Jury duty; allowance increase. Increasesthe jury duty allowance from $30 to $40 for each day of attendanceupon the court effective July 1, 2022; to $45 effective July 1, 2023;and to $50 effective July 1, 2024, and thereafter.
School boards; unexpended local funds; capitalprojects. Permits any school board to finance capital projectswith any funds appropriated to it by the local governing body thatare unexpended by the school board in any year. The bill is a recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization.
Hunting with steel-jawed traps; prohibition;penalty. Prohibits the use of steel-jawed traps when hunting;a violation of the prohibition is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.
Native plant species; state agencies. Directsthe Secretaries of Natural and Historic Resources, Agriculture andForestry, and Administration to coordinate the development of strategicactions for state agencies to take to prioritize the use of nativeplant species on state properties.
Paid sick leave; home health workers providingagency-directed services. Requires employers to provide paid sick leave to home health workers who provide agency-directed services.Under current law, employers are only required to provide paid sickleave to home health workers who provide consumer-directed services.The bill provides that "employer" includes the Commonwealth, anyof its agencies, institutions, or political subdivisions, and anypublic body.
Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Adds 911 dispatchers to the list of local employees eligible to receive enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service. Under current law, localities may provide such benefits to first responders, including firefighters and emergency medical technicians, and certain other hazardous duty positions.
Health insurance; coverage for the diagnosisof and treatment for infertility and standard fertility preservationservices. Requires health insurance policies, subscription contracts,and health care plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and for standard fertility preservation procedures,defined in the bill.
Paid sick leave; penalty; state tax deduction. Requires employers, as defined in the bill, to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave, prorated to reflect the average number of hours worked per week by each employee, as defined in the bill, in the previous 12 months, for all existing eligible employees and eligible employees that have been employed for at least 12 months. For eligible employees who have been employed for less than 12 months, employers must provide 20 to 40 hours of paid sick leave, prorated to reflect the expected number of hours worked per week by each employee, as determined by the employer. Employers with at least 25 but not more than 49 full-time employees receive a nonrefundable state tax deduction equivalent to 120 percent of the value of any paid sick leave provided by an employer to an employee. Employers with existing paid sick leave policies providing at least 40 hours per year of paid sick leave are exempt from the requirements of the bill. The bill allows employers to request a hardship waiver from the Department of Labor and Industry for certain circumstances and requires employers to provide a written notice of information related to paid sick leave to each employee at the commencement of employment or by January 1, 2023. The bill requires that sick leave be available for any eligible employee to use at the commencement of employment and provides that paid sick leave may be used (i) for an employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, an employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or an employee's need for preventive medical care or (ii) to provide care to a family member under similar circumstances. The law prohibits employers from taking certain retaliatory actions against employees related to paid sick leave, and the bill authorizes the Department, in the case of a knowing violation, to subject an employer to a 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 the bill and to collect specified amounts from the employer, which shall be awarded to the employee. Many of the provisions of the bill currently apply to certain home health workers. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.
Income tax; geothermal tax credit. Establishes an individual income tax credit for taxable years 2023 through 2027 for qualified expenditures related to a geothermal system placed in service at a residence in a tobacco region locality. The bill provides that the geothermal tax credit amount is the lesser of $7,500 or 25 percent of qualified expenditures. The aggregate annual limit on such credits is $1 million. The bill directs the Department of Energy to evaluate whether a person's geothermal system complies with statutory and regulatory standards and to issue a certification for a compliant system to be attached to a person's income tax return in order to claim the geothermal tax credit. The bill reduces from 50 percent to 25 percent the portion of Master Settlement Agreement funds that accrue to the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund and allocates 25 percent of such funds to cover the revenue loss attributable to the credit created by the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.
Exhaust systems; excessive noise. Prohibitsany individual from operating a motor vehicle with a gross weightof 10,000 pounds or less with an exhaust system that emits noise equivalentto noise in excess of 85 decibels measured from a distance of 50 feet.The bill also allows the governing body of any county, city, or town located within the Northern Virginia Planning District to provideby ordinance that no person shall operate any motor vehicle on a highway or on public or private property within 500 feet of any residential district unless such motor vehicle is equipped with an exhaust systemof a type installed as standard equipment, or comparable to thatdesigned for use on that particular vehicle or device as standardfactory equipment, in good working order and in constant operationto prevent excessive noise. The bill also requires the Superintendentof State Police to promulgate regulations for the inspection of motorvehicles to ensure that no motor vehicle is equipped with a guttedmuffler, muffler cutout, or straight exhaust or any mechanical orelectronic device that creates or amplifies noise emitted by themotor vehicle that is louder than the noise emitted by such motor vehicle as originally manufactured.
