Veterans' benefits. Provides that any personthat advertises, arranges, offers, or enters into any assignmentof right to receive veterans' pension or disability benefits commitsan unlawful fraudulent act or practice under the Virginia ConsumerProtection Act if such assignment is prohibited or void under specifiedfederal anti-assignment acts.
Charter; Town of Abingdon. Updates the Town of Abingdon's boundary description, repeals outdated provisions, and makes various technical amendments to charter terminology. This bill is identical to HB 1720.
Litter tax; penalty. Adds $100 to the existingpenalty for litter tax delinquency.
Virginia Spirits Board. Establishes the Virginia Spirits Board, within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Virginia Spirits Promotion Fund. The Board is composed of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, and nine gubernatorial-appointed nonlegislative citizens who represent coopers or maltsters and owners or operators of distilleries. Among its powers and duties, the Board is authorized to contract for research services to improve farming practices related to the growing of ingredients necessary for alcohol distillation in Virginia; enter into contracts with private and public entities to market, advertise, and promote the industry; and engage in revenue-producing activities. The Fund consists of general fund appropriations, fees from services rendered, and payments received for products, equipment, or goods supplied. The bill exempts contracts for advertising, marketing, or publishing that are entered into by the Board from certain provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act. This bill is identical to SB 583.
Housing; housing authorities; notice of intent to demolish, liquidate, or otherwise dispose of housing projects. Requires that any housing authority required to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish, liquidate, or otherwise dispose of a housing project must also serve a notice of intent to demolish, liquidate, or otherwise dispose of such housing project, containing specified information, at least 12 months prior to any application submission date to (i) the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, (ii) any agency that would be responsible for administering tenant-based rental assistance to persons who would otherwise be displaced from the housing project, and (iii) each tenant residing in the housing project. The bill requires the authority to also provide such notice to any prospective tenant who is offered a rental agreement subsequent to the initial notice. During the 12-month period subsequent to the initial notice of intent to demolish, liquidate, or dispose of the housing project, the housing authority is prohibited from (a) increasing rent for any tenant above the amount authorized by any federal assistance program applicable to the housing project; (b) changing the terms of the rental agreement for any tenant, except as permitted under the existing rental agreement; or (c) evicting a tenant or demanding possession of any dwelling unit in the housing project, except for a lease violation or violation of law that threatens the health and safety of the building residents. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This bill is identical to SB 708.
Overweight permits; forest products. Clarifies that the definition of forest products for the purpose of qualifying for an overweight permit for hauling forest products includes wood pellets. This bill is identical to SB 328.
Scenic river designation; Maury River. Designates a 19.25-mile segment of the Maury River as a component of the Virginia Scenic Rivers System. This bill is identical to HB 282.
Additional sales and use tax in Mecklenburg County; appropriations to incorporated towns for educational purposes. Authorizes Mecklenburg County to impose an additional local sales and use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent, as determined by the governing body, if initiated by a resolution of the local governing body and approved by the voters at a referendum. The bill requires the governing body to specify in the enacting ordinance the time period, not to exceed 20 years, for which the tax would be imposed. Revenue from the tax shall be used solely for capital projects for new construction or major renovation of schools in the locality enacting the tax. The bill removes the limit on the amount that Mecklenburg County may appropriate to an incorporated town that has not complied with the provisions of its charter relating to the elections of local officials. Under current law, such amount is limited to the amount the town would have received from local sales and use tax for educational purposes if such election had been held. Under current law, only Halifax County has the authority to impose such taxes and make such appropriations. This bill is identical to SB 943.
A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Declares the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership a political subdivision of the Commonwealth and requires its staff to be treated as state employees for purposes of participation in the Virginia Retirement System, health insurance, and all other employee benefits offered by the Commonwealth to its classified employees.
Legal holidays; Lee-Jackson Day; Election Day. Designates Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, as a state holiday and removes Lee-Jackson Day as a state holiday. This bill is identical to HB 108.
Public institutions of higher education; veterans; withdrawal; tuition refund. Requires each public institution of higher education to provide a refund of the tuition and mandatory fees paid by any veteran student for any course from which he is forced to withdraw, for the first time, due to a service-connected medical condition during a semester, as certified in writing to the institution by a physician licensed to practice medicine who treated the veteran student for such medical condition. Such refund shall not be issued when three-quarters of a course has been completed at the time that the veteran student withdraws from the course.
Certain institutions of higher education; transcript notations; expungement. Requires each institution of higher educationthat is required by law to include a prominent notation on the academictranscript of each student who has been suspended for, has been permanentlydismissed for, or withdraws from the institution while under investigationfor an offense involving sexual violence under the institution'scode, rules, or set of standards governing student conduct to adopta policy for the expungement of such notation for good cause shownand after a period of three years.
