Timing of municipal elections. Narrows thescope of existing provisions that require all municipal electionsto be held in November by applying those provisions only to citieswith a population greater than 200,000.
Elections; referenda; local advisory referenda.Provides for an exception to the rule that prohibits a referendum from being placed on the ballot unless specifically authorized bystatute or by charter, allowing each locality to provide by ordinancea process for holding an advisory referendum provided such advisory referendum is placed on the ballot not more than once per calendaryear.
Senate requested conference committee
Constitutional amendment (first reference);qualifications of voters and the right to vote. Establishes thatthe sole qualifications to vote in the Commonwealth are being a UnitedStates citizen, at least 18 years of age, a resident of the Commonwealth, and registered to vote in accordance with the requirements set outin the Constitution of Virginia. The amendment further provides thatany person who meets those qualifications has the right to vote andthat such right cannot be abridged by law. The bill lifts restrictionson qualifications to vote for those who have been convicted of afelony or adjudicated to be mentally incompetent.
Constitutional amendment (first reference); franchise and officers; felon disenfranchisement; automatic restoration of political rights. Provides that no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote until the completion of his sentence of imprisonment, at which time, without further action required of him, his political rights, including the right to vote, shall be restored. A person convicted of a felony may also have his civil rights restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. This resolution incorporates HJ 546.
Settlement agreements; stay of dismissal. Provides that, in any case in which a plaintiff or counterclaim plaintiff is seeking a civil judgment against a defendant or counterclaim defendant, if the parties enter into a written settlement agreement, upon request of the parties, a dismissal of such case shall be stayed to allow for full compliance with such settlement agreement. The bill requires the plaintiff or counterclaim plaintiff to file a notice of dismissal with the court once the defendant or counterclaim defendant has complied with the terms of such settlement agreement, which shall be treated as a dismissal with prejudice. The bill allows the plaintiff or counterclaim plaintiff to file a motion to enforce the terms of such settlement agreement if a defendant or counterclaim defendant is in default of any term of such agreement.
Manufacture, import, sale, transfer, or possession of plastic firearms and unfinished frames or receivers and unserialized firearms; penalties. Creates a Class 5 felony for any person who manufactures, imports, sells, transfers, or possesses any firearm that, after removal of all parts other than a major component, as defined in the bill, is not detectable as a firearm by the types of detection devices, including X-ray machines, commonly used at airports for security screening. The bill updates language regarding the types of detection devices that are used at airports for detecting plastic firearms. The bill also creates several Class 1 misdemeanors, which are punishable as a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense, making it unlawful (i) for any person to possess, sell, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, transport, or receive an unfinished frame or receiver or firearm, unless the party possessing or receiving the unfinished frame or receiver or firearm is a federal firearms importer or manufacturer or the unfinished frame or receiver or firearm is imprinted with a serial number issued by a federal firearms importer or manufacturer and (ii) for any person to manufacture, cause to be manufactured, assemble, or cause to be assembled a firearm that is not imprinted with a serial number issued by a federal firearms importer or manufacturer in compliance with all federal laws and regulations regulating the manufacture and import of firearms. The bill creates exceptions for (i) any firearm that has been rendered permanently inoperable, (ii) an antique firearm, or (iii) any firearm or unfinished frame or receiver manufactured before October 22, 1968.
Civil actions filed on behalf of multiple persons. Provides that a circuit court may enter an order joining, coordinating, consolidating, or transferring civil actions upon finding that separate civil actions brought by a plaintiff on behalf of multiple similarly situated persons involve common questions of law or fact and arise out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences. The bill requires the Supreme Court to promulgate rules no later than November 1, 2021, governing such actions. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.
Environmental justice; interagency working group. Establishes the Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group as an advisory council in the executive branch of state government to further environmental justice in the Commonwealth and directs each of the Governor's Secretaries to designate at least one environmental justice coordinator to represent the secretariat as a member of the Working Group. The bill directs the Working Group to focus its work during its first year on the environmental justice of current air quality monitoring practices in Virginia and provides that the Working Group shall expire on July 1, 2031. The bill directs each state agency, no later than October 1, 2021, to adopt an agency-specific environmental justice policy that requires an evaluation of the environmental justice consequences of any covered agency action, requires a consideration of the environmental justice consequences or cumulative impacts of the administration of regulations, and contains other features, including robust public participation plans for residents of environmental justice communities and fenceline communities potentially affected by a covered agency action. The bill prohibits the issuance of a permit for any covered activity, including construction of an electric generating facility or sanitary landfill, until the applicant has submitted and the permitting authority has approved a public involvement plan, a cumulative impact statement, and an environmental justice impact statement, if applicable. The bill requires the permitting authority to deny the application or approve it with or without conditions. Finally, the bill requires each local government adopting or reviewing a comprehensive plan to also adopt an environmental justice strategy.
Certain emergency and quarantine orders; additional procedural requirements. Provides that any person who is affectedby an order of quarantine may file an appeal in the circuit courtfor the city or county in which he resides or is located or the circuitcourt for the jurisdiction or jurisdictions for any affected area;currently, only a person who is subject to an order of quarantinemay appeal the order. The bill also provides that in any case inwhich the Governor has issued an emergency order that includes anymeasure that closes schools or businesses or restricts the movementof healthy persons within the area to which the order applies, allof the rights, protections, and procedures applicable in the caseof an order of quarantine issued by the Commissioner of Health shall apply.
Electric utilities; electric school bus projects;report. Authorizes electric utilities to partner with schooldivisions to implement projects designed to encourage the proliferationof school buses that are fueled in whole or in part by electricity,along with associated charging and other infrastructure, for the purpose of transporting students and that may also serve as electricgrid stabilization or peak-shaving resources. The bill provides thatif an electric school bus project meets the requirements in the bill,then it is in the public interest and may constitute an energy storageresource. The bill requires an electric school bus project and itscorresponding agreement to include a provision to compensate a participating school division for the use of the school bus battery by the electricutility as a grid stabilizing or peak-shaving resource and a provisionthat the electric school buses shall be titled under the participatingschool division, but the utility shall own the associated batteriesand charging stations. The bill also provides a tax exemption forelectric school buses and associated charging and other infrastructurethat is related or incidental to an authorized electric school busproject.
Elimination of mandatory minimum sentences;modification of sentence to mandatory minimum term of confinementfor felony offenses. Eliminates all mandatory minimum sentencesof confinement from the Code of Virginia. The bill also providesa petition process for a person who was convicted or adjudicateddelinquent of a felony offense committed prior to July 1, 2021, exceptfor a Class 1 felony or any felony that was punishable by a mandatory minimum term of confinement for life, and sentenced to a mandatoryminimum term of confinement for such felony offense and who remainsincarcerated in a state or local correctional facility serving themandatory minimum term of confinement for such felony offense topetition the circuit court that entered the original judgment ororder to (i) suspend the unserved portion of such mandatory minimumsentence, (ii) place such person on probation for such time as thecourt shall determine, or (iii) otherwise modify the sentence imposed. The bill provides that such petition shall be filed by July 1, 2024.This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
