Del. Liz Guzmán

Commending The Arc of Northern Virginia.

Commending the Honorable M. Kirkland Cox.

Purchase, possession, or transportation of firearms following conviction for assault and battery of a family or household member; penalties. Prohibits a person who has been convicted of assault and battery of a family or household member, as defined in the bill, from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm. A person who violates this provision is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Sunset of coal tax credits. Sunsets the Coal Employment and Production Incentive Tax Credit and Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit after tax year 2021 and prohibits the allocation of such credits on and after January 1, 2022. The bill provides that if credits were earned prior to January 1, 2022, the credit holder may claim the credits in subsequent tax years pursuant to the applicable carryover requirements of current law; however, such credit holders would be limited to claiming $1 million in carryover credits per taxable year.

Facial recognition technology; authorizationof use by local law-enforcement agencies and public institutionsof higher education. Allows a locality or a public institutionof higher education to authorize a local law-enforcement agency orcampus police department to purchase or deploy facial recognitiontechnology, which is defined in the bill. The bill prohibits a locallaw-enforcement agency or public institution of higher education currentlyusing facial recognition technology from continuing to use suchtechnology without such authorization after July 1, 2021.

Unemployment compensation; failure to respond; continuation of benefits; repayment of overpayments. Provides that an employer shall be deemed to have established a pattern of failing to respond timely or adequately to written requests for information relating to claims if the Virginia Employment Commission determines that the employer has failed to respond timely or adequately to a written request for information relating to a claim on two or more occasions within a 48-month window and requires such employer to pay a penalty upon his second such failure to respond timely or adequately. Under current law, such pattern is established after four failures, and the penalty is assessed after the third failure. The bill provides that if an employer fails to respond timely or adequately to a written request by the Commission for information relating to a claim, the employer forfeits any appeal rights to that claim. The bill provides that when a claimant has begun receiving unemployment benefits, such benefits shall continue to be paid under a presumption of continuing entitlement unless or until a deputy determines, in a process providing notice and opportunity to be heard to the claimant, that the claimant is ineligible or disqualified. The bill provides that an individual who receives an overpayment of unemployment benefits is not liable to repay the overpayments to the Commission if the Commission determines that (i) the overpayment was not due to fraud, misrepresentation, or willful nondisclosure on the part of the recipient and its recovery would be against equity and good conscience; (ii) the overpayment was a direct result of inducement, solicitation, or coercion on the part of the employer; or (iii) the overpayment occurred due to administrative error. The bill requires the Commission to waive an overpayment of benefits under a federal unemployment benefit program if the program authorizes the waiver. The bill provides that any person who receives an overpayment of benefits is not required to repay such overpayment if the Commission determines that the overpayment was made because the employer failed to respond timely or adequately to a written request by the Commission for information relating to the claim. Finally, the bill prohibits a determination with respect to benefit overpayments to be issued until after a determination or decision that finds a claimant ineligible or disqualified for benefits previously paid has become final.

Parole; notice and certification; monthly reports; discretionary early consideration. Provides that the Department of Corrections shall set the release date for an inmate granted discretionary parole or conditional release no sooner than 30 business days from the date that the Department of Corrections receives notification from the Chairman of the Parole Board of the Board's decision to grant discretionary parole or conditional release, except that the Department of Corrections may set an earlier release date in the case of a terminally ill inmate granted conditional release. The bill provides that in the case of an inmate granted parole who was convicted of a felony and sentenced to a term of 10 or more years, or an inmate granted conditional release, the Board shall notify the attorney for the Commonwealth in the jurisdiction where the inmate was sentenced (i) by electronic means at least 21 business days prior to such inmate's release that such inmate has been granted discretionary parole or conditional release or (ii) by telephone or other electronic means prior to release that a terminally ill inmate has been granted conditional release where death is imminent. The bill requires that the monthly reports issued by the Board regarding actions taken on the parole of prisoners (a) be published on the fifteenth day of the month and (b) include the offenses of which prisoners considered for parole were convicted, the jurisdictions in which such offenses were committed, and the amount of time served by such prisoners. However, a prisoner's name shall be included on the report only if the attorney for the Commonwealth and any victims have been notified; otherwise, inclusion on the report is delayed to the following month. The bill also provides that if additional victim research is necessary, electronic notification shall be sent to the attorney for the Commonwealth and the director of the victim/witness program, if one exists, of the jurisdiction in which the offense occurred. The bill provides that the provisions regarding the monthly reports issued by the Board shall become effective on July 1, 2022.