Emergency Services and Disaster Law; Commissioner of Health; emergency orders and regulations; limitations; civil penalty. Provides that neither the Board of Health nor the Commissioner of Health shall make any emergency order or regulation unless, on the basis of the evidence available to the Board, (i) such order or regulation is necessary to suppress a nuisance dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health; (ii) no alternatives to the proposed order or regulation that are reasonable in light of the impact on quality of life and economic well-being exist; and (iii) the provisions of such order or regulation are narrowly tailored to address the nuisance dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health. The bill also provides that the Governor shall not issue any emergency rule, regulation, or order unless, on the basis of the evidence available to the Governor, (a) such rule, regulation, or order is necessary to address a compelling circumstance; (b) no alternatives to the proposed rule, regulation, or order that are reasonable in light of the impact on quality of life and economic well-being exist; and (c) the provisions of such rule, regulation, or order are narrowly tailored to address the compelling circumstance.The bill provides that any order that limits the number of individuals who may gather together in person, in public or private, or categorizes individuals on the basis of their relationship to or association with such individuals and limits the categories of individuals with whom an individual who is not known or reasonably suspected to have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health threat may associate is presumed to negatively impact quality of life and economic well-being.The bill also limits the duration of any emergency rule, regulation, or order to 15 days; provides for one extension of such rule, regulation, or order; and provides that any person who violates such rule, regulation, or order shall be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $100 per violation. Under current law, any person who violates the provisions of an executive order is subject to a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Sponsored bills
Hunting deer; use of .22 caliber rifle authorized.Authorizes the use of a rifle equipped with .22 caliber centerfireammunition for hunting big game. Current Department of Wildlife Resourcesregulations allow the use of rifles with a caliber of .23 or greater.
Voter identification; identification containinga photograph required. Requires presentation of a form of identificationcontaining a photograph in order to vote. The bill repeals the provisionsof law permitting a voter who does not have one of the required formsof identification to vote after signing a statement, subject to felonypenalties for false statements, that he is the named registered voterhe claims to be. Instead, the bill provides that such voter is entitledto cast a provisional ballot.
Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirementbenefits for animal control officers. Adds animal control officersto the list of local employees eligible to receive enhanced retirementbenefits for hazardous duty service. Under current law, localitiesmay provide such benefits to first responders, including firefightersand emergency medical technicians, and certain other hazardous dutypositions.
Pensions; enhanced retirement benefits for juvenile detention specialists. Requires each political subdivision participatingin the Virginia Retirement System and each county or city participatingin the Virginia Retirement System to provide retirement benefitscomparable to the benefits provided to state police officers to juveniledetention specialists.
Elections; time of certain local elections.Removes a provision that requires local elections for mayor, members of a local governing body, or members of an elected schoolboard to be held at the time of the November general election. Thebill allows cities and towns that made the transition between July1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, to provide by ordinance for its reversal.
Education Savings Account Program established; Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits. Establishes the Education Savings Account Program, to be administered by the Department of Education, whereby the parent of any individual who is a resident of the Commonwealth and who is eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school may apply for an Education Savings Account for his child into which the Department of Education deposits certain state and local funds and from which the parent makes certain enumerated qualifying expenses to educate his child in a setting and a manner other than full-time education in a public school. The bill requires the Program to be fully implemented prior to the beginning of the 2022–2023 school year.The bill also increases the value of the Education Improvement Scholarships income tax credit for a donation to a scholarship foundation from 65 percent to 100 percent of the donation. The bill removes the aggregate limit on tax credits per year, which under current law is $25 million, and removes individual minimum and maximum required donation amounts.The bill raises the threshold for students to qualify for scholarships to 1,000 percent of free or reduced-price lunch standards or, for eligible students with a disability, 1,200 percent of such standards. The bill grants scholarship foundations the discretion to determine what expenses may be funded by tax-credit-subsidized scholarships. Under current law, such expenses are limited by statute. The bill expands eligibility for scholarships to any student who is a Virginia resident and eligible to enroll in a Virginia primary or secondary school. Current law restricts eligibility to certain categories of students.The bill removes the requirement that scholarship-funded schools report test results of scholarship-funded students. The provisions of the bill pertaining to the Education Improvement Scholarships income tax credits apply starting with taxable year 2022.
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, his date of birth, the last four digits of his social securitynumber, and his residence address.
Charitable gaming; definition of organization.Adds to the list of organizations permitted to conduct charitablegaming organizations that are exempt from income tax pursuant to§ 501(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code and are operated, and havealways been operated, exclusively to provide scholarships to localschools and other community assistance.
Agribusiness. Clarifies that existing agribusinessin the Commonwealth includes farmers markets and roadside farm markets.