Virginia Retirement System; retired law-enforcementofficers employed as fingerprint examiners. Allows a retiredlaw-enforcement officer to continue to receive his service retirement allowance during a subsequent period of employment by a law-enforcementagency as a civilian fingerprint examiner, so long as he has a breakin service of at least 12 calendar months between retirement and reemployment, did not retire under an early retirement program, anddid not retire under the Workforce Transition Act of 1995.
Absentee ballots; witness requirement; printedname and residence address. Requires that a witness to a voter'sabsentee ballot provide, in addition to his signature, his printed name and residence address.
Income tax; subtraction for military retirementincome and survivor benefits. Establishes starting in taxableyear 2021 an income tax subtraction for all military retirement incomeand military benefits paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran.
Conduct of elections; voter identification and absentee voting; process for applying for, casting, and counting absentee ballots. Requires presentation of a form of identification containing a photograph in order to vote. The bill eliminates current provisions permitting a voter who does not have one of the required forms of identification to vote after signing a statement, subject to felony penalties for false statements, that he is the named registered voter he claims to be. Instead, such voter would be entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The bill prohibits absentee ballots from being returned to any location that is not located in the office of the general registrar, including drop boxes located outside of such locations. The bill provides that no waiver of the absentee ballot envelope witness signature shall be permitted under any circumstances and requires absentee ballots to have, in addition to the witness signature, the witness's printed name and residence address. The bill also requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots that are returned by mail before election day. The general registrar is required to examine the ballot envelopes to verify completion of the required voter affirmation; mark the pollbook, or the absentee voter applicant list if the pollbook is not available, that the voter has voted; and open the sealed ballot envelopes and insert the ballots in optical scan counting equipment or other secure ballot container without initiating any ballot count totals. Current law requires only that the general registrar undertake at least one such activity before election day. So that ballots can be separated from ballot envelopes and scanned, the bill requires that the office of the general registrar be used as a central absentee voter precinct. Absentee ballots processed at any central absentee voter precinct are required to be sorted by the precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assigned and that the resulting vote totals from such ballots be reported separately for each voter precinct.
Evidence of mental competence; medical scansof brain. Provides that in any proceeding where mental competenceor mental impairment is at issue, the court shall accept a properlyauthenticated computed tomography (CT) scan, computerized axial tomography(CAT) scan, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan that demonstratesthat the subject of such scan or image has a normal and uninjuredbrain as proof of competency and lack of impairment.
Local planning commissions; review deadlines.Adds rezoning or generalized development plans, special use permits,and special exception applications to various review deadlines andrequirements for local planning commissions.
Pedestrians; interference with traffic; penalty.Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor offense for a pedestrian, when crossinga highway, to maliciously or intentionally interfere with the orderlypassage of vehicles.
Department of Health Professions; naturopathicdoctors. Directs the Department of Health Professions to amendits regulations to require that a person complete a four-year accrediteddoctoral program in naturopathy and pass the naturopathy examinationadministered by the Virginia Naturopathic Doctors Association inorder to use the title "Naturopathic Doctor" or "ND." The bill requiresthe Department to collaborate with the Virginia Naturopathic DoctorsAssociation to draft and implement regulations related to the scopeof practice of naturopathic doctors in the Commonwealth.
Powers of State Health Commissioner in epidemic;vaccine; religious tenets or practices. Allows a parent or guardianto object to the vaccination or immunization of a child on the groundsthat the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with his religioustenets or practices, even if an emergency or epidemic of diseasehas been declared by the State Board of Health, which is not allowedunder current law. The bill also provides that nothing shall precludethe State Health Commissioner from requiring immediate immunizationof all persons in the case of an epidemic of any disease of publichealth importance for which a vaccine exists other than a person,including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objectson the grounds that the administration of the vaccine conflicts withhis religious tenets or practices. Under current law, the only exceptionto the Commissioner's power to require immediate immunization of all persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importancefor which a vaccine exists is for a person to whose health the administrationof a vaccine would be detrimental as certified in writing by a physicianlicensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth.
Celebrating the life of Jeffrey Peter Powell,M.D.
Animal-drawn vehicle equipment. Establishesequipment requirements for animal-drawn vehicles operating on the highways of the Commonwealth, including brake systems, tires andwheels, headlamps, hazard lights, reflectors, rearview mirrors, andhorns.
Golf carts and utility vehicles; County ofWestmoreland. Authorizes the governing body of the County of Westmorelandto, by ordinance, authorize a golf cart or utility vehicle to beoperated on a designated public highway where the posted speed limitis 40 miles per hour or less and the annual average daily trafficvolume is less than 1,000 vehicles per day.
