Del. Vivian Watts

Prostitution-related crimes; minors; penalties. Makes it a Class 6 felony for an adult to visit a bawdy place with a minor when he knows that the bawdy place is used or to be used for lewdness, assignation, or prostitution. The bill also adds felony violations of such offense to (i) the list of offenses for which registration in the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry is required, (ii) the definition of violent felony for the purposes of the sentencing guidelines, (iii) the list of predicate criminal acts that constitutes the definition of street gangs, (iv) the list of offenses that may constitute racketeering under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and (v) the offenses that may be investigated by a multi-jurisdiction grand jury. The bill also makes applicable to all persons, regardless of the gender of the victim, the crimes of (a) assisting or aiding in the abduction of or threatening to abduct a female under 16 years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution, which the bill also changes to include any person under 18 years of age, and (b) placing or leaving one's wife in a bawdy place.

Corporate income tax; combined reporting requirements. Requires, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021,unitary combined reporting for Virginia corporate income tax purposes.

Open captioning at movie theaters. Requires all movie theaters that have four or more screens and are open to the general public to provide open captioning at least twice per week on any film that is regularly shown, provided that open captioning is available for such film. The bill requires such movie theaters to provide notice to the general public regarding the availability of open captioning and schedule at least one viewing during peak viewing time.

Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when a licensed audiologist prescribes such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2021.

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.

Income tax; rolling conformity with the Internal Revenue Code; nonconformance with certain amendments. Provides that Virginia shall generally conform to federal tax laws on a rolling basis, meaning that Virginia tax laws incorporate changes to the Internal Revenue Code as soon as Congress enacts them. The bill provides that Virginia will not conform to the reduction in the medical expense deduction floor in the federal Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020. However, the bill also provides that unless subsequently adopted by the General Assembly, Virginia shall not conform to any amendments to the Internal Revenue Code that have an impact of $10 million or more on Virginia tax revenues in the fiscal year in which the amendment was enacted or any of the next four years. The Secretary of Finance, in consultation with the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committees on Appropriations and Finance, shall be responsible for determining when an amendment meets these criteria. The Secretary of Finance shall also provide an annual report to such Chairmen on the fiscal impact of amendments to the Internal Revenue Code. The bill applies to taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2019.

Juvenile offenders; parole. Provides thatany person sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for a single felony offense or multiple felony offenses committed while that person wasa juvenile and who has served at least 25 years of such sentenceand any person who has active sentences that total more than 25 yearsfor a single felony offense or multiple felony offenses committedwhile that person was a juvenile and who has served at least 25 yearsof such sentences shall be eligible for parole.

Estate tax; reinstatement. Reinstatesthe estate tax for persons dying on and after July 1, 2020. No estatetax shall be imposed on a gross estate if the majority of the assetsof the estate are an interest in a closely held business or a workingfarm. The bill designates revenues from the estate tax to be usedfor health care purposes.

Temporary detention; evaluation; who may perform. Expands the category of individuals who may evaluate a person whois the subject of an emergency custody order to determine whetherthe person meets the criteria for temporary detention to includeany person described in the definition of "mental health professional"in § 54.1-2400.1 who (i) is skilled in the diagnosis and treatmentof mental illness, (ii) has completed a certification program approvedby the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services,and (iii) complies with regulations of the Board of Behavioral Healthand Developmental Services related to performance of such evaluations.

Common-law crime of suicide. Abolishes thecommon-law crime of suicide. Suicide is currently a common-law crimein Virginia, although there is no statutorily prescribed punishment.