- A. The Office of the Attorney General shall provide requested legal services to the Program as provided in this subsection. The Program shall compensate the Office of the Attorney General for its provision of such legal services based on a reasonable hourly rate as shall be agreed upon periodically by the board of directors of the Program and the Attorney General. If the Office of the Attorney General is unable to provide such legal services as the result of a conflict of interest or other disqualifying circumstances, the board of directors of the Program may employ such other counsel as it deems necessary.
- B. The board of directors of the Program shall adopt and implement rules consistent with the provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.) that specify policies and procedures regarding the contracting for services not related to the health care provided for claimants, which rules shall be based on competitive principles generally applicable to the procurement of services by state agencies. The procedure for adoption of rules by the board of directors of the Program shall be consistent with the provisions of Article 2 (§ 2.2-4006 et seq.) of the Administrative Process Act.
- C. The Program and its board of directors shall be public bodies for purposes of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.).
- D. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this chapter, the board of directors of the Program shall not hold regulatory power or publish, implement, or enforce any policy, rule, or guideline that extinguishes, limits, caps, or unreasonably delays payment of benefits to admitted claimants under this chapter.
2003, c. 897; 2026, cc. 1010, 1083.