12-month break in service, during which time they can NOT work for ANY VRS employer in ANY capacity, including volunteer work, and there is no process for a waiver or exception. Having dealt with the difficulties finding experienced and qualified candidates, (i.e. credentialed) to fill multiple vacancies, I strongly support the amendment to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to allow recently retired employees to return immediately to support the previous employer on a temporary or substitute basis or to fill a critical need. Students should not go without quality instruction in the classroom due to timeline restrictions of when a qualified, licensed professional who is familiar with the school system and its policies and practices is available to return. Thank you for your consideration.

Good afternoon; my name is William Oblas, and I am a Loudoun County Public Schools retired principal who has worked for Loudoun County Public Schools as a retiree. I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you today on behalf of retired professionals and the school division. Under current VRS requirements as stipulated in the Code of Virginia, for a retired employee to return to a critical needs position, as identified by VDOE, and continue to receive their pension: The retiree must have a 12-month break in service, during which time they can NOT work for ANY VRS employer in ANY capacity, including volunteer work, and there is no process for a waiver or exception. I support the amendment to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to allow recently retired employees to return immediately to support the previous employer on a temporary or substitute basis or to fill a critical need. Students should not go without quality instruction in the classroom due to timeline restrictions of when a qualified, licensed professional who is familiar with the school system and the policies and practices is available to return. Thank you so much for your time and consideration of my input. Bill Oblas

Good afternoon, my name is John H. Jose III, and I am a Loudoun County Public Schools retired teacher who has worked for Loudoun County Public Schools as an active employee and as a retiree in a critical needs position. Under current VRS requirements as stipulated in the Code of Virginia, for a retired employee to return to a critical needs position, as identified by VDOE, and continue to receive their pension. The retiree must have a 12-month break in service, including volunteer work, coaching, ect. and there is no process for a waiver or exception. There is no rational for this requirement. It is also demeaning concidering the critical need and shortage. I support the amendment to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to allow recently retired employees to return immediately to support the previous employer on full time, temporary, or substitute basis or to fill a critical need, as well as numerous colleagues do agree. Students should not go without quality instruction in the classroom due to timeline restrictions of when a qualified, licensed professional who is familier with the school system and the policies and practices is available to return. Please concider updating this to reflect the needs of school systems throughout the state. Thank You John H. Jose III MS Loudoun County Public Schools Woodgrove High School Purcellville VA 20132 540. 751. 2600

Comments Document

HB 1775 is a critical bill for public safety to ensure that workers compensation coverage is available to address the anxiety and depression disorders that frequently plague law enforcement officers who are exposed to untreated trauma. Whatever costs are associated with funding this coverage offsets the costs law enforcement experiences when we lose officers from the profession or, even worse, have excessive force complaints against officers who are not coping well with their anxiety or depression. In the end, HB 1775 will reduce costs for the state and localities and preserve our good officers who need and deserve this assistance.

Comments Document

On behalf of the Virginia Association of Hematologists and Oncologists (VAHO) and the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), I have attached a letter of support for HB 1876.

My daughter has been a priority 2 on the Waiver Waiting list for 13 years. Please understand that where our family lives, it is nearly impossible to find a doctor who will accept Medicaid patients, yet our daughter does not qualify for any subsidies in the ACA, because she has Medicaid, which is so difficult to use in this area. The situation our family is currently in with the loss of my husband, Darcy’s father, is exactly the reason she lives in a semi-independent group home instead of living with us. To prepare her for an inevitable future without us. It is bitterly frustrating that while local services are encouraging families to get their disabled loved ones into the least restrictive environment possible, the state has enacted an arbitrary policy that in my case means adequate medical care for my daughter has become unsustainable. Even if I were able to afford $1100 per month for my daughter’s health care through COBRA for the next 18 months, that will still leave her 6 months without coverage before she will become eligible for Medicare as her father’s survivor. Sometimes it is hard to believe the maze families of the disabled are forced to make their way through just to get the support for their loved ones that the state of Virginia itself says she needs and qualifies for. And I’m navigating that maze now in deep grief after the loss of my husband of forty years. Please pass this bill. Please change this policy. What if it were your loved one, and your family? You’d need and deserve the same consideration. Sincerely, Mrs. Lindsey Herndon