Board of Education; uniform minimum standards for modern public school buildings. Requires the Board of Education to prescribe by regulation uniform minimum standards for the erection of modern public school buildings and the modernization of existing public school buildings for the purpose of promoting positive educational outcomes for each public elementary and secondary school student. The bill requires such regulations to include uniform minimum modern public school building standards that promote (i) the delivery of instruction that complies with the Standards of Learning by addressing enrollment capacity and available space and (ii) the health and safety of each enrolled student. The bill requires each school board, once every three years, to (a) assess and report to the Board the extent to which each public school building in the local school division complies with such uniform minimum standards and (b) submit to the Board a long-range plan for compliance with such uniform minimum standards, including an assessment of the cost of such compliance, in any case in which the school board determines that a public school building in the local school division does not comply with such standards. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Hunting and fishing license; military service. Authorizes any resident who is on active duty with, has been honorably discharged after at least six months of service in, or has retired from any branch of the United States Armed Forces to apply for and receive a sportsman's hunting and fishing license for 75 percent of the fee.
Budget Bill. Provides for all appropriations of the Budget submitted by the Governor of Virginia in accordance with the provisions of § 2.2-1509, Code of Virginia, and provides a portion of revenues for the two years ending respectively on the thirtieth day of June 2021, and the thirtieth day of June 2022.
Virginia Community College System; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Scholarship Pilot Program. Directs the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to establish and administer a two-year Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Scholarship Pilot Program, beginning in 2020, for the purpose of providing access to postsecondary educational opportunities to students living in poverty. The Program would provide scholarships to select comprehensive community colleges in the maximum amount of $4,000 per year to 200 selected students who meet TANF eligibility requirements. The Program would be funded by the unexpended balance in federal TANF block grant funds. The bill directs VCCS to report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 1 of each year of the Program regarding the effectiveness of and other information about the Program. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Electric utility regulation; initial triennial review. Establishes requirements for the first scheduled triennial review proceeding for Virginia Electric and Power Company that is scheduled to be conducted in 2021. The measure directs that such initial triennial review shall consist of a generation and distribution rate case conducted solely pursuant to Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq.) of Title 56 of the Code of Virginia, rules of the State Corporation Commission, and this measure. As part of the initial triennial review, the Commission is directed to review the earnings during the utility's test period and to order credits to customers in amounts equal to any earnings during the combined test periods that are above the utility's authorized rate of return in effect on July 1, 2020, as determined in the initial triennial review. The measure authorizes the Commission to order rate adjustments and to use any methodology to determine the fair rate of return on common equity that it finds consistent with the public interest, provided that such return shall be set at a level that is sufficient to assure confidence in the utility's financial integrity, adequate to maintain and support the utility's credit and its ability to attract capital, and comparable to returns that investors in securities would expect to earn on investments of similar risk. The measure provides that any capital investments made during the combined test periods reviewed during an initial triennial review in solar or wind generation facilities or electric distribution grid transformation projects will not be applied as customer credit reinvestment offsets during such utility's initial triennial review, but any portion of such capital investments that remain undepreciated as of the utility's subsequent triennial reviews may be applied as customer credit reinvestment offsets in subsequent proceedings. The measure directs the utility to make its initial triennial review filing by March 31, 2021. Subsequent triennial reviews shall be conducted pursuant to the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act. This bill incorporates HB 969.
Celebrating the life of Master Chief RudolphErnest Boesch, USN, Ret.
Oversize and overweight vehicles; route designation; City of Lexington. Requires an entity issuing an oversize or overweight permit to a vehicle that is traveling through or near the City of Lexington, when the designation of a route is appropriate, to designate that such vehicle shall use U.S. Route 11 to travel between U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 64 without passing through the City of Lexington.
Sentencing in a criminal case; bifurcated jurytrial. Provides that in cases of trial by jury in which the chargedoffense is not punishable by death and in which a defendant has testifiedin his case-in-chief, a jury shall render its verdict and its recommendedsentence, if applicable, at the same time.
Virginia Energy and Economy Transition Council established. Establishes the Virginia Energy and Economy Transition Council, consisting of 30 members, to develop plans to assist the Commonwealth in transitioning from the use of fossil fuel energy to renewable energy by 2050. The bill provides that the Council sunsets on July 1, 2023.
Commending the Hopewell High School footballteam.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable ElliotSchewel.
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.
