Del. Wendy Gooditis

Commending Daphne Tamara Fulson.

Commending The Arc of Northern Virginia.

Commending the Honorable M. Kirkland Cox.

Foster care; termination of parental rights; relatives and fictive kin. Requires local departments of social services and licensed child-placing agencies to involve in the development of a child's foster care plan the child's relatives and fictive kin who are interested in the child's welfare. The bill requires that a child 12 years of age or older be involved in the development of his foster care plan; under current law, a child's involvement is mandatory upon reaching 14 years of age. The bill contains other amendments to provisions governing foster care and termination of parental rights that encourage the placement of children with relatives and fictive kin.

Probation, revocation, and suspension of sentence; limitations. Limits the amount of active incarceration a court can impose as a result of a revocation hearing for a probation violation. The bill provides that if the court finds the basis of a violation of the terms and conditions of a suspended sentence or probation is that the defendant was convicted of a criminal offense or violated another condition other than a technical violation, the court may pronounce whatever sentence might have been originally imposed. The bill defines "technical violation" and provides specific limitations on the sentence a court may impose depending on whether the violation is a first, second, or third or subsequent technical violation. The bill also provides that a court may fix the period of probation for up to the statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned and any period of supervised probation shall not exceed five years from the release of the defendant from any active period of incarceration. The bill also provides that a court must measure any period of suspension of sentence from the date of entry of the original sentencing order.

Employment; domestic service. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.

Electric vehicle rebate program; creation andfunding; report. Creates a rebate program for the purchase or lease of new and used electric vehicles, to be administered by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. A purchaser or lesseeof an electric vehicle would receive a $2,500 rebate at the timeof purchase, and a purchaser or lessee with an annual household incomethat does not exceed 300 percent of the federal poverty level wouldbe entitled to an additional $2,000 rebate. The motor vehicle dealerwhere the vehicle is purchased or leased would receive a refund forthe amount of the rebate and a $50 incentive payment for each rebateprocessed. Funds would be allocated from the revenues generated bythe sunset of the Virginia Coal Employment and Production IncentiveTax Credit and the Coalfield employment enhancement tax credit andprohibit the allocation of new credits on and after January 1, 2021.The bill also establishes an Electric Vehicle Rebate Advisory Councilto oversee the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program and to make recommendationsregarding its implementation. The Director of the Department of Mines,Minerals and Energy is required to report annually to the Governorand the General Assembly regarding the Program. The Program will expire on September 1, 2026.

Virginia Human Rights Act; definition of employer;person employing one or more domestic workers. Expands the definitionof "employer" for all purposes of the Virginia Human Rights Act toinclude a person employing one or more domestic workers, as definedin the bill.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; recordexclusion for personal contact information provided to a public body.Provides that personal contact information provided to a publicbody or any of its members for the purpose of receiving electroniccommunications from the public body or any of its members is excludedfrom the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA, unless the recipient of such electronic communications indicates his approval for thepublic body to disclose such information. Currently, the law providesprotections for personal contact information provided to a public body, not to its members; only applies to electronic mail; and requiresthe electronic mail recipient to request the public body not to disclose his personal contact information in order for the information to be exempt from mandatory disclosure. This bill is a recommendationof the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council.

Broadband services; education. Authorizesschool boards to appropriate funds for the purposes of promoting,facilitating, and encouraging the expansion and operation of broadbandservices for educational purposes. The bill authorizes school boardsto partner with private broadband service providers to promote, implement,and subsidize broadband for educational purposes to the householdsof students who would qualify for (i) a child nutrition program or(ii) any other program recognized or adopted by the local schoolboard as a measuring standard to identify at-risk students.