Del. Wendy Gooditis

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; tradingallowance reserve account; facilities with long-term contracts.Provides that if the Commonwealth becomes a participant in the RegionalGreenhouse Gas Initiative or another carbon dioxide cap and tradeprogram with an open auction of allowances, the Department of EnvironmentalQuality shall establish an allowance reserve account for any electricgeneration facility that operates according to a long-term contractthat was executed prior to May 16, 2017, and prohibits the recoveryof allowance costs. The bill provides that such a facility shallbe allocated free allowances from the reserve account sufficientto cover its annual compliance obligation for the duration of the long-term contract.

Limitations period; previously time-barred actions;sexual abuse; three-year time period to file. Creates a three-yeartime period within which persons previously time-barred from filingan action for injury to such person for sexual abuse occurring duringthe infancy or incapacity of such person due to the expiration ofthe statute of limitations may file such an action.

Commending the Loudoun Hunt.

Child abuse; interviews. Requires that interviewsof child victims of alleged sexual abuse be conducted as a forensicinterview at the local child advocacy center in accordance with thecenter's protocol, unless a forensic interview is not appropriatebased on the child's age and development or the center's protocol.The bill allows such interviews to be conducted at a nearby childadvocacy center if no child advocacy center exists in the localitywhere the alleged abuse occurred.

Study; Department of Environmental Quality;Waste Diversion and Recycling Task Force; report. Requests theDepartment of Environmental Quality to establish a Waste Diversionand Recycling Task Force to study ways to increase waste diversionand recycling. The resolution requests that the Department work withstakeholders to develop recommendations to reduce waste at the sourcesuch as composting and recycling of organic material. It also requeststhat the Department study potential improvements in the goals andefficiency of the grant program funded by the Litter Control and RecyclingFund, which under current law is used to fund local litter prevention,recycling grants to localities, and statewide and regional litterprevention and recycling educational program grants. The Departmentshall (i) study methods of improving recycling, reducing waste, anddiverting waste from landfills, (ii) develop recommendations to reducewaste at the source, such as composting and recycling of organicmaterial, and (iii) consider whether current recycling rates required by Virginia law should be increased and whether state policy shouldbe changed to give landfills a greater role in the management oforganic material.

Campaign finance; prohibited contributions tocandidates. Prohibits any candidate from soliciting or acceptinga contribution from any public service corporation, as defined in§ 56-1, or any political action committee established and administeredby such a corporation.

General Assembly meetings; streaming and recording. Requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of theSenate to ensure that every (i) subcommittee or committee meetingof a standing committee of the General Assembly, regardless of meetingdate, and (ii) floor session of the House of Delegates or the Senate,including any joint session of the houses, is streamed with closedcaptioning, recorded and archived. The bill defines "stream" and specifiesthat a qualifying meeting is one the date and time of which havebeen scheduled on a public website of any agency of the General Assemblyfor at least one hour prior to the meeting and that takes place inthe State Capitol, the Pocahontas Building, or the General AssemblyBuilding in Richmond. The bill has a delayed effective date of October1, 2020.

Criminal sexual assault; definition of sexualabuse; complaining witness under age 13; penalty. Includes inthe definition of "sexual abuse" the intentional touching of anypart of a complaining witness's body, on either the skin or the materialcovering the complaining witness's body, if the complaining witnessis under the age of 13 and the act is committed with the intent tosexually molest, arouse, or gratify any person. The bill repeals theClass 1 misdemeanor prohibiting adult penetration of the mouth ofa child under the age of 13 with lascivious intent.

Employment; domestic service; Human Rights Act. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws, laws regarding payment of wages, the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act, and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. The measure removes all exemptions, including the exemption for individuals employed in domestic service, from the Virginia Minimum Wage Act. The measure also eliminates all limitations on private causes of action for violations of the Virginia Human Rights Act.

Dulles Greenway. Amends the powers and responsibilitiesof the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to regulate toll road operators underthe Virginia Highway Corporation Act of 1988. The bill adds requirements thattoll rates not materially discourage the public's use of the toll road, thatthe cost of operating the toll road be reasonably apportioned across all tollroad users based on the relative distance each class of user travels on thetoll road, such that the toll rates are established in a reasonable andnondiscriminatory manner in relation to the benefit obtained, and that tollrates shall provide the operator with no more than a reasonable return. Inaddition, the bill (i) requires the SCC, by October 1, 2020, to initiate aninvestigation into the tolls charged by all operators subject to the Act and toissue a ruling by April 1, 2021, on its investigation as to whether the currenttolls charged by the operator comply with such new requirements; (ii) prohibitsthe SCC from using the fact that any incremental return resulting fromincreased traffic related to a relative change in potential toll users that isgreater than zero on a cumulative basis as the sole basis for finding that theoperator's return exceeds a reasonable level as specified in such newrequirements, during any future complaint proceeding; (iii) requires the SCC,in its initial investigation, to develop a baseline from which it can measurethe relative change in potential toll users and directs how the incrementalreturn shall be computed; (iv) prohibits an operator from seeking a tollincrease that attempts to raise its return above the reasonable level; (v)requires the full disclosure, in public financial reports to the SCC, of thedetails of any related party transactions; and (vi) establishes a presumptionthat any related party transactions shall be presumed to be imprudent andexcluded from costs used for any purpose, including but not limited to costs oflobbyists, excessive compensation, and entertainment expenses, unless theoperator provides information showing that at least three separate competitivebids demonstrate that the operator could not have achieved better contractterms from a third party.