Higher education; students and student organizations; remedies for certain violations. Permits any student or student organization aggrieved by a violation of certain provisions of lawrelating to campus free speech by a public institution of highereducation or any employee of such institution acting in his officialcapacity to (i) bring a cause of action against such institutionor employee for appropriate relief, including injunctive relief,monetary damages, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs; (ii)assert such violation as a defense or counterclaim in any disciplinaryaction or civil or administrative proceeding brought against suchstudent or student organization; and (iii) pursue any other remedyavailable to such student or student organization.
Requiring a school resource officer in everyschool; School Resource Officer Supplementary Fund created. Requireseach local school board to place a school resource officer in eachpublic elementary and secondary school. The bill provides that 44percent of revenues from taxes on alcohol licenses, distilled spirits,and beer and wine coolers shall accrue to the School Resource OfficerSupplementary Fund, created by the bill, which would be used to fundthe costs of the school resource officer requirement.
Industrial hemp products; signage; green crossemblem. Authorizes any locality to adopt ordinances restrictingthe display by any business that sells hemp products of the symbolof a green cross with arms of equal length on exterior signage. Thebill also authorizes the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Servicesto adopt regulations restricting such display.
Department of Education; common statewidedefinition; "students with limited or interrupted formal education." Requires the Department of Education to develop and adopt a commonstatewide definition for the term "students with limited or interruptedformal education" and to require school boards to report on the numberof students who fall under such definition as part of the requireddata collection and reporting on average daily membership for thepurposes of documenting any changes in such numbers over time andallowing for comparisons of such numbers across local school divisions.The bill provides that in developing and adopting such common statewidedefinition, the Department of Education shall consider and may adopt existing definitions of "students with limited or interrupted formal education."
School boards; school meal policies; parentalnotification and opt-out. Requires each school board to adoptpolicies that (i) require each elementary and secondary school inthe school division to send to the parents of each student by theend of the first week of the school year notice of the consequencesof school meal debt and the school board policy and procedure relatingto such debt, including any requirement that such student be servedan alternative meal or be required to dispose of meals served to him while such debt remains unpaid; (ii) require any elementary or secondaryschool in the school division to resend such notice to the parentsof any student who accrues a school meal debt before the consequencesof such debt go into effect; and (iii) require the parents of anystudent who do not want their child to be served a school meal tosubmit a written request to the student's school.
Public school buses; decals; "In God We Trust."Permits local school boards, notwithstanding any regulation to thecontrary, to display decals containing the motto "In God We Trust"on public school buses, provided that no such decal obstructs thename of the school division or the number of the school bus.
Virginia taxable income; subtractions; volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical services personnel.Provides a state income tax subtraction of $20 per hour, up toa maximum of 300 hours per taxable year, for bona fide volunteerswho perform qualifying services, defined in the bill as volunteerfirefighting and fire prevention services, emergency medical services,auxiliary police officers, ambulance services, emergency rescue services,and all training and training-related activities required by law.
Certificate of public need; definition of "medical care facility." Adds to the list of medical care facilitiesfor which a certificate of public need is required any facility thathas common ownership with an affiliated licensed hospital located within 35 miles of the facility and that includes, as part of thefacility, a dedicated emergency department as defined in 42 C.F.R.§ 489.24(b) that is subject to the requirements of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.
Public education; state accountability and reporting; student subgroup size. Requires, for the purposes of ensuringstate accountability pursuant to relevant federal law and publiclyreporting the assessment scores of student subgroups, the minimumstudent subgroup size to be 10.
Writs of actual innocence. Provides thata person who was convicted of a felony or who was adjudicated delinquent by a circuit court of an offense that would be a felony if committedby an adult may petition for a writ of actual innocence based onbiological evidence or nonbiological evidence regardless of the typeof plea he entered at trial. Under current law, such person may petition for either writ if he entered a plea of not guilty, and any person,regardless of the type of plea he entered at trial, may petition for such writ based on biological evidence if he is sentenced todeath or convicted or adjudicated delinquent of murder or a felonyfor which the maximum punishment is imprisonment for life. The billalso eliminates the provision that limits a petitioner to only onewrit of actual innocence based on nonbiological evidence for anyconviction. The bill also clarifies that the Attorney General mayjoin a petition for a writ of actual innocence filed in connectionwith an adjudication of delinquency. Finally, the bill provides thatthe circuit court that entered the felony conviction or adjudicationof delinquency has original jurisdiction over the writ and that thepetitioner may appeal any final order denying such writ to the Courtof Appeals as an appeal of right.
Voter registration; preregistration for personsage 16 or older. Permits a person who is otherwise qualified to register to vote and is 16 years of age or older, but who will notbe 18 years of age on or before the day of the next general election,to preregister to vote. The preregistration does not entitle sucha person to vote in any election except as already permitted by law.The bill requires the Department of Elections to maintain a recordof all preregistered voters in the Virginia voter registration system,which shall automatically register a person who is preregisteredupon that person reaching 18 years or age or becoming eligible foradvance registration as already permitted by law, whichever comesfirst. The bill requires the Department to provide to the generalregistrars voter confirmation documents for such voters.
High-nicotine vapor products; specialtyretail facility; penalty. Prohibits the sale of nicotine vaporproducts that contain more than 20 milligrams of nicotine per milliliterat retail except at a retail facility that generates at least 50percent of its revenue from the sale of tobacco products; nicotinevapor products, including liquid nicotine; and alternative nicotineproducts. The bill provides that any person who violates this prohibitionis guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.
