Del. Alfonso Lopez

Baccalaureate public institutions of highereducation; student meal donation programs; report. Requests thateach baccalaureate public institution of higher education in theCommonwealth establish a student meal donation program by which anyenrolled student who has purchased a meal plan may donate any mealon such plan to the program and any enrolled student with demonstratedfood insecurity may apply to the program to redeem a donated mealat a meal plan-eligible on-campus dining location or food bank locatedon campus in accordance with applicable state health regulations.

Paid sick time. Requires public and private employers with 35 or more full-time equivalent employees to provide eligible employees, defined in the bill, with earned paid sick time and paid sick time. The bill provides for an eligible employee to earn up to 40 hours of earned paid sick time depending on the amount of hours the eligible employee has averaged over the previous year or, for a new employee, is projected to work. An eligible employee shall not earn or use more than 40 hours of earned paid sick time in a year, unless the employer selects a higher limit. The bill provides that earned paid sick time may be used (i) for an eligible employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; an eligible employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or an eligible employee's need for preventive medical care; or (ii) to provide care to an eligible employee's family member, defined in the bill, under similar circumstances. The bill prohibits employers from taking certain retaliatory actions against employees related to earned paid sick leave and authorizes the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, in the case of a knowing violation, to subject an employer to a civil penalty not to exceed $150 for the first violation, $300 for the second violation, and $500 for each successive violation, if the second or successive violation occurs within two years of the previous violation. The Commissioner of Labor and Industry may institute proceedings on behalf of an employee to enforce compliance with this bill and to collect specified amounts from the employer, which shall be awarded to the employee. Alternatively, an aggrieved employee is authorized to bring a civil action against the employer in which he may recover double the amount of any unpaid earned sick time and the amount of any actual damages suffered as the result of the employer's violation. However, an aggrieved employee is required to seek redress through the employer's human resources department prior to filing an administrative complaint or civil action. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.

Right to work. Repeals the provisions ofthe Code of Virginia that, among other things, prohibit any agreementor combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organizationwhereby (i) nonmembers of the union or organization are denied theright to work for the employer, (ii) membership in the union or organizationis made a condition of employment or continuation of employment bysuch employer, or (iii) the union or organization acquires an employmentmonopoly in any such enterprise.

Court of Appeals; jurisdiction; number of judges. Expands the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals of Virginia by providing for an appeal of right in every civil case and provides that the granting of further appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia shall be within the discretion of the Supreme Court. The bill provides for an appeal of right in criminal cases by a defendant, but leaves unchanged the current requirement that in criminal cases the Commonwealth must petition the Court of Appeals for granting of an appeal. The bill increases from 11 to 15 the number of judges on the Court of Appeals. The bill also (i) provides jurisdiction to the Court of Appeals over interlocutory appeals and petitions for review of injunctions; (ii) allows for oral arguments to be dispensed with if the panel of judges makes a unanimous decision that the appeal is frivolous or that the dispositive issues on appeal have already been authoritatively decided; (iii) creates a process by which the Attorney General will be notified of any criminal appeal and has the opportunity to intervene as counsel of record by filing a notice of appearance, and allows the Commonwealth's attorney to be counsel of record provided the Attorney General has not filed such notice of appearance; (iv) eliminates the requirement for an appeal bond in criminal appeals; (v) requires the clerk of the circuit court to prepare a transcript of any trial for which an appeal is noticed to him; and (vi) requires an expedited review of appeals of permanent protective orders and of bond validation proceedings.

