Del. Vivian Watts

Commending Kevin Hall.

Commending the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

Allowing access to, purchase for, or provisionof marijuana to minors; penalties. Clarifies that it is a Class1 misdemeanor for any person who cultivates marijuana plants for personal use to recklessly allow unauthorized access to such marijuana plantsby a person younger than 21 years of age. Thebill provides that any person who purchases marijuana or marijuanaproducts for, or otherwise gives, provides, or assists in the provisionof marijuana or marijuana products to, another person when he knowsor has reason to know that such person is younger than 21 years ofage, except by any federal, state, or local law-enforcement officerwhen possession of marijuana or marijuana products is necessary inthe performance of his duties, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.The bill also removes marijuana from the types of drugs for which distribution to a person under the age of 18 is a felony punishableby a period not less than 10 nor more than 50 years, and a fine notmore than $100,000 with the possibility of mandatory minimum sentences.Such provisions shall not become effective if the corresponding provisionsof Chapters 550 and 551 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, SpecialSession I, are reenacted by the 2022 Session of the General Assembly.

Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board. Establishes the Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board to advise the Governor on ways to improve economic and cultural links between the Commonwealth and African nations, with a focus on the areas of commerce and trade, agriculture, art, education, and government. The Board is composed of 18 nonlegislative citizen members, of whom at least 15 must be persons who identify as part of the African diaspora, to be appointed by the Governor. The Secretaries of Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce and Trade, and Education or their designees serve as ex officio members.

Study; JLARC; increasing the progressivity ofVirginia's individual income tax system; report. Requires theJoint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to continue its studyof increasing the progressivity of Virginia's individual income taxsystem and to also study (i) the composite index of local ability-to-paypublic school funding formula and changes that could be made to theindicators of such local ability-to-pay or the weights assigned theretoand (ii) permitting local governing bodies to tax adjusted grossincome in order to promote greater fairness and more equitable accessto the resources needed to provide excellence in public educationin every local school division in the Commonwealth. The meeting andreporting deadlines in the original study are unaffected by the additionalstudy tasks.

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use ofcampaign funds; complaints, hearings, civil penalty, and advisoryopinions. Prohibits any person from converting contributionsto a candidate or a candidate's campaign committee for their personal use. Current law only prohibits such conversion of contributionswith regard to disbursement of surplus funds at the dissolution ofa campaign or political committee. The bill provides that a contributionis considered to have been converted to personal use if the contribution,in whole or in part, is used to fulfill any commitment, obligation,or expense that would exist irrespective of the person's seeking,holding, or maintaining public office but excepts from "personaluse" the ordinary and accepted expenses related to campaigning foror holding elective office, including the use of campaign funds topay for the candidate's child care expenses that are incurred as adirect result of campaign activity. Any person subject to the personaluse ban may request an advisory opinion from the State Board of Electionson such matters. The bill directs the State Board of Elections toadopt emergency regulations similar to those promulgated by the FederalElection Commission to implement the provisions of the bill and toprovide an updated summary of Virginia campaign finance law that reflects the Attorney General's opinion and any new regulations promulgatedby the State Board of Elections.

Income taxation; pass-through entities.Permits a qualifying pass-through entity, defined in the bill, tomake an annual election in taxable years 2021 through 2025 to payan elective income tax at a rate of 5.75 percent, created by thebill, at the entity level for the taxable period covered by the return.The bill also creates a corresponding individual income tax subtraction for taxable years 2021 through 2025 for any amount of income derivedfrom a pass-through entity having Virginia taxable income if suchpass-through entity makes such election and pays the elective incometax imposed at the entity level.

Virginia taxable income; business interest.Increases from 20 percent to 50 percent the Virginia individual and corporate income tax deduction for business interest disallowed asa deduction under § 163(j) of the Internal Revenue Code for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2022. The bill provides thatfor any taxpayer filing a separate return or as part of a combinedreturn who is part of a federal consolidated group that does not report an interest expense limitation under § 163(j) of the InternalRevenue Code on its federal consolidated return in the taxable year,the deduction allowed shall be 100 percent.

Elections; absentee voting; ballots to be sortedand results to be reported by precinct. Provides that absentee ballots processed at a central absentee precinct must be sorted bythe precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assignedand that the resulting vote totals from such ballots must be reportedseparately for each voter precinct.

Juvenile justice; human trafficking screening.Requires the Department of Juvenile Justice to use trauma-informedscreening measures to identify whether any child committed to theDepartment has been a victim of human trafficking and determine appropriate treatment and service options. The bill also requires that, in casesin which a juvenile and domestic relations district court or circuitcourt orders that a juvenile within its jurisdiction be physicallyexamined and treated by a physician or local mental health center,such examination include trauma-informed screening measures to identifywhether the juvenile has been a victim of human trafficking and determineappropriate treatment and service options.