Del. Marcus Simon

Public institutions of higher education; in-statetuition; children of active duty service members or veterans.Provides that any child of an active duty service member or veteran who claims Virginia as his home state and filed Virginia tax returnsfor at least two years during active duty service is eligible forin-state tuition charges, regardless of domicile. Under current law,any such child is eligible for in-state tuition charges if such servicemember or veteran claims Virginia as his home state and filed Virginiatax returns for at least 10 years during active duty service.

School boards; unexpended local funds; capitalprojects. Permits any school board to finance capital projectswith any funds appropriated to it by the local governing body thatare unexpended by the school board in any year. The bill is a recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization.

Grounds for divorce; cruelty, abuse, desertion,or abandonment; waiting period. Eliminates the one-year waitingperiod for being decreed a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, reasonableapprehension of bodily hurt, or willful desertion or abandonment.

Workers' compensation; injuries caused by repetitiveand sustained physical stressors. Provides that, for the purposesof the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease"includes injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustainedphysical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions,posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill providesthat such injuries are covered under the Act. Such coverage doesnot require that the injuries occurred over a particular time periodunder the bill, provided that such a period can be reasonably identified.

Department of Corrections; earned sentence credits;robbery. Specifies that any person serving a sentence on a Class2 felony for committing robbery and causing serious bodily injuryto or the death of any other person is subject to a maximum 4.5 earnedsentence credits for each 30 days served. Consequently, a personserving a sentence on a robbery that is a Class 3, Class 5, or Class6 felony is not subject to the maximum 4.5 earned sentence credits and may be eligible for the four-level classification system forthe awarding and calculation of earned sentence credits to becomeeffective on July 1, 2022. The bill requires the calculation of earnedsentence credits to apply retroactively to the entire sentence ofany inmate who is confined in a state correctional facility and participatingin the earned sentence credit system on July 1, 2022, and was (i)convicted of robbery, as such crime was in effect prior to July 1,2021, provided that such person, during the commission of such robbery,did not cause serious bodily injury to or the death of another personor (ii) convicted of robbery punishable as a Class 3, Class 5, orClass 6 felony on or after July 1, 2021.

Burial fees for military spouses. Providesthat, from such funds as may be appropriated, the Commonwealth shallpay the burial fees for any spouse or surviving spouse of an activeduty member or veteran of the United States Armed Forces buried ata veterans cemetery operated by the Department of Veterans Services.

Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and PreventionFund; creation. Establishes the Virginia Center for Firearm ViolenceIntervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department ofCriminal Justice Services and transfers to the Center the administrationof the existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and PreventionFund.

Housing authorities; appointment of commissioners; exception. Provides an exception to the prohibition againsta local redevelopment and housing authority's appointment of an officeror employee of the city or county for which the authority was createdas a commissioner by allowing an authority to appoint as a commissionerone member of its city or town's council and the mayor of its cityor town, or his designee.

Discretionary sentencing guidelines; prior convictions and juvenile adjudications. Provides that, for the purposes of discretionary sentencing, previous convictions shall not include (i) any adult conviction more than 10 years prior to the date of the commission of the present offense, unless the prior adult conviction was for a violent felony offense punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years or more, the defendant was sentenced to an active prison term of more than 12 months for the offense, and the defendant has committed another violent felony within a 15-year period between the date of the defendant's sentencing for the prior offense and commission of the present offense and (ii) any juvenile adjudications of delinquency or any juvenile convictions, unless the juvenile was tried as an adult and the conviction was for a violent felony offense punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years or more, the defendant was sentenced to an active prison term of more than 12 months, and the date of offense was within the 10 years preceding sentencing for the present offense. The bill also provides that juvenile adjudications of delinquency and certain adult prior convictions shall not serve as the basis for any sentencing enhancement in an adult criminal case.

Native plant species; state agencies. Directsthe Secretaries of Natural and Historic Resources, Agriculture andForestry, and Administration to coordinate the development of strategicactions for state agencies to take to prioritize the use of nativeplant species on state properties.