Del. Mark Sickles

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratificationof the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.Commemorates the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the FifteenthAmendment to the Constitution of the United States. This resolutionis a recommendation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.

Peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platforms; taxation. Provides that peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platforms, as defined in the bill, are rentors for the purposes of taxation.

Conditional release of geriatric prisoners. Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55 years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed to petition the Parole Board for conditional release.

Constitutional amendment (first resolution);marriage. Proposes the repeal of the constitutional amendment dealing with marriage that was approved by referendum at the November2006 election. That amendment to the Bill of Rights (i) defines marriageas "only a union between one man and one woman"; (ii) prohibits theCommonwealth and its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing"a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intendsto approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects ofmarriage"; and (iii) prohibits the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing "another union, partnership, or otherlegal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations,qualities, or effects of marriage." The provisions of this section of the Constitution of Virginia are no longer valid as a result ofthe United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. ___ (June 26, 2015).

Earned paid sick time. Requires public and privateemployers with 25 or more employees to provide those employees with earned paidsick time. The measure provides for an employee to earn at least one hour of paidsick leave benefit for every 30 hours worked. An employee shall not use morethan 40 hours of earned paid sick time in a year, unless the employer selects ahigher limit. Employees shall not be entitled to use accrued earned paid sicktime until the ninetieth calendar day following commencement of theiremployment, unless otherwise permitted by the employer. The bill provides thatearned paid sick time may be used (i) for an employee's mental or physicalillness, injury, or health condition; an employee's need for medical diagnosis,care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or healthcondition; or an employee's need for preventive medical care; (ii) to providecare to a family member under similar circumstances; (iii) when there is a closureof the employee's place of business or the employee's child's school or placeof care due to a public health emergency; or (iv) when an employee's oremployee's family member's presence in the community may jeopardize the healthof others because of their exposure to a communicable disease. The billauthorizes the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, in the case of a knowingviolation, to subject an employer to a civil penalty not to exceed $150 for thefirst violation, $300 for the second violation, and $500 for each successiveviolation, if the second or successive violation occurs within two years of theprevious violation. The Commissioner of Labor and Industry may instituteproceedings on behalf of an employee to enforce compliance with this measureand to collect specified amounts from the employer, which shall be awarded tothe employee. Alternatively, an aggrieved employee is authorized to bring acivil action against the employer in which he may recover double the amount ofany unpaid earned sick time and the amount of any actual damages suffered asthe result of the employer's violation. The measure also prohibits an employerof any size from discharging an employee for taking unpaid absences totalingmore than 16 hours in a year for a purpose described in clauses (i) through(iv). The measure has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.

Right to reproductive choice. Provides thatevery individual has a fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptionand that a pregnant person has a fundamental right to choose to carrya pregnancy to term, give birth to a child, or terminate a pregnancy.The bill states that the Commonwealth shall not, in the regulationor provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information, denyor interfere with an individual's fundamental rights, including individualsunder state control or supervision. The bill states that any stateor local official who is charged with violating provisions of thissection shall be subject to an action in federal or state court forinjunctive relief and damages. Such action may be brought by any person or entity that may be aggrieved by such official's actions.

Virginia Fair Housing Law; unlawful discriminatoryhousing practices; sexual orientation and gender identity. Addsdiscrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientationor gender identity as an unlawful housing practice. The bill defines"sexual orientation" and "gender identity." This bill was incorporatedinto HB 1663.

Adoption by stepparent; background check. Repeals the July 1, 2020, sunset on provisions that require a circuit court, when determining whether an investigation by the director of the local department of social services should be required before a final order is entered to approve as an adoptive parent the spouse of a child's birth or adoptive parent, to consider the results of a national criminal history background check conducted on the prospective adoptive parent.

Personal data; Virginia Privacy Act. Givesconsumers the right to access their data and determine if it has been sold to a data broker. The measure requires a controller, definedin the bill as a person that, alone or jointly with others, determinesthe purposes and means of the processing of personal data, to facilitaterequests to exercise consumer rights regarding access, correction,deletion, restriction of processing, data portability, objection,and profiling. The measure also (i) requires transparent processingof personal data through a privacy notice, (ii) requires controllersto disclose if they process personal data for direct marketing orsell it to data brokers, and (iii) requires controllers to conducta risk assessment of each of their processing activities involvingpersonal data and an additional risk assessment any time there isa change in processing that materially increases the risk to consumers.The measure applies to any legal entity that conducts business inthe Commonwealth or produces products or services that are intentionallytargeted to residents of the Commonwealth and that (a) controls orprocesses personal data of not fewer than 100,000 consumers or (b)derives over 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personaldata and processes or controls personal data of not fewer than 25,000customers. A violation of this measure is made a prohibited practiceunder the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

Commending the Washington Nationals.