Celebrating the life of Lori Lee Brickley.
Paid quarantine leave. Requires public and private employers to provide eligible employees paid quarantine leave. The bill provides that such paid quarantine leave is available for immediate use by the employee, regardless of how long the employee has been employed by the employer. The bill provides that such paid quarantine leave may be used for (i) an eligible employee's illness or health condition related to the COVID-19 virus; an eligible employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of an illness or health condition related to the COVID-19 virus; or an eligible employee's need for preventive medical care related to the COVID-19 virus; (ii) care of a family member with an illness or health condition related to the COVID-19 virus; care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness or health condition related to the COVID-19 virus; or care of a family member who needs preventive medical care related to the COVID-19 virus; or (iii) or care for oneself or a family member when it has been determined by the health authorities having jurisdiction or by a health care provider that the eligible employee's or family member's presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others because of his exposure to the COVID-19 virus, whether or not the eligible employee or family member has actually contracted COVID-19.The bill prohibits employers from taking certain retaliatory actions against an employee related to paid quarantine leave or because the employee is ineligible for or has exhausted his paid quarantine leave and is absent from work without compensation for the same purposes an employee may use paid quarantine leave. The bill provides that an employee is authorized to bring a civil action against the employer for violations of the bill's provisions if such violations are not resolved through the employer's human resources department. The bill does not apply to employees of the Commonwealth unless federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds are available to fund the costs necessary to do so. Except for employers of employees in domestic service, the bill does not apply to employers with 25 employees or less, unless a federally funded grant program is available to such employers. The bill sunsets on July 1, 2021 or expiration of the state of emergency declared by the Governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Executive Order 51 (2020), whichever is earlier.
Civil action for deprivation of rights; dutiesand liabilities of certain employers in employing or contractingfor the services of law-enforcement officers. Creates a civilaction for the deprivation of a person's rights by a law-enforcementofficer and provides that a plaintiff may be awarded compensatorydamages, punitive damages, and equitable relief, as well as reasonableattorney fees and costs. The bill further imposes upon a law-enforcementofficer's employer, as defined in the bill, a duty to exercise reasonablecare to control a law-enforcement officer's conduct while such officeris acting outside the scope of his employment to prevent such officerfrom intentionally harming, or creating a risk of harm, to thirdparties. The bill further states that an employer has a duty of reasonablecare to third parties in the supervision and training of law-enforcementofficers for whose services it employs or contracts. The bill furtherprovides that an employer is liable to a vulnerable victim, as definedin the bill, for the tortious or criminal conduct of a law-enforcementofficer it employs or contracts for his services if such conductproximately causes injury to such victim and occurs at a place andtime when the employer knew or should have known that such officer could be in contact with a vulnerable victim. The bill provides thatsovereign immunity and governmental immunity shall not apply to suchactions specified or created in the bill.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable John HenryHager.
House Ethics Advisory Panel; confirming nominationsby the Speaker of the House of Delegates. Confirms nominationsmade by the Speaker of the House of Delegates to the House Ethics Advisory Panel.
Virginia Retirement System; retired law-enforcement officers employed as school security officers. Provides thatif a retired law-enforcement officer was employed by a local schooldivision as a school security officer on January 1, 2020, and hada bona fide break in service of at least one month between retirementand employment as a school security officer, such person is not requiredto establish a 12-month break in service that would otherwise berequired by law. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1,2021.
Broadband funding. Appropriates to theDepartment of Housing and Community Development a sum sufficient to expand access to broadband services in underserved and unserved areasof the Commonwealth.
School personnel; school nurses. Excludesschool nurse positions from requirements for student support positionsand instead requires each local school board to employ at least onefull-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school,middle school, and high school in the local school division.
Immunity from civil claims related to the transmissionof or exposure to the COVID-19 virus; emergency. Provides immunityto a person, as defined in the bill, from civil causes of actionarising from any act or omission alleged to have resulted in thecontraction of or exposure to the COVID-19 virus, provided such personhas complied with applicable and the most recent federal, state,and local laws, policies, procedures, and guidance regarding COVID-19.The bill requires every person to provide, with respect to any premisesowned by the person or under the person's possession, custody, orcontrol, reasonable notice of actions taken by the person for thepurpose of reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to individualspresent on the premises. The bill contains an emergency clause andspecifies that the provisions apply to claims arising no later than180 days after the expiration or revocation of all states of emergencydeclared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public schools; declared state of emergency;average daily membership. Provides that in the event that a declaredstate of emergency causes a disruption in the provision of in-personinstruction for students that affects the calculation of averagedaily membership in a local school division as of March 31 in anyschool year, such membership shall consist of the greater of theaverage daily membership as of March 31 in the affected school yearand the average daily membership as of March 31 in the immediatelypreceding school year.
School boards; teachers; paid leave; COVID-19;emergency. Requires each school board to provide to each teacherin the local school division up to 14 days of paid leave, in additionto any other paid leave to which such individual is otherwise entitled,that may be used in the event that the teacher (i) has been exposedto the COVID-19 virus and is required to self-quarantine, (ii) contractsCOVID-19, or (iii) is required to provide care for a family memberwho contracts COVID-19. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Income tax credit for rent forgone due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Establishes for taxable years 2020 through2024 a nonrefundable income tax credit for landlords for any residentialrent forgone during the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of the creditis 65 percent of lost rent and is limited to $250,000 per taxpayerper year; any excess can be carried forward for up to three years.If a landlord receives rent for which he claimed a credit, such landlordis required to remit to the Department of Taxation the applicable portion of the credit that was granted within 90 days of receivingit.
