Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit, interruption of services, or actions taken to make premises unsafe. Provides that a general district court shall enter an order upon petition by a tenant that his landlord has (i) removed or excluded the tenant from the dwelling unit unlawfully, (ii) interrupted or caused the interruption of an essential service to the tenant, or (iii) taken action to make the premises unsafe for habitation. The bill allows entry of a preliminary order ex parte to require the landlord to allow the tenant to recover possession of the dwelling unit, resume any such interrupted essential service, or fix any willful actions taken by the landlord or his agent to make the premises unsafe for habitation if there is good cause to do so and the tenant made reasonable efforts to notify the landlord of the hearing. The bill requires that any ex parte order entered shall further indicate a date for a full hearing on the petition that is no later than 10 days from the initial hearing date. Finally, the bill provides that, at a full hearing on such petition, the tenant shall recover actual damages, the greater of $5,000 or four months' rent, and reasonable attorney fees.
Sponsored bills
Electric Vehicle Grant Fund and Program; creation; workgroup report. Establishes the Electric Vehicle Grant Fund and Program for the purpose of (i) awarding grants on a competitive basis to public school divisions for (a) assisting with costs of replacing diesel school buses with electric school buses; (b) the implementation of recharging infrastructure or other infrastructure needed to charge or maintain such electric school buses; and (c) workforce development and training to support the maintenance, charging, and operation of such electric school buses and (ii) projects by public, private, and non-profit Virginia entities to assist with replacing diesel-fueled vehicles and machinery with electric vehicles. No allocation of funds shall be made to the Fund or the Program unless federal or nonstate funds are available to cover the entire cost of such allocation. The bill contains provisions relating to grant applications, priority, awards, and uses. The Department of Environmental Quality shall convene a stakeholder workgroup to develop recommendations for establishing and administering the Fund and Program and shall report the workgroup findings to the General Assembly.
Local green banks. Authorizes a locality,by ordinance, to establish a green bank to promote the investmentin clean energy technologies in its locality and provide financingfor clean energy technologies, defined in the bill. The bill establishescertain powers and functions of a green bank, including developingrules and procedures, financing and providing loans for clean energyprojects, and stimulating demand for renewable energy. The bill requiresthe green bank to be a public entity, quasi-public entity, or nonprofitentity and requires the locality to hold a hearing and publish noticein a newspaper of general circulation prior to establishing the greenbank.
Early childhood education; quality rating andimprovement system participation; School Readiness Committee.Delays until the 2022%962023 school year the requirement for allpublicly funded early childhood education providers to participate in a quality rating and improvement system to be established by theBoard of Education by July 1, 2021. The bill also delays from thefall of 2023 to the fall of 2024 the publication of initial qualityratings for such providers. The bill reinstates the School ReadinessCommittee and alters the composition and scope of the work of theSchool Readiness Committee.
Standards of Learning assessments; reading and mathematics; grades three through eight; individual student growth. Requires the Board of Education to establish, in lieu of a one-time end-of-year assessment and for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system, aligned with the Standards of Learning, for the administration of reading and mathematics assessments in grades three through eight. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to include at least one beginning-of-year and one end-of-year assessment in order to provide individual student growth scores over the course of the school year, provided that the total time scheduled for taking all such assessments shall not exceed 150 percent of the time scheduled for taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill requires such through-year growth assessment system to be fully implemented in each local school division no later than the 2024-2025 school year.
Paid sick leave. Requires employers to provide certain employees paid sick leave. An employee is eligible for paid sick leave under the bill if the employee is an essential worker and works on average at least 20 hours per week or 90 hours per month. The bill provides for an employee to earn at least one hour of paid sick leave benefit for every 30 hours worked. An employee shall not use more than 40 hours of earned paid sick leave in a year, unless the employer selects a higher limit. The bill provides that earned paid sick leave may be used for (i) 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) care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or care of a family member who needs preventive medical care. The bill prohibits employers from taking certain retaliatory actions against employees related to leave. The bill provides for a hardship waiver for employers that demonstrate that providing paid sick leave threatens the financial viability of the employer, jeopardizes the ability of the employer to sustain operations, significantly degrades the quality of the employer's business operations, or creates a significant negative financial impact on the employer. The bill requires the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to promulgate regulations that (a) identify workers as essential based on the categories listed in the bill; (b) include reasonable requirements for recordkeeping, confidentiality, and notifying employees of their rights under provisions of the bill; (c) establish complaint, investigation, and enforcement procedures that include fines, not to exceed $500, for violations of provisions of the bill; (d) establish requirements for compensation and accrual of paid sick leave for employees employed and compensated on a fee-for-service basis; and (e) include procedures and requirements for an employer to qualify for a hardship waiver. The provisions of the bill do not apply to a retail business with fewer than 25 employees.
Department of Motor Vehicles; privilegedinformation. Limits the release of Department of Motor Vehicles(DMV) privileged information to government entities and law-enforcementagencies for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement unless (i) the subject of the information provides consent or (ii) the requesting agency presents a lawful judicial order, judicial subpoena, or judicial warrant. The bill requires the DMV to notify the subject of therequest that such a request was made and the identity of the entitythat made the request. The bill requires any entity receiving privileged information from the DMV to enter into a written agreement withthe DMV prior to such release of such information and prohibits anyentity from rereleasing any such DMV information to any third partyunless explicitly permitted to do so in the entity's agreement withthe DMV. The bill contains requirements for any such written agreementbetween the DMV and the Department of State Police.
Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fundand Program established. Establishes the Get Skilled,Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fund and requires the Virginia Community College System to establish the G3 Program for the purpose of providing financial assistance from the Fund to certain low-income and middle-income Virginia students who are enrolled in an educational program at an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher educationthat leads to an occupation in a certain high-demand field. The billcontains provisions for student eligibility, financial assistanceaward amounts, and data reporting.
Board of Local and Regional Jails; review servicesprovided to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery; report. Directsthe Board of Local and Regional Jails (the Board), in consultationwith a stakeholder work group, to (i) identify and analyze all obstetricand gynecological services and any other services provided by localand regional jails to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination,labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery; (ii) compare such servicesto best practices recommended by the American Correctional Association,American Jail Association, National Commission on Correctional HealthCare, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and(iii) develop recommendations to ensure that proper services areprovided to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination, laborand delivery, and postpartum recovery. The bill directs the Boardto (a) post its findings and recommendations on its website and reportsuch findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Chairmen of the Senate Committee onthe Judiciary, Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services,House Committee for Courts of Justice, and House Committee on PublicSafety by July 1, 2022, and (b) adopt regulations consistent withits findings and recommendations.
Electric utilities; nonjurisdictional customers;third party power purchase agreements. Provides that for pilotprograms under which an owner or operator of a renewable energy generationfacility sells electricity to an eligible customer-generator through a third party power purchase agreement, both jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional customers may participate on a first-come, first-servebasis.