Provides that appointments to the electoral board of each county and city are to be made by the chief judge of the judicial circuit for the county or city or that judge's designee, who shall be any other judge sitting in that judicial circuit. Currently, such appointments are made by a majority of the circuit judges and if a majority of the judges cannot agree, the senior judge makes the appointment. The bill also contains technical amendments.
Requires the Marine Resources Commission (the Commission) to post notice of an application to lease oyster planting grounds for 30 days on its website and to notify by mail any current holders of adjoining leases, and riparian owners within 200 feet of the selected grounds. Current law requires posting of notice at the local courthouse for 60 days. The bill (i) reduces from four weeks to two weeks the period during which the Commission is required to publish weekly notice of the application in a newspaper and (ii) requires all forms of notice to invite written comments. The bill also provides that the applicant shall bear the cost of notice.
Increases the grace period after which collection activity for unpaid court fines, costs, forfeitures, penalties, and restitution may be commenced from 30 days to 90 days after sentencing or judgment. The bill also establishes the requirements for deferred or installment payment agreements that a court must offer a defendant who is unable to pay court-ordered fines, costs, forfeitures, and penalties. The bill requires that a court take into account a defendant's financial circumstances, including whether the defendant owes fines and costs to other courts, in setting the terms of a payment agreement, but such decision shall not be based solely on the amount of fines and costs owed. The bill fixes the maximum down payments that a court may require as a condition of entering a payment plan and provides that payments made within 10 days of their due date are timely made. The bill precludes a court from denying a defendant the opportunity to enter into a payment agreement solely because of the crime committed, the total amount owed or that such amount has been referred to collections, any previous default by the defendant or failure to establish a payment history, or the defendant's eligibility for a restricted driver's license. The bill allows all costs and fines owed by a defendant to any one court to be incorporated into one payment agreement and allows a defendant to request a modification of the terms of the agreement, which shall be granted upon a good faith showing of need. The bill requires a court to consider a request by a defendant who has defaulted on a payment agreement to enter into a subsequent agreement and requires the court to fix a down payment for subsequent payment agreements. Finally, the bill provides that the payment agreement includes restitution unless the court has entered a separate order regarding the payment of restitution. This bill is identical to
Provides that prescriptions for products containing buprenorphine without naloxone shall be issued only (i) for patients who are pregnant, (ii) when converting a patient from methadone to buprenorphine containing naloxone for a period not to exceed seven days, or (iii) as permitted by regulations of the Board of Medicine or the Board of Nursing. The bill contains an emergency clause and has an expiration date of July 1, 2022. This bill is identical to
Increases the share of certain moneys in the Fire Programs Fund to be allocated to localities for the improvement of volunteer and career fire services from 75 percent to 80 percent. The measure does not become effective unless it is reenacted by the 2018 Session of the General Assembly.
Exempts any natural gas utility serving fewer than 2,000 residential customers and fewer than 350 commercial and industrial customers in the year in which the utility makes an investment for qualifying projects from the provision that limits the amount of investment that a natural gas utility may make in qualifying projects to one percent of its net plant investment that was used in establishing base rates in its most recent rate case. The existing exemption to the one percent cap was enacted in 2013 and applies to any natural gas utility serving fewer than 1,000 residential customers and fewer than 250 commercial and industrial customers in such year. Legislation enacted in 2012 established a mechanism for natural gas utilities to recover the eligible infrastructure development costs of a qualifying project through future rates. A qualifying project is an economic development project for which, among other things, the utility has received a binding commitment from the developer or occupant of the proposed project regarding capacity or a financial guaranty from the developer or state or local government in the amount of at least 50 percent of the estimated investment to be made in the proposed project. This bill is identical to
Provides that whenever a home inspector observes the presence of any shade of yellow shaded corrugated stainless steel tubing during an inspection of a home built prior to the adoption of the construction code effective in 2008, his observation must be included in the inspection report along with the following statement: "Manufacturers believe that this product is safer if properly bonded and grounded as required by the manufacturer's installation instructions. Proper bonding and grounding of the product should be determined by a contractor licensed to perform the work in the Commonwealth of Virginia."
Makes numerous changes related to the repayment of court-ordered restitution, including: (i) requiring the court to enter the amount of restitution, the date by which all restitution is to be paid, and the terms and conditions of repayment on a form prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court; (ii) providing that docketing an order of restitution as a civil judgment does not prohibit the court from enforcing such order by any other available means; and (iii) requiring the clerk of every circuit and district court to submit quarterly reports to the attorney for the Commonwealth and any probation agency serving the locality listing (a) all defendants with outstanding balances of court-ordered restitution and (b) all accounts where more than 90 days have passed since such account was sent to collections and no payments have been made. As introduced, the bill was a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission. This bill is identical to
Permits the State Board for Community Colleges to charge reduced rate tuition and mandatory fees to any student who is (i) an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed outside of the Commonwealth; (ii) enrolled in a degree program at a comprehensive community college, provided that any such comprehensive community college that offers online degree programs is a member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity; and (iii) enrolled in training that leads to a Military Occupational Specialty in the Army or Marine Corps, an Air Force Specialty Code, or a Navy Enlisted Classification.
Requires Northern Virginia Community College (i) in consultation with the Department of Education, to contract with a partner organization to develop, market, and implement high-quality and effective computer science training and professional development activities for public school teachers throughout the Commonwealth for the purpose of improving the computer science literacy of all public school students in the Commonwealth and (ii) to establish an advisory committee for the purpose of advising the college and its partner organization on the development, marketing, and implementation of such training and professional development activities. This bill is identical to
Updates terminology by changing "license" to "registration" to better reflect the responsibility of the Department of Aviation to locate and count aircraft. The bill removes from the Virginia Aviation Board the power and duty to promulgate rules for air traffic, construction and inspection of aircraft, qualifications and licensing of airmen, and stunt flying to better reflect the current regulatory responsibilities.
Adds payment by credit to a prepaid debit card or card account to the methods by which a juror may be paid. The bill requires that, where such method is used, such card or card account permit the juror to withdraw or transfer funds without incurring a fee.
