Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy

Electric utilities; right to shop. Authorizes individual retail customers of electric energy to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed competitive supplier of electric energy, including any incumbent electric utility. Currently, such customers may purchase electric power from such suppliers, other than an incumbent electric utility that is not the incumbent electric utility serving the exclusive territory in which the customer is located, only if their incumbent electric utility does not offer an approved tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy. The measure also provides that a cooperative utility customer eligible to take service under a tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy is prohibited from purchasing electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from a licensed supplier, except such customer is authorized to continue purchasing renewable energy pursuant to the terms of a power purchase agreement in effect on the date the cooperative serving it filed with the Commission such tariff for electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy for the duration of such agreement. The provisions of the bill will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly.

Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans; report; sunset. Creates the Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans to (i) study the current impact and long-term inequities of slavery and the subsequent state-sanctioned de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination practiced against African Americans and (ii) make recommendations to the General Assembly on appropriate remedies. The bill requires the Commission to annually submit a report on its interim activity and work to the Governor and the General Assembly. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2022.

Office of the Children's Ombudsman established. Establishes the Office of the Children's Ombudsman as a means of effecting changes in policy, procedure, and legislation; educating the public; investigating and reviewing actions of the State Department of Social Services, local departments of social services, child-placing agencies, or child-caring institutions; and monitoring and ensuring compliance with relevant statutes, rules, and policies pertaining to children's protective services and the placement, supervision, treatment, and improvement of delivery of care to children in foster care and adoptive homes. The Office of the Children's Ombudsman is headed by the Children's Ombudsman, who is appointed for a term of four years by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Firearm transfers; criminal history record information checks; penalty. Requires a background check for any firearm transfer and directs the Department of State Police (the Department) to establish a process for transferors to obtain such a check from licensed firearms dealers. A transferor who sells a firearm to another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that a transferee who receives a firearm from another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill exempts transfers (i) between immediate family members; (ii) that occur by operation of law; (iii) by the executor or administrator of an estate or by the trustee of a testamentary trust; (iv) at firearms shows in accordance with law; (v) that are part of a buy-back or give-back program; (vi) of antique firearms; (vii) that occur at a shooting range, shooting gallery, or any other area designed for the purpose of target shooting, for use during target practice, a firearms safety or training course or class, a shooting competition, or any similar lawful activity; or (viii) that are temporary transfers that (a) occur within the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm or (b) are necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The bill removes the provision that makes background checks of prospective purchasers or transferees at firearms shows voluntary. The bill also provides that the Department shall have three business days to complete a criminal history record information check before a firearm may be transferred. The bill establishes an appropriation for the fiscal impact of the bill and authorizes the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget to allocate such appropriation among the agencies and programs impacted by the bill. This bill incorporates HB 355.

Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy; electric vehicle rebate working group. Establishes a working group to determine the feasibility of an electric vehicle rebate program. The working group will report on its findings and recommendations by November 1, 2020.

Provision of abortion. The bill expands who can perform first trimester abortions to include, in addition to physicians, physician's assistants licensed by the Board of Medicine, and nurse practitioners or certified nurse midwives jointly licensed by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing. The bill eliminates all the procedures and processes, including the performance of an ultrasound, required to effect a pregnant person's informed written consent to the performance of an abortion; however, the bill does not change the requirement that a pregnant person's informed written consent first be obtained. The bill removes language classifying facilities that perform five or more first trimester abortions per month as hospitals for the purpose of complying with regulations establishing minimum standards for hospitals. This bill incorporates HB 1060.

Provision of abortion; informed consent; regulations. Eliminates the procedures and processes, including the performance of an ultrasound, the provision of specified information, and the offer to review certain printed materials, required under existing law to effect a pregnant person's informed written consent prior to the performance of an abortion; however, the bill retains the requirement that a physician obtain a pregnant person's informed written consent prior to performing any abortion. The bill expands who can perform first trimester abortions to any person licensed by the Board of Medicine as a physician's assistant and acting within such person's scope of practice or any person jointly licensed by the Board of Medicine and Nursing as a nurse practitioner acting within the nurse practitioner's such person's scope of practice. The bill removes a provision classifying facilities that perform five or more first trimester abortions per month as hospitals for the purpose of complying with regulations establishing minimum standards for hospitals.

Nonpayment of wages; private action; liability for payment of wages due under construction contracts; penalties. Provides that an employee has a private cause of action, individually, jointly, with other aggrieved employees as a collective action, on behalf of similarly situated employees as a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act against an employer who fails to pay wages to recover the amount of wages due plus interest at eight percent annually from the date the wages were due, an additional amount as liquidated damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If the court finds that the employer knowingly failed to pay wages, the court shall award the employee reasonable attorney fees and costs and the employer is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation. If the court finds that the employer's failure to pay wages was willful and with intent to defraud the employee, the court shall award the employee triple the amount of wages due and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The measure also provides that any construction contract entered into on or after July 1, 2020, shall be deemed to include a provision under which the general contractor and the subcontractor are jointly and severally liable to pay the wages due to the subcontractor's employees. If the wages due to the subcontractor's employees are not paid, the general contractor is subject to criminal and civil penalties for which an employer is liable for failing or refusing to pay wages. The measure requires the subcontractor to indemnify the general contractor for wages, damages, interest, penalties, or attorney fees owed as a result of the subcontractor's failure to pay the wages unless the subcontractor's failure to pay wages was because of the general contractor's failure to pay moneys due to the subcontractor. The measure also provides that the lack of privity between the general contractor and the employees of the subcontractor is not a defense in an action against the general contractor arising from nonpayment of wages to the subcontractor's employees. This bill incorporates HB 482.

Electric utilities; retail competition. Shortens from five years to three years the period that a customer who switches from an investor-owned electric utility to a licensed competing supplier is barred from returning as a customer of the utility. The measure provides that if a single person purchases electric energy from a licensed supplier and such electric energy is composed of a percentage of renewable energy equal to or greater than the percentages of the renewable energy portfolio standard program goals as of January 1, 2020, and no less than the percentage of renewable energy that the licensed supplier is required to provide pursuant to any renewable energy portfolio standard that is subsequently established, such person will constitute a single retail customer, notwithstanding that service is provided to noncontiguous sites. Under current law, for the purposes of purchasing energy from a licensed competing supplier, noncontiguous sites are considered individual retail customers and cannot be aggregated to meet the energy demand threshold regardless of common ownership or control. The measure provides that for cooperative customers the lockout period remains five years and noncontiguous sites are still considered individual retail customers. The measure also allows individual retail customers of an electric utility to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed supplier. The measure eliminates the condition that permits such purchases only if the electric utility serving the applicable exclusive service territory does not offer a tariff for 100 percent renewable energy. Finally, the measure directs the State Corporation Commission to update its consumer protection regulations relating to the availability of service through licensed suppliers.

State plan for medical assistance; perinatal birth workers. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to convene a work group to (i) evaluate the potential costs and benefits, including potential reductions in maternal and infant mortality rates, of amending the state plan for medical assistance services to include a provision for the payment of medical assistance for antepartum, intrapartum, or postpartum services provided to a pregnant person or to a person who is up to one year postpartum for labor and delivery support by a certified doula and at least four visits during the antenatal period and at least seven visits during the postpartum period with a certified doula and (ii) develop recommendations related to an appropriate reimbursement rate for such services provided by certified doulas. The work group shall report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by December 1, 2020.