Coal ash ponds; well monitoring program; drinking water well testing. Requires each utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond, to commission an independent well water test on behalf of the owner of any well located within 1.5 miles of such coal ash pond by January 1, 2021, and requires such test to be conducted once per year during each of the five years following the approval of the closure of the coal ash pond and once every five years thereafter. The bill provides that if any test exceeds groundwater quality standards for constituents associated with coal ash, the Virginia Waste Management Board shall instruct the utility to provide alternative water supplies to the owner of the well. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to consider the results of the tests in its permitting, monitoring, or enforcement proceedings.
Sponsored bills
Department of Education; annual teacher compensation review; report. Requires the Department of Education to conduct an annual review of teacher compensation that takes into consideration the Commonwealth's compensation for teachers relative to member states in the Southern Regional Education Board. The bill requires the Department to report its findings to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the School Board by June 1 of each year. Current law requires the Director of Human Resource Management to complete a biennial review of teacher compensation.
Worker cooperatives. Establishes worker cooperatives as a category of cooperative associations. A worker cooperative is a stock corporation that has elected to be governed by provisions established by this measure, which include (i) conducting its business primarily for the mutual benefit of its members, (ii) allowing only current and retired employees to be members, (iii) limiting voting rights to current employees, (iv) providing that each employee is entitled to one vote, (v) prohibiting any person from owning more than one membership share, (vi) requiring at least two-thirds of employees to own membership shares, and (vii) requiring that net earnings be paid or credited to members in accordance with the ratio that each member's amount of work performed during a period bears to the total amount of work performed by all members during that period.
Community solar development pilot program; low-income communities. Requires each incumbent electric utility to select for dedication to its community solar development pilot program one or more eligible generating facilities that are located within a low-income community as a condition for the utility's selection for dedication to its program any eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. The bill requires the costs of the selected facilities in low-income communities to equal or exceed the costs of the eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. These requirements apply to facilities selected on or after July 1, 2020. The bill defines a low-income community as a census tract that is designated in 2019 or thereafter as a qualified census tract for purposes of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Such census tracts are required to have 50 percent of households with incomes below 60 percent of the area median gross income or have a poverty rate of 25 percent or more.
Hate crimes; gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation; penalty. Adds gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also adds gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the categories of hate crimes that are to be reported to the central repository of information regarding hate crimes maintained by the Virginia State Police. The bill provides that a person who is subjected to acts of intimidation or harassment, violence directed against his person, or vandalism to his real or personal property, where such acts are motivated by gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation, may bring a civil action to recover his damages. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The bill also eliminates the mandatory minimum terms of confinement for such hate crimes. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act. This bill incorporates HB 488.
Industrial hemp extract; approval as food or ingredient; regulations; fund; emergency. Provides that an industrial hemp extract, as defined in the bill, is a food and is subject to applicable laws and regulations. The bill establishes (i) requirements for the production of an industrial hemp extract or a food containing an extract and (ii) conditions under which a manufacturer of such extract or food shall be considered an approved source. The bill authorizes the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt regulations establishing contaminant tolerances, labeling requirements, and batch testing requirements, and it provides that moneys collected under the chapter shall be deposited in the Virginia Industrial Hemp Fund, created by the bill. The bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry to report by November 1, 2020, a plan for the long-term sustainability of funding for the industrial hemp program. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 918.
Teachers, other instructional personnel, and support staff; shortages; data; reporting. Requires (i) each school board to report to the Department of Education annually the number and type of teacher, other instructional personnel, and support staff vacancies in the school division and (ii) each approved education preparation program to report to the Department of Education annually the number of individuals who completed the program by endorsement area. The bill requires the Department of Education to (a) establish deadlines for and the format of the reporting of such data and (b) aggregate and report such data annually on the Department's website.
Fostering Futures program. Establishes theFostering Futures program to provide services and support to individualsbetween the ages of 18 and 21 who were in foster care as a minorand are transitioning to full adulthood and self-sufficiency.
Menstrual supplies; availability; public elementary, middle, and high schools. Requires each school board to make tampons or pads available, at all times and at no cost to students, (i) in such accessible locations as it deems appropriate in each elementary school in the local school division and (ii) in the bathrooms of each middle school and high school in the local school division. This bill is identical to SB 232.
Public institutions of higher education; in-state tuition; refugees and individuals with certain Special Immigrant Visas. Provides that an individual is eligible for in-state tuition charges regardless of domicile if he is admitted to the United States as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 within the previous two calendar years or received a Special Immigrant Visa that has been granted a status under P.L. 110-181 § 1244, P.L. 109-163 § 1059, or P.L. 111-8 § 602 within the previous two calendar years, and upon entering the United States, the individual resided in the Commonwealth and continues to reside in the Commonwealth as a refugee or pursuant to such Special Immigrant Visa.