Study; JLARC; feasibility of adjusting the compositeindex of local ability to pay; report. Requires the Joint LegislativeAudit and Review Commission to study the feasibility of adjustingthe composite index of local ability to pay by (i) reviewing currentstatutory, constitutional, and budgetary provisions governing thecalculation of Standards of Quality costs and funding; (ii) examiningthe components of the composite index of local ability to pay; (iii)evaluating other states' public school funding formulas; (iv) hearinglocal concerns and seeking input from various state and national experts, as applicable; and (v) determining the feasibility of reducingthe local share under the Local Composite Index (LCI) in schooldivisions in which the locality is determined to have above-averagefiscal stress or high fiscal stress by the Virginia Commission onLocal Government in its most recent "Report on the Comparative RevenueCapacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia Countiesand Cities."
School personnel; staffing ratios; school nurses.Excludes school nurse positions from requirements for student supportpositions and instead requires each local school board to employ at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school, middle school, and high school in the local school divisionor at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position per 550students in grades kindergarten through 12.
Taxes on tobacco products; penalties. Provides that tobacco products, defined in the bill, would be subject to tax at rates of $1.80 per pack of cigarettes or 39 percent of the wholesale price for all other tobacco products. Current law imposes taxes of $0.30 per pack of cigarettes, 10 percent of the wholesale price of certain tobacco products, and various weight-based rates that apply to moist snuff and loose leaf tobacco. The bill broadens the definition of "tobacco product" to include electronic smoking devices, which are not taxed under current law. The bill authorizes all localities to tax all tobacco products with no restriction on the tax rate. Under current law, cities may tax only cigarettes, and the Counties of Arlington and Fairfax may tax cigarettes at a rate no higher than the state rate. The bill dedicates portions of revenue accruing as a result of the tax increases and new taxes established by the bill to the Department of Health for its costs related to Quit Now Virginia for the purpose of providing free information and coaching to residents who want to quit smoking or using tobacco; to the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth to fund initiatives to prevent or reduce youth tobacco use; to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to fund initiatives to educate merchants on the laws governing the sale of tobacco products; and to the general fund.
Commending Alvene Buckley.
Commending King George County.
Commending Elnora F. Tompkins.
Robert O. Norris Bridge and Statewide SpecialStructure Fund. Directs the Commonwealth Transportation Boardto allocate $80 million in funding to the Robert O. Norris Bridgeand Statewide Special Structure Fund in fiscal year 2021.
Common interest communities; Property Owners' Association Act; special meetings. Provides that, except to the extent the declaration or bylaws of the property owners' association provide otherwise, a special meeting may be called at the request of at least 10 percent of the voting members of the association's board of directors.
Hunting with dogs; retrieval and trespass; discharge of firearm on road; civil and criminal penalties. Prohibits a dog owner from allowing his dog to run at large on the property of another after the landowner has given notice to the dog owner to keep dogs off the property. The bill provides for a civil penalty of $100 per dog enforced by animal control, conservation police, and other law-enforcement officers and a civil penalty of $250 per occurrence for a second or subsequent occurrence. The bill contains an exception to the penalty if the dog's owner or custodian releases the dog on property measuring 500 acres or more that is owned or leased by him or on which he has written permission to hunt.The bill provides that the release of a hunting dog on a public road or on either side of such road within 100 feet of the centerline is a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill also requires a hunter of game other than fox or raccoon, when going on prohibited lands to retrieve his dog, to obtain the permission of the owner or occupant of the property before entering such prohibited lands. A violation of such is a Class 4 misdemeanor.Finally, the bill makes it a Class 4 misdemeanor to discharge a firearm or bow within 75 feet of either side of the centerline of a road. Current law prohibits such discharge in or across any road, within the right-of-way thereof, or in a street of any city or town. The bill includes technical changes.
Charitable gaming; regulations of the Charitable Gaming Board; creation of systems to ensure the integrity of certain games. Requires the Charitable Gaming Board to adopt regulations that create a system for ensuring the integrity of the management, operation, and conduct of instant bingo, pull tabs, and seal cards. The bill also requires the Board to adopt regulations that create a system that requires each electronic game of chance device approved by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to be connected to a central monitoring and audit system for the purpose of ensuring the integrity of such devices. The bill requires that such system provide the ability to audit and account for device revenues and distributions in a timely and accurate manner. The bill requires that each electronic game of chance device store certain specified information and that such information also be stored on a server, which shall be backed up at least once per day to an offsite storage facility controlled by the qualified organization. The bill provides that the regulations shall require that the server and offsite backup storage be accessible to the Board and employees of the Board and subject to third-party checks and validation as may be required by the Board. Finally, the bill requires the Board to adopt regulations that prohibit the remote modification or manipulation of Department-approved electronic games of chance.
Allocation of remote sales tax collections;Transportation Trust Fund. Allocates sales tax revenues collectedfrom remote sellers, pursuant to Chapters 815 and 816 of the Actsof Assembly of 2019, to the Transportation Trust Fund to be used for the maintenance and repair of existing highways.
Voter referendum; issuance of state generalobligation bonds for school facility modernization. Providesfor a statewide referendum on the question of whether the GeneralAssembly shall issue state general obligation bonds in the amountof $3 billion for the purpose of K-12 school building construction,repair, or other capital projects related to the modernization ofschool facilities. The results would be advisory only and are intendedonly to demonstrate the preference of the citizens of the Commonwealthon the issuance of such bonds. The referendum would be held at theNovember 2020 general election.
