Real property tax; exemption for disabled veteransand surviving spouses. Provides that a person who is eligiblefor the real property tax exemption for certain disabled veteransand surviving spouses is entitled to a refund, retroactive to hisdate of eligibility, of taxes paid during the period of exemption, excluding interest or penalties. Under the bill, the refund is exempt from the statute of limitations for applications for correction ofan assessment.
Placement of piles; no permit required. Provides that no permit shall be required for (i) the placement of piles for an existing private pier or to establish a boat slip or mooring within the owner's riparian area or (ii) a de minimis subaqueous disturbance of 10 square feet or less for purposes of placing a pile more than 50 feet from a marked navigation channel.
STEM+C; Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board. Adds science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C), which includes real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational instruction and preparation of students in STEM+C, to the list of topics that shall be included in the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to develop and submit to the Board of Education (i) a rubric that shall be used by the Board of Education in setting out what factors permit a school to be defined as a STEM school and (ii) recommendations for the Board to create a measurement for quality of STEM programming in general education instruction. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to draft and report to the Department of Education proposed common language and terminology that better defines the basic literacies employed in STEM+C as methodological approaches to solving universal human challenges and, as essential, generalizable and transferable literacy toward the application of skills and content needed to solve those challenges. The bill also directs the Department of Education, based on such proposed language and terminology and no later than December 1, 2022, to recommend finalized language and terminology to the Board of Education. The bill clarifies that nothing in the foregoing provisions of the bill shall be construed to establish any new course or credit requirements for students.
Public elementary and secondary schools; students;digital tools; accessibility. Adds several provisions relatingto the accessibility of each digital tool, defined in the bill asan online platform, a course, a digital application, information and communication technology services, and digital content, to beused in the instruction of public elementary and secondary schoolstudents, including requiring (i) the Department of Education to establishand revise when necessary guidelines for local school divisions thatgovern the purchase of accessible digital tools to be used in studentinstruction and (ii) except in certain limited circumstances, theprocurement process utilized by each local school division for thepurchase of a digital tool initiated on or after September 1, 2022,to require (a) the digital tool procured to meet or exceed the Department'sstandards; (b) each digital tool vendor to submit a voluntary productaccessibility template prepared by a third-party professional accessibilitytester to demonstrate how the digital tool conforms to the Department'sstandards and to remedy any nonconforming digital tool within 180days of receipt of notice of such nonconformity from the local schooldivision at any time during the term of the contract; and (c) eachdigital tool vendor to indemnify the local school board for liability resulting from the use of a procured digital tool that fails to meetthe relevant federal accessibility standard, including nonvisualaccess.
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; preexisting contracts. Establishes a reserve account for the purchase of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) allowances by an entity that has a preexisting contractual arrangement related to a power purchase entered into on or before May 16, 2017, and continuing in effect on July 1, 2020, through December 31, 2025. Such entity is authorized under the bill to purchase RGGI credits at a discounted rate, subject to conditions set forth in the bill, if, because of the preexisting contractual arrangement, the entity is unable to pass through or recover its RGGI costs.
Right of certain hunters to go on lands of another.Creates exceptions to the prohibition on hunters carrying firearmsor bows and arrows on their persons or hunting any game while thereonif (i) their dog is in immediate danger or (ii) they obtained priorpermission from the landowner or his agent. The bill also providesthat, prior to going on prohibited lands to retrieve his dog duringlegal, daylight hunting hours, if the land is so posted, a huntershall attempt to contact the landowner by phone, text, or email usingcontact information that is clearly provided on such posted signs.
Absentee voting; annual absentee voter list; absentee ballots; return of ballots. Removes the permanent absentee voter list and provides for an annual absentee voter list by which any eligible voter who annually files an application and is enrolled on the list receives an absentee ballot for any election in which he is eligible to vote in the ensuing calendar year. The application for the annual absentee voter list requires, at a minimum, the voter to provide his printed name, date of birth, and the last four digits of his social security number. The bill makes an absentee voter's failure to have a witness sign the absentee ballot envelope a material omission and renders his ballot void. Current law allows a late absentee ballot to be counted if it is received by the Friday after the election and postmarked on or before the day of the election; the bill modifies this provision, requiring a postmark on or before the Saturday immediately preceding the day of the election.
Retrieving hunting dogs, falcons, hawks, orowls. Prohibits a person who has been convicted of trespassingor trespassing to hunt, fish, or trap on posted lands from goingon prohibited lands to retrieve a hunting dog, falcon, hawk, orowl without the written permission of the landowner or his agent.A violation of the provisions of the bill is a Class 4 misdemeanorand a person found guilty shall have the allowance to retrieve revokedfor five years.
Kimchi Day. Designates November 22, in 2022and in each succeeding year, as Kimchi Day in Virginia.
Rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Lowers the rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel on July 1, 2022, from 26.2 cents per gallon to 21.2 cents per gallon on gasoline and from 27 cents per gallon to 20.2 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, the rates that were in effect before July 1, 2021. The bill provides that the rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel will return to 26.2 and 27 cents per gallon, respectively, on July 1, 2023, and will be indexed based on the change in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for both 2021 and 2022; thereafter, the rate will be indexed annually.
Cannabis control; retail market; transitional sales by pharmaceutical and industrial hemp processors; penalties. Establishes a framework for the creation of a retail marijuana market in the Commonwealth. The bill creates a regulatory and licensing structure for such retail market and for the cultivation, manufacture, and wholesale of marijuana and marijuana products to be administered by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. The bill allows certain pharmaceutical and industrial hemp processors, pending establishment of the retail market, to cultivate, manufacture, and sell to persons 21 years of age or older cannabis products. The bill also relocates and modifies numerous criminal provisions regarding marijuana offenses. The bill has staggered effective dates. The bill satisfies the reenactment requirement of Chapters 550 and 551 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, Special Session I, but makes numerous modifications to the provisions of the 2021 legislation related to licensure, criminal penalties, expungement, regulation of certain hemp products, local regulation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Task Force on Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault; hospital policies and procedures related to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault; work group; report. Directs the Task Force on Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault (the Task Force) to convene a work group to develop best practices for hospital policies and procedures related to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The bill requires the Task Force to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2022.
