Del. Kathleen Murphy

School boards; distribution of excess food. Allows public school boards to distribute excess food to students eligible for the School Breakfast Program or National School Lunch Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or to students who the school board determines are otherwise eligible to receive excess food. A school board is also allowed to develop a policy for distributing excess food, saving it for later, or donating it.

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Actand Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; required disclosures;lead pipe. Requires the owner of a residential dwelling who hasactual knowledge of the existence of lead pipe in such dwelling unitto provide to a prospective purchaser a written disclosure that theproperty has lead pipe. Such disclosure shall be provided to the purchaser on a form provided by the Real Estate Board on its website. The billalso requires any landlord of a dwelling unit who has actual knowledgeof the existence of lead pipe in such dwelling unit to disclose thatinformation to a prospective tenant. Any tenant who is not providedwith such disclosure may terminate the lease agreement at any time within 60 days of discovery of the existence of lead pipe by providingwritten notice to the landlord. The bill defines "lead pipe" as anypipe or pipe or plumbing fixture, solder, or flux that does not meetthe federal Safe Drinking Water Act definition of "lead free."

Line of Duty Act; eligible dependents. Provides that children born or adopted after the death or disability of an employee covered by the Line of Duty Act are eligible for health insurance coverage if their birth or adoption occurred after the time of the employee's death or disability, but prior to July 1, 2017. Under current law, such children are not eligible unless they were adopted pursuant to a preadoptive agreement entered into prior to the death or disability. This bill is identical to HB 51.

Sales tax exemption; gun safes. Establishes an exemption from retail sales tax for a gun safe with a selling price of $1,500 or less. The bill defines "gun safe" as a safe or vault that is (i) commercially available, (ii) secured with a digital or dial combination locking mechanism or biometric locking mechanism, and (iii) designed for the storage of a firearm or of ammunition for use in a firearm. Under the bill, "gun safe" does not include a glass-faced cabinet. This bill is identical to SB 268.

Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Adds cancers of the colon, brain, or testes to the list of cancers that are presumed to be an occupational disease covered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act when firefighters or certain employees develop the cancer. The presumption shall not apply for any individual who was diagnosed with one of the conditions before July 1, 2020. The measure removes the compensability requirement that the employee who develops cancer had contact with a toxic substance encountered in the line of duty. The bill also reduces the number of years of service needed to qualify for the presumption from 12 to five for various types of cancer. For hypertension or heart disease, the bill adds a requirement that an individual complete five years of service in their position in order to qualify. This bill is identical to SB 9.

Study; Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing and Development Authority; ways to incentivize the development of affordable housing in the Commonwealth of Virginia; report. Requests the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Housing and Development Authority to convene a stakeholder advisory group to (i) determine the quantity and quality of affordable housing across the Commonwealth, (ii) conduct a review of current programs and policies to determine the effectiveness of current housing policy efforts, (iii) develop an informed projection of future housing needs in the Commonwealth and determine the order of priority of those needs, and (iv) make recommendations for the improvement of housing policy in the Commonwealth.

Research and development tax credits; sunset; aggregate caps. Extends the sunset date for both the research and development expenses tax credit and the major research and development expenses tax credit from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2025. Beginning with taxable year 2021, the bill increases the aggregate cap of the research and development expenses tax credit from $7 million to $7.77 million and increases the aggregate cap of the major research and development expenses tax credit from $20 million to $24 million. For both credits, the bill moves back the annual deadline for applications for the credit from July 1 to September 1. This bill is identical to SB 110.

Public institutions of higher education; veterans; withdrawal; tuition refund. Requires each public institution of higher education to provide a refund of the tuition and mandatory fees paid by any veteran student for any course from which he is forced to withdraw, for the first time, due to a service-connected medical condition during a semester, as certified in writing to the institution by a physician licensed to practice medicine who treated the veteran student for such medical condition. Such refund shall not be issued when three-quarters of a course has been completed at the time that the veteran student withdraws from the course.

Landlord and tenant; victims of family abuse; evidence to mitigate low credit score; damages. Allows an applicant for a lease to recover actual damages, including all amounts paid to the landlord as an application fee, application deposit, or reimbursement for any of the landlord's out-of-pocket expenses that were charged to the applicant, along with attorney fees, if the landlord does not consider evidence of the applicant's status as a victim of family abuse to mitigate any adverse effect of the otherwise qualified applicant's low credit score.

Definition of birth control. Defines "birth control," for the purposes of the regulation of medicine, as contraceptive methods that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationand provides that birth control shall not be considered abortionfor the purposes of Title 18.2 (Crimes and Offenses Generally).