Del. Mark Sickles

Coal ash ponds; well monitoring program; drinking water well testing. Requires each utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond, to commission an independent well water test on behalf of the owner of any well located within 1.5 miles of such coal ash pond by January 1, 2021, and requires such test to be conducted once per year during each of the five years following the approval of the closure of the coal ash pond and once every five years thereafter. The bill provides that if any test exceeds groundwater quality standards for constituents associated with coal ash, the Virginia Waste Management Board shall instruct the utility to provide alternative water supplies to the owner of the well. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to consider the results of the tests in its permitting, monitoring, or enforcement proceedings.

Worker cooperatives. Establishes worker cooperatives as a category of cooperative associations. A worker cooperative is a stock corporation that has elected to be governed by provisions established by this measure, which include (i) conducting its business primarily for the mutual benefit of its members, (ii) allowing only current and retired employees to be members, (iii) limiting voting rights to current employees, (iv) providing that each employee is entitled to one vote, (v) prohibiting any person from owning more than one membership share, (vi) requiring at least two-thirds of employees to own membership shares, and (vii) requiring that net earnings be paid or credited to members in accordance with the ratio that each member's amount of work performed during a period bears to the total amount of work performed by all members during that period.

Pharmacists; prescribing, dispensing, and administration of controlled substances. Allows a pharmacist to initiate treatment with and dispense and administer certain drugs and devices to persons 18 years of age or older in accordance with a statewide protocol developed by the Board of Pharmacy in collaboration with the Board of Medicine and the Department of Health. The bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to establish such protocols by November 1, 2020, to promulgate emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill, and to convene a work group to provide recommendations regarding the development of protocols for the initiating of treatment with and dispensing and administering of additional drugs and devices for persons 18 years of age and older. The bill also clarifies that an accident and sickness insurance policy that provides reimbursement for a service that may be legally performed by a licensed pharmacist shall provide reimbursement for the initiating of treatment with and dispensing and administration of controlled substances by a pharmacist when such initiating of treatment with or dispensing or administration is in accordance with regulations of the Board of Pharmacy.

Protected voter status; certain evidence notrequired. Removes the requirement that a person who is in fearfor his personal safety from another person who has threatened orstalked him must provide evidence that he has filed a complaint witha magistrate or law-enforcement official against such other person in order to be granted protected voter status. The bill does not eliminate the requirement that he submit a signed written statementthat he is in fear for his personal safety for him to be grantedprotected voter status.

Maximum allowable rates of special regulatory taxes; public service companies. Increases the maximum allowable rates of several taxes, known as special regulatory taxes, that apply to public service companies such as those that provide water, heat, light, or power. The bill increases the maximum allowable rate of the gross receipts tax from 0.2 percent to 0.26 percent, increases the maximum allowable rates of three electricity consumption taxes that are measured per kilowatt hour, and increases the maximum allowable rate of the natural gas consumption tax from $0.0020 per cubic foot to $0.0026 per cubic foot.

Coal ash ponds; private wells and public water supply wells; resident notification. Requires a utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to complete a survey of all private wells and public water supply wells within 1.5 miles of each of its ponds by October 1, 2020, and to notify residents via mail and a local newspaper posting that the survey will be conducted.

Department of Education; Holocaust and GenocideEducation Advisory Committee; report. Requires the Departmentof Education to establish and appoint such members as it deems appropriateto a Holocaust and Genocide Education Advisory Committee for thepurpose of (i) assessing the current state of instructional requirements,curricula, standards, and teacher training relating to the Holocaustand other historical genocides and reporting its findings, includingany recommendations for changes to such instructional requirements, curricula, standards, and teacher training, to the Board of Education,the Governor, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Educationand the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than July1, 2021; and (ii) guiding the Department of Education in developinga robust model curriculum and teacher training module for providingage-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust and other historicalgenocides as a method of providing anti-bias education for publicschool students in the Commonwealth that include case studies and instructional lessons on (a) the historical underpinnings of theHolocaust and other genocides in the context of how lower levelsof hate, ridicule, and dehumanization led to larger acts of violenceand state-sponsored discrimination and violence; (b) the impact ofand the tools for responding to different forms of racism, bigotry,and discrimination; and (c) slavery and other forms of historicaldehumanizing injustice.

Recounts; special election to be held in the case of a tie vote. Provides that if, after a recount of an election, the recount court finds that each party to the recount has received an equal number of votes, there shall be a special election to determine which candidate is elected to the office. This provision would not apply in cases of tie votes occurring after a recount of an election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General, which the Constitution of Virginia provides for, or for electors of President and Vice President of the United States, which will continue to be determined by lot. This bill incorporates HB 178 and HB 692.

Reckless driving; exceeding speed limit. Raises the threshold for per se reckless driving for speeding from driving in excess of 80 miles per hour to driving in excess of 85 miles per hour. The threshold for per se reckless driving for speeding for driving at or more than 20 miles per hour in excess of the speed limit remains unchanged. The bill also provides that any person who drives a motor vehicle at a speed in excess of 80 miles per hour but below 86 miles per hour on any highway in the Commonwealth having a maximum speed limit of 65 miles per hour shall be subject to an additional fine of $100. This bill incorporates HB 1374 and is identical to SB 63.

Tax credit for participating landlords; eligible housing areas. Expands the definition of "eligible housing area" for the housing choice voucher tax credit to include Virginia census tracts in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Statistical Area in which less than 10 percent of the population lives below the poverty level. Landlords who rent qualified housing units within such areas are eligible for an income tax credit. Current law only applies to such areas within the Richmond and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metropolitan Statistical Areas.The bill establishes a 2025 sunset date on the credit. The bill incorporates HB 1014 and is identical to SB 200.