Absentee ballots; witness requirement; printedname and residence address. Requires that a witness to a voter's absentee ballot provide, in addition to his signature, his printedname and residence address.
Personal appearance by two-way electronic videoand audio communication; at or after trial before a judge; emergency. Allows a personal appearance required or permitted at or after trialbefore a judge to be made using two-way electronic video and audiocommunication (i) with the consent of the defendant and the Commonwealthand (ii) if the defendant has waived his right to be present at trialand the court ascertains that such waiver is voluntary and intelligentlymade. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Public education; student education accounts.Permits any school division to establish a program to create savingsaccounts for students to be used for alternative educational programs.The bill requires the Department of Education to establish policiesand procedures under which the parent of each student may use suchfunds on public or private educational programs.
Individual and corporate income tax credit;employers of National Guard members and self-employed National Guardmembers. Provides for taxable years 2021 through 2025 a nonrefundabletax credit against individual and corporate income taxes for (i)wages paid by an employer to an employee who is a Virginia NationalGuard member or (ii) income of a self-employed Virginia NationalGuard member attributable to his business. The amount of the creditshall be 25 percent if such member was in a military pay status for65 days or more during such taxable year or 15 percent if such memberwas in a military pay status for 45 days or more during such taxableyear. The credit shall not be allowed if such member was in a militarypay status for fewer than 45 days during such taxable year.
Constitutional amendment (first reference);executive power; state of emergency; special session. Limitsthe authority of the Governor to issue an executive order declaringa state of emergency that restricts, limits, or prohibits otherwiselawful action by a private business, nonprofit entity, or individualfor a period more than 45 days in duration without approval by theGeneral Assembly. The Governor is required to convene a special sessionfor the purpose of the General Assembly approving the extension ofsuch executive order beyond the forty-fifth day after its originalissuance and if the General Assembly does not approve such extension,the Governor is prohibited from issuing a subsequent executive orderin the same form for the same declared emergency. The General Assemblyis permitted to extend the executive order to a date requested bythe Governor or to a date of the General Assembly's choosing, butit shall not approve the extension to a date beyond the first fullweek of the next regular session of the General Assembly, unlesssuch date is requested by the Governor.
Absentee voting; definition of postmark; legibility requirement. Requires an absentee ballot returned to the generalregistrar after the closing of the polls on election day to be legiblypostmarked on or before the date of the election in order to be counted.Current law does not specify that the postmark must be legible. Thebill defines postmark, for purposes of absentee ballots returnedafter the closing of the polls on election day, to mean (i) an officialUnited States Postal Service imprint indicating the date of mailingor any other official indicia of the United States Postal Serviceused to identify the date of mailing or (ii) the mailing confirmationdata of a commercial delivery service.
Voting Rights for Women Month. DesignatesNovember, in 2021 and in each succeeding year, as Voting Rights forWomen Month in Virginia.
Group Violence Intervention Board; Divisionof Group Violence Intervention; Project Ceasefire Grant Fund; ProjectExit Grant Fund. Establishes the Group Violence Intervention Boardto coordinate and assist federal, state, and local group violenceintervention efforts. The bill also establishes within the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services (the Department) the Division of Group Violence Intervention (the Division), to be headed by an executivedirector appointed by the Director of the Department. The bill providesthat the Division is responsible for (i) coordinating the effortsof members of state and local law enforcement, community members,and social services providers to combat group violence; (ii) servingas a clearinghouse for research, best practices, and strategies thatmay be utilized in the implementation, execution, and evaluationof group violence interventions; and (iii) implementing and administeringvarious federal, state, and local grant funds that aid group violence intervention efforts. Finally, the bill creates the Project CeasefireGrant Fund, which provides money to organizations that are involvedin group violence intervention efforts, and creates the Project Exit Grant Fund, which provides money to organizations that assist formergang members or individuals attempting to leave gangs.
Department of Transportation; U.S. Route 60.Directs the Department of Transportation to propose a plan to renumberU.S. Route 60 to the Federal Highway Administration and the SpecialCommittee on U.S. Route Numbering of the American Association ofState Highway and Transportation Officials.
Powers of State Health Commissioner in epidemic;vaccine; religious tenets or practices. Allows a parent or guardianto object to the vaccination or immunization of a child on the groundsthat the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with his religioustenets or practices, even if an emergency or epidemic of diseasehas been declared by the State Board of Health, which is not allowedunder current law. The bill also provides that nothing shall precludethe State Health Commissioner from requiring immediate immunizationof all persons in the case of an epidemic of any disease of publichealth importance for which a vaccine exists other than a person,including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objectson the grounds that the administration of the vaccine conflicts withhis religious tenets or practices. Under current law, the only exceptionto the Commissioner's power to require immediate immunization of all persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importancefor which a vaccine exists is for a person to whose health the administrationof a vaccine would be detrimental as certified in writing by a physicianlicensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth.