Green New Deal Act. Establishes a moratorium, effective January 1, 2022, on approval by any state agency or political subdivision of any approval required for (i) electric generating facilities that generate fossil fuel energy through the combustion of a fossil fuel resource; (ii) import or export terminals for fossil fuel resources; (iii) certain maintenance activities relating to an import or export terminal for a fossil fuel resource; (iv) gathering lines or pipelines for the transport of any fossil fuel resource that  require the use of eminent domain on private property; (v) certain maintenance activities relating to such gathering lines or pipelines; (vi) refineries of a fossil fuel resource; and (vii) exploration for any type of fossil fuel, unless preempted by applicable federal law. The measure also requires that at least 80 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier in calendar years 2028 through 2035 be generated from clean energy resources. In calendar year 2036 and every calendar year thereafter, 100 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier is required to be generated from clean energy resources. The clean energy mandates apply to a public utility or other person that sells not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy to retail customers or generates not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy for use by the person. The Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy is authorized to bring actions for injunctions to enforce these requirements. The measure requires the Department to adopt a Climate Action Plan that addresses all aspects of climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, resiliency, and assistance in the transition from current energy sources to clean renewable energy. The measure provides that any retail electric supplier that fails to meet any goal or benchmark is liable for a civil penalty equal to twice the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or mandate that was not achieved, or three times the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or benchmark that was not achieved if not met in an environmental justice community. The measure provides that it is the goal of the Commonwealth to achieve a 36 percent reduction in electric energy consumption in buildings by 2036. The measure requires the Department, in coordination with the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (Council) to establish performance benchmarks for environmental justice communities and to establish programs for jobs for people in environmental justice communities. The measure requires the Council to develop and make available to each state agency training modules designed to facilitate the promotion of environmental justice. The measure requires the Department to establish the Transitioning Workers Program (the Program) to provide support for workers in the fossil fuel industry and affected communities and provide such workers job training, relocation support, income and benefit support, and early retirement benefits. The measure provides for funding such program by 20 percent of the revenue generated by the allowance auction established by the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. The measure prohibits the Commission from approving construction of any new utility-owned generating facilities that emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity. The measure requires that all utility costs associated with the construction of, acquisition of, or agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of certain required generation and storage facilities are recovered through the utility's rates for generation and distribution services. The measure requires that under the renewable energy portfolio standard program, Dominion Energy Virginia and American Electric Power be required to produce their electricity from 80 percent renewable sources by 2028 and 100 percent by 2036. The measure increases the incremental energy efficiency savings that each investor-owned incumbent electric utility is required to achieve that start in 2022 at 2.4 percent for American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia of the average annual energy retail sales by that utility in 2020 and increases those savings annually.

Study; Department of Labor and Industry; apprenticeship programs; report. Requests the Department of Labor and Industryto study the need for apprenticeship training programs in Virginia,including (i) the future workforce needs of the construction industry;(ii) the economic impacts of a lack of highly skilled, well-trainedcraft personnel; (iii) construction industry workforce needs in theCommonwealth in response to potential large-scale investments in infrastructure by the federal government; (iv) what role apprenticeshipprograms will play in the development and acceleration of new industries,such as renewable energy; (v) whether the expansion of apprenticeshipswould contribute to greater diversity in construction workforce participationfrom women and people of color; and (vi) how expanding apprenticeshiptraining programs would affect job security and workplace safety in the Commonwealth. In addition, the Department is requested toundertake an in-depth study of best practices used by state governmentsand convene a stakeholder advisory group to discuss expansion ofcritically needed apprenticeship training programs in the Commonwealth'sconstruction industry.

Recognizing that global warming caused by humanactivity has resulted in a climate and ecological emergency.Expresses the sense of the General Assembly in recognizing that global warming caused by human activity that increases emissions of greenhousegases has resulted in a climate and ecological emergency.

Elections; preclearance of certain covered practices required. Requires the governing body of a covered jurisdiction, prior to enacting or seeking to administer any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or any standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting, to either (i) institute an action in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond for a declaratory judgment that the covered practice neither has the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or membership in a language minority group nor will result in the retrogression in the position of members of a racial or ethnic group with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise or (ii) submit such covered practice to the Office of the Attorney General for issuance of a certification of no objection. No covered practice can be given effect until the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond has entered such judgment or the Attorney General has issued such certification. The bill permits certain persons to institute an action to compel the governing body of a covered jurisdiction to institute an action in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond or to seek issuance of a certification of no objection and provides for appeals by the governing body or certain persons to decisions made by the Attorney General. A covered jurisdiction is defined by the bill as any county or city that is determined by the Attorney General using annual American Community Survey data to have a voting age population that contains two or more racial or ethnic groups, each constituting at least 20 percent of its voting age population, but excludes any county or city that, on or after January 1, 2008, was exempt from the preclearance requirements of § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, pursuant to a declaratory jurisdiction issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia under § 4 of that Act.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average.Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate thatis at or above the national average. Under current law, compensationat such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries,effective from the 2022-23 school year through the 2026-27 schoolyear. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.