Local Food and Farming Infrastructure Grant Program. Establishes the Local Food and Farming Infrastructure Grant Program and authorizes the Governor to award grants to political subdivisions from the Governor's Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund as part of the Program. Such grants, in amounts up to $25,000, shall be awarded on a competitive basis to support infrastructure development projects that support local food production and sustainable farming. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry to develop guidelines for the Program that favor projects that establish or maintain farmers markets; businesses or organizations that manage the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of food products primarily from local and regional producers; and primarily locally owned processing facilities.
Sponsored bills
State Corporation Commission; transportation electrification; utility recovery of certain costs; report. Directs the State Corporation Commission (Commission) to report on policy proposals to accelerate transportation electrification in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Commission to submit, no later than May 1, 2022, a report to the General Assembly recommending policy proposals that could govern public electric utility programs to accelerate widespread transportation electrification in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Commission to utilize a public process, facilitated by a third party with expertise in transportation electrification, in which the Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, the Department of Transportation, and appropriate stakeholders participate. The bill requires that the Commission, in developing its policy recommendations, evaluate (i) areas where utility or other public investment may best complement private efforts to effectively deploy charging infrastructure, with particular focus on low-income, minority, and rural communities; (ii) how smart growth policies can complement and enhance the Commonwealth's transportation electrification goals; (iii) how utility programs, investments, or incentives to customers or third parties to facilitate the deployment of charging infrastructure and related upgrades can support or enhance (a) statewide transportation electrification, including electrification of public transit; (b) the electrification of medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, school buses, vehicles at ports and airports, personal vehicles, and vehicle fleets; (c) increased access to electric transportation and improved air quality in low-income and medium-income communities; (d) achievement of existing energy storage targets; (e) improvements to the distribution grid or to specific sites necessary to accommodate charging infrastructure; and (f) customer education and outreach programs that increase awareness of such programs and the benefits of transportation electrification. The bill requires that the report also address whether and how transportation electrification can, under current law, (a) reduce total ratepayer rates and costs; (b) assist in grid management and more efficient use of the grid, in a manner that does not increase peak demand, through time-of-use rates, managed charging programs, vehicle-to-grid programs, or other alternative rate designs; (c) utilize increased generation from renewable energy resources; and (d) reduce fueling costs for vehicles. The bill requires that, to the extent that the Commission and stakeholders conclude that transportation electrification cannot currently deliver these benefits, the report include public policy recommendations. Additionally, the bill requires, beginning July 1, 2021, that any approved costs of any investor-owned electric utility associated with investment in transportation electrification be recovered only through the utility's rates for generation and distribution, prohibits recovery of such costs through a rate adjustment clause, and provides that such costs are not eligible for a customer credit reinvestment offset.
Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund and Program; handbook. Establishes the Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund and Program (the Fund and Program). The bill provides that no allocation of funds shall be made to the Fund or Program unless federal funds are available to cover the cost of such allocation. The Fund and Program shall be administered by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy for the purpose of awarding grants to renewable energy projects that are located on brownfields or previously coal mined lands, both defined in the bill. Grants are to be awarded on a basis of $500 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on previously coal mined lands and $100 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on brownfields. No more than $10 million shall be awarded to any previously coal mined lands project and no more than $5 million to any single brownfield project. No more than $35 million shall be allocated per year by the grant program. Of the $35 million, $20 million shall be reserved for previously coal mined lands projects. If less than $20 million is distributed to such projects, the remaining funds may be reallocated to brownfield projects. The bill also provides that the Department shall, in consultation with stakeholders, develop a handbook for renewable energy and energy storage development on brownfields and previously coal mined lands. Finally, the bill requires the Department to submit an annual report regarding administration of the Fund and Program to the General Assembly. However, the annual report shall not be required if the Fund and Program are not funded.
Certain students in kindergarten through grade3; reading intervention services. Requires reading interventionservices for students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstratedeficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standardsof Learning reading test or any reading diagnostic test that meetscriteria established by the Department of Education to be evidence-basedand aligned with the science of reading and structured literacy approaches,both defined in the bill, and to include the components of effectivereading instruction and explicit, systematic, sequential, and cumulativeinstruction. The bill requires the parent of each student who receivessuch reading intervention services to be notified before the servicesbegin and the progress of each such student to be monitored throughoutthe provision of services. The bill also requires the Departmentof Education, no later than the beginning of the 2021%962022 school year, to compile and provide to each local school division a listof materials, resources, and curriculum programs that are supportedby the science of reading and based on instruction that is explicit,systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic, including (i) evidence-baseddyslexia programs that are aligned to structured literacy or groundedin the Orton-Gillingham methodology and (ii) evidence-based readingintervention programs, including programs that are grounded in thescience of reading.
Absentee voting; early in person; availabilityon Sundays. Permits the electoral board or general registrarof a county or city to provide absentee voting in person in the officeof the general registrar or voter satellite office on Sundays.
Virginia Fair Housing Law; unlawful discriminatory housing practices. Prohibits any locality, its employees, or its appointed commissions from discriminating (i) in the application of local land use ordinances or guidelines, or in the permitting of housing developments, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, or disability; (ii) in the permitting of housing developments because the housing development contains or is expected to contain affordable housing units occupied or intended for occupancy by families or individuals with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income of the area where the housing development is located or is proposed to be located; or (iii) by prohibiting or imposing conditions upon the rental or sale of dwelling units, provided that the provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit ordinances related to short-term rentals. The bill provides that it shall not be a violation of the Virginia Fair Housing Law if land use decisions or decisions relating to the permitting of housing developments are based upon considerations of limiting high concentrations of affordable housing. The bill also requires the Fair Housing Board, after determining the existence of an unlawful discriminatory housing practice and after consultation with the Attorney General, to immediately refer the matter to the Attorney General for civil action.
Licensed certified midwives; licensure; practice. Defines "practice of licensed certified midwifery," directs the Boards of Medicine and Nursing to establish criteria for the licensure and renewal of a license as a certified midwife, and requires licensed certified midwives to practice in consultation with a licensed physician in accordance with a practice agreement. The bill also directs the Department of Health Professions to convene a workgroup to study the licensure and regulation of certified nurse midwives, certified midwives, and certified professional midwives to determine the appropriate licensing entity for such professionals. The Department shall report its findings and conclusions to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2021.
Duties of agencies and their appointing authorities; diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic plans. Requires stateagencies to establish and maintain a comprehensive diversity, equity,and inclusion strategic plan in coordination with the Governor's Directorof Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Department of Health and the Office of the ChiefMedical Examiner; plan for the establishment of a Fetal and InfantMortality Review Team; report. Directs the Department of Healthand the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to develop a plan forthe establishment of a Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Team andto report such plan to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriationsand Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees onFinance and Appropriations and Education and Health by December 1,2021. The bill also requires the Department of Health to convenea work group to participate in development of the plan and, uponinclusion in a general appropriation act adopted by the General Assemblyof funds for such purpose, to hire such contract staff as may benecessary to assist the work group with development of the plan.
Loudoun County school board; staggered terms.Enables the Loudoun County school board to stagger the terms of itsmembers at the November election immediately preceding the end ofthe board's term and upon the board's prior vote for staggered terms.