Paid family and medical leave program. Requiresthe Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer apaid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January1, 2024. Under the program, benefits are paid to eligible employeesfor family and medical leave. Funding for the program is providedthrough premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning in2023. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's averageweekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changesin the statewide average weekly wage. The measure caps the durationof paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The bill provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.
Absentee voting; unsolicited absentee ballotapplications; required information. Requires any individual ororganization sending an application for an absentee ballot to a registeredvoter that was not solicited or requested by the registered voterto include with the application instructions on completing the applicationand submitting it to the appropriate general registrar. The billrequires a statement that the application is not being sent by anystate or local government official or agency on the envelope containingthe application or on the first page of any enclosed materials. Suchindividuals and organizations are required to use the informationprovided in the list of registered voters acquired by such individualor organization from the Department of Elections pursuant to law, and a violation of this requirement is a Class 4 misdemeanor. Thebill requires the Department of Elections to ensure, when providingthe list of registered voters to such individual or organization for purposes of sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications, thatno voter is included on the list provided if such voter has appliedfor an absentee ballot on or before the date the list is requested.
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;reporting requirements. Directs the Director of Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion to, when sending any memorandum to a public institutionof higher education recommending or mandating diversity of any description,submit copies of such memorandum to the Chairmen of the House Committeeon Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health. Thebill also directs the Director to provide to the Chairmen of theHouse Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Financeand Appropriations by January 1 of each year an itemized list ofexpenditures made by the office of the Director.
Board of Education; school modernization loaninterest rate subsidy payments; eligibility. Requires the Boardof Education to establish a program to use Literary Fund proceedsto subsidize interest payments on certain loans made by the VirginiaPublic School Authority to local governing bodies and school boardsfor the design and construction of new school buildings and facilitiesor the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities as follows: for school divisions in localities determinedto have above-average or high fiscal stress by the Commission onLocal Government in its most recent version of such report, the Boardshall subsidize up to 100 percent of the interest due on such loan.Under current law, eligibility for such interest rate subsidy paymentis based on the local composite index of ability to pay.
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services;Department of State Police; mobile applications; mental health and publicsafety. Requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services(DBHDS) to develop or obtain a mental health mobile application to facilitatethe provision of crisis intervention services by licensed clinicians toindividuals in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chat portals.The bill requires the mobile application to be integrated with the crisisintervention phone hotline administered by a third-party provider undercontract with the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) and requiresDMAS to provide DBHDS with data and other information necessary to ensure suchintegration. The Secretary of Health and Human Resources is directed topromote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill also requires the Department of State Police, incoordination with the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center, to (i) develop orobtain a public safety mobile application to enable individuals in theCommonwealth to furnish confidential tips to the Department of State Policethrough text, audio, images, or video concerning a suspected, anticipated, orcompleted criminal violation or a school-related safety concern and (ii)develop a referral system to ensure that such confidential tips are referred tothe appropriate law-enforcement agency, school board, threat assessment team,or other relevant entity. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Securityis directed to promote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill directs DBHDS and the Department of State Police tocoordinate the development or procurement of one comprehensive mobileapplication or separate mobile applications.
Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity; definitions; small business. Redefines "small business" for the purposes of programs for the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and the Virginia Public Procurement Act to mean a business that together with its affiliates has both 250 or fewer employees and average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years. Currently for these programs, a business qualifies as a small business if, together with its affiliates, it has either 250 or fewer employees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less averaged over the previous three years.
Income tax; subtraction for low-income military veterans with a permanent service-connected disability. Provides an income tax subtraction for the military retirement income received by a veteran who has been rated with a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability. The bill provides that the subtraction is available only to those taxpayers whose federal adjusted gross income is not greater than 150 percent of the federal poverty level for a four-person household. This bill incorporates HB 125.
Superintendent of Public Instruction; UrbanTeacher Fund and Program; established. Establishes the Urban Teacher Fund and Program, to be administered by the Superintendentof Public Instruction, for the purpose of providing grants to personsemployed in urban school divisions with teacher shortages who remain employed by the urban school division for a period of at least fiveyears.
Water and sewer service charges; tenant or lessee.Reduces the maximum potential responsibility of a property ownerfor a tenant's unpaid water and sewer charges by capping the dollaramount of such property owner's responsibility at $200.
Department of Transportation design standards; modifications. Authorizes a Residency Engineer of the Virginia Department of Transportation, a licensed engineer designated by a Residency Engineer, or a licensed engineer selected by a Resident Administrator to approve modifications to the Department's design standards in certain situations.
Conditional release of geriatric prisoners.Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a convictionfor a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentenceimposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least20 years of the sentence imposed, to petition the Parole Board forconditional release.
Public schools; seizure management and action plans; training. Provides for the submission and utilization of seizure management and action plans for students with a seizure disorder. The bill requires that school nurses and certain school division employees biennially complete a Board of Education-approved online course of instruction regarding treating students with seizure disorders. The bill also provides immunity from civil liability for acts or omissions related to providing for the care of a student under a seizure management and action plan.
