Del. Wendy Gooditis

Celebrating the life of Alan Arnold Diamonstein.

Transit funding. Raises the existing regional transportation fee, a grantor's tax, from $0.15 per $100 to $0.20 per $100 for localities in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority that are also members of the Northern Virginia Transportation District. The bill requires half of the revenues to be deposited in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Fund and half to be deposited in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Capital Fund. The rate of tax in the other localities will remain at $0.15 per $100, with one-third of the revenues to be retained by the locality to be used for transportation purposes and the other two-thirds to be deposited in the Northern Virginia Transportation District Fund. The bill also raises the existing transient occupancy tax in the localities located in the Northern Virginia Transportation District from $2 to $3, with all of the revenues from the tax being used to support WMATA. This bill incorporates HB 977.

Celebrating the life of William Griffith Thomas.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable GeraldL. Baliles.

Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program established. Establishes the Virginia Diverse Educator Scholarship Fund and Program, to be administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, for the purpose of annually providing to each Historically Black College or University in the Commonwealth (Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, and Virginia Union University) such sums as are necessary for each such institution to annually provide scholarships on a competitive basis to no more than two students who (i) identify as African American, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Native American or Native Alaskan, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; (ii) are accepted to or enrolled in such institution's education preparation program; and (iii) are eligible for a federal Pell Grant to attend such institution. The bill provides that each such scholarship would consist of the following sums: (a) the cost of tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and textbooks at such institution; (b) the recipient's teacher licensure fees; (c) $5,000 toward teacher professional development activities for the recipient, including coursework, seminars, and conferences; and (d) $10,000 toward mentorship of the recipient by an experienced teacher who is deemed by the relevant school board to be highly effective and able to provide high quality mentorship. The bill requires each student who is awarded a scholarship pursuant to the Program to agree in writing to (1) teach in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth in which at least 75 percent of the enrolled students qualify for free or reduced price lunch or are members of families whose income is below the federal poverty guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upon graduation for a period that is at least as long as the period during which the recipient used scholarship funds to attend a Historically Black College or University and (2) be mentored by an experienced teacher, as described in clause (d), during such period of employment.

Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund and Program; handbook. Establishes the Virginia Brownfield Renewable Energy and Coal Mine Grant Fund and Program. 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. 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, subject to appropriation, the Department shall, in consultation with stakeholders, develop a guidebook for renewable energy and energy storage development on brownfields and previously coal mined lands.

Transition of towns to cities. Makes anexception to the current moratorium on the granting of new city chartersby allowing towns with a population of greater than 50,000 that aretransitioning to city status to seek a city charter. The bill containsa technical amendment.

Goat grazing on stream buffers. Authorizesa locality that procures and utilizes goats for the temporary grazingof stream buffers to remain in compliance with a resource managementplan for pasture land. Such compliance qualifies the locality formatching grants for agricultural best management practices providedthrough the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-ShareProgram. The bill also clarifies that such grazing is not prohibitedby certain provisions of the State Water Control Law.

Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit beginning in taxable year 2020 for expenses incurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member, defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activities of daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percent of eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver, but shall not exceed $1,000. In order to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) not receive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expenditures and (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for married persons. Both the caregiver and the eligible family member must be residents of Virginia. The bill requires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claiming the credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forward by the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable year for which the credit was issued. The credit expires beginning with taxable year 2025.

Study; Department of Elections; use of blockchain technology to protect voter records and election results; report.Requests the Department of Elections to conduct a study to (i) determinethe kinds of blockchain technology that could be used to secure voterrecords and election results, (ii) determine the costs and benefitsof using such technology as compared to traditional registrationand election security measures, and (iii) make recommendations on whether and how to implement blockchain technology in practices affectingthe security of voter records and election results.