Del. Paul Krizek

Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2027. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2026. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.

Celebrating the life of Karen Harrison Jones.

Celebrating the life of Richard Carlton Griffin,Sr.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);qualifications of voters; right to vote; persons not entitled tovote. Provides that every person who meets the qualificationsof voters set forth in the Constitution of Virginia shall have thefundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth and that such rightshall not be abridged by law, except for persons who have been convictedof a felony and persons who have been adjudicated to lack the capacityto understand the act of voting. A person who has been convictedof a felony shall not be entitled to vote during any period of incarcerationfor such felony conviction, but upon release from incarceration forthat felony conviction and without further action required of him,such person shall be invested with all political rights, includingthe right to vote. Currently, in order to be qualified to vote a personconvicted of a felony must have his civil rights restored by theGovernor or other appropriate authority. The amendment also providesthat a person adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction aslacking the capacity to understand the act of voting shall not be entitled to vote during this period of incapacity until his capacityhas been reestablished as prescribed by law. Currently, the Constitutionof Virginia provides that a person who has been adjudicated to bementally incompetent is not qualified to vote until his competencyis reestablished.

Workers' compensation benefits; post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters. Removes the provision in the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act requiring that benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters acting in the line of duty be provided for a maximum of 52 weeks from the date of diagnosis.

Constitutional amendment (first reference); marriage between two individuals; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; affirmative right to marry. Repeals the constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman as well as the related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of persons and prohibits the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from denying the issuance of a marriage license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of such parties. The Commonwealth and its political subdivisions are required to recognize any lawful marriage between two parties and to treat such marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex, gender, or race of such parties. The amendment provides that religious organizations and clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuse to perform any marriage.

Commending Travis G. Hill.

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty.Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gougingprovisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing priorto the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlordswho are under the ordinance may be required to give at least twomonths' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase therent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, describedin the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant'srent during any 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase.The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in theConsumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less, statesthat such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginningJuly 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowanceon its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlinedin the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allowsa locality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will developand implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply forand be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by theordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establisha civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set outin the ordinance.

Income tax subtraction; professional firefighterpension. Establishes an income tax subtraction for up to $20,000of firefighter benefits in taxable year 2024, up to $30,000 in taxableyear 2025, and up to $40,000 in taxable year 2026 and each year thereafter.The bill defines firefighter benefits to include retirement incomerelated to firefighting services and benefits paid to the survivingspouse of a firefighter whose death occurred in the line of duty.

Property Owners' Association Act; managed conservation landscaping; unreasonable restrictions prohibited. Provides thatno association shall prohibit an owner from installing managed conservation landscaping, defined in the bill, upon such owner's property unlesssuch prohibition was recorded in the declaration for the association.The bill allows associations to establish reasonable restrictionsconcerning the management, design, and aesthetic guidelines for managedconservation landscaping features.