Authorizes any locality, by ordinance, to designate reasonable no-smoking areas within an outdoor amphitheater or concert venue owned by the locality. The bill requires such ordinance to (i) require adequate signage designating such areas, (ii) provide that a violation of such ordinance is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $25 to be paid into the treasury of the locality where the offense occurred and expended solely for public health purposes, and (ii) provide that any law-enforcement officer may issue a summons regarding a violation of the ordinance. The provisions of this act shall not become effective unless reenacted by the 2019 Session of the General Assembly.
Provides that, in any civil action in a court of record, a party requesting a rule to show cause for a violation of a court order shall file a motion or petition, which may be on a form prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary, with the court, which shall include facts identifying with particularity the violation or which shall be accompanied by an affidavit setting forth such facts. The introduced bill was a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Left in Commerce and Labor
Provides that a person who appeals a determination by a local department of social services related to child abuse or neglect to a hearing officer designated by the Commissioner of Social Services may request extensions of the hearing but that no extension causing the hearing to be delayed more than 90 days after the date on which the hearing was first scheduled to be held shall be granted absent a showing of compelling reasons to justify such extension.
Makes several changes relating to course credit at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, including requiring (i) the Virginia Community College System to develop a 15-credit-hour Passport Program and a 30-credit-hour Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program to be offered at each comprehensive community college and for which courses are transferable, except in certain circumstances, to each baccalaureate public institution of higher education and (ii) each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to develop pathway maps that clearly set forth the courses that a student at a comprehensive community college is encouraged to complete prior to transferring to the baccalaureate institution.
Prohibits a liability action against an equine activity sponsor if a waiver has been knowingly executed by the participant, the parent or guardian of a minor participant, or the duly authorized representative, designated in writing, of the parent or guardian. The bill provides that such waiver may be executed at a location other than that of the equine activity. The bill contains technical amendments.
Requires the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Virginia Railway Express, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board to annually conduct a joint public meeting for the purposes of presenting to the public, and receiving public comments on, the transportation projects proposed by each entity in Planning District 8.
Left in Transportation
Provides that any locality in Planning District 23 may, by ordinance, prohibit the operation of a personal watercraft on a public lake measuring less than 50 acres in extent, with a violation constituting a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Exempts from the prohibition against importing, possessing, transporting, purchasing, or selling any nonindigenous aquatic nuisance species without a permit any Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan certified restaurant or retail market that purchases from an HACCP certified dealer or sells processed snakehead fish of the family Channidae.
Authorizes the newspaper publication, if the permit applicant so elects, of an abbreviated public notice of certain Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, each with a link to the full public notice on the website of the Department of Environmental Quality. Current law requires the publication of such notice in a newspaper once a week for two successive weeks.
Creates the Henrietta Lacks Commission to establish through a public-private partnership the Henrietta Lacks Life Sciences Center in Halifax County as a cancer research and treatment center designed to (i) transform and accelerate cancer research and treatment through the use of biodata tools, (ii) provide tailored cancer treatment medicine to an underserved portion of rural Southside Virginia, and (iii) incubate new biotech businesses across the Southside Virginia region. The bill requires the Commission to annually submit a report on its interim activity and work to the Governor and General Assembly. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2021.
