States that the General Assembly supports the movement Green New Deal Virginia, focused on retooling the Commonwealth's economy with solutions that center on equity and justice.
Prohibits any person from making personal use of campaign contributions to a candidate or his campaign committee, or of items acquired using such contributions, for a strictly personal purpose that has no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the candidate's campaign or public office. Any person who contributes to a candidate or a candidate's campaign committee or who is qualified to vote for a candidate may file a written complaint with the State Board of Elections (State Board) alleging a violation of the personal use prohibition by such candidate, and the State Board is tasked with reviewing the specific use alleged in the complaint. Additionally, the State Board may initiate a review of a specific use of campaign contributions on its own motion. The subject of the review has 30 days to either (i) reimburse the campaign committee the complained-of amount or (ii) provide to the State Board documentation or other evidence that the use of the campaign funds had an intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. If the subject of the review provides such documentation or other evidence, the State Board shall review the response and determine whether the use of campaign funds had any intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. If the State Board determines that there were no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefits and the complained-of amount has not been reimbursed, it shall call a public hearing. A person found by a unanimous vote of the State Board to have willfully and knowingly violated the prohibition on personal use of campaign funds must repay to the campaign committee the amount unlawfully converted to the personal use of the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family. The State Board may also assess an additional civil penalty, in an amount not to exceed $1,000. The bill also authorizes the State Board to provide, upon request, to any person subject to the personal use prohibition a formal advisory opinion regarding a specific use of campaign funds. The bill also requires the State Board to develop and publish guidance on the personal use prohibition.
Requires the school board in each school division in which the local law-enforcement agency employs school resource officers to enter into a memorandum of understanding with such local law-enforcement agency that sets forth the respective roles and responsibilities of the school board and the law-enforcement agency and the roles and responsibilities of such school resource officers. The bill requires each such school board and local law-enforcement agency to (i) review the memorandum of understanding every two years or at any time upon the request of either party with the possibility to revise such memorandum at any time as agreed by the parties, and (ii) ensure that all relevant personnel employed by either party are informed of and review the provisions of the memorandum of understanding, including any revisions to the memorandum of understanding. The bill also requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to develop a model memorandum of understanding that may be used by local school boards and local law-enforcement agencies to satisfy the new requirements put forth in the bill.
Removes provisions requiring (i) jail officers to ascertain the citizenship of any inmate taken into custody at a jail, (ii) probation and parole officers to inquire as to the citizenship status of an individual convicted of a felony in circuit court and referred to such officers, and (iii) officers in charge of correctional facilities to inquire as to the citizenship of any person committed to a correctional facility, and therefore such information is not required to be reported to the Central Criminal Records Exchange of the Department of State Police. The bill also removes the mandatory duty of the clerk of a court committing a convicted alien to a correctional facility to furnish related court records to a United States immigration officer and the requirement that an intake officer report to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security any juvenile detained on an allegation that the juvenile, believed to be in the United States illegally, committed a violent felony. The bill prohibits officers or agents of any state or local law-enforcement agency from inquiring into the immigration status of a person who is (a) a victim of a crime, (b) a parent or guardian of a minor victim of a crime, (c) a person who is a cooperating witness in the investigation of a crime, or (d) the parent or guardian of a minor witness to a crime.
Provides that an employee has a private cause of action against an employer who fails to pay wages. The measure provides that if the court finds that the employer knowingly failed to pay the wages, it shall also award the employee reasonable attorney fees and other costs. If the court finds that the employer's failure to pay wages was willful and with intent to defraud the employee, the court shall award the employee reasonable attorney fees and other costs plus an additional sum equal to treble the amount of wages due.
Requires the State Board of Elections to conduct audits of the campaign finance reports filed by the campaign committees of candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and the General Assembly. The campaign committees to be audited will be selected at random, with at least 50 percent of the campaign committees for candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General and at least 10 percent of the campaign committees for candidates for the General Assembly being audited. The State Board is authorized to compel the production of all bank statements for the campaign depository, all copies of checks issued on the campaign depository, and bills, invoices, and receipts for all expenditures made by the candidate or his treasurer, of any campaign committee subject to an audit, in order to conduct the audit. The bill requires the audit to be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and any procedures adopted by the State Board, and permits the State Board to employ certified public accountants or other additional personnel to conduct the audits. If the audit results in a determination that the balance in the campaign depository does not reconcile with the amounts reported in the campaign finance reports, the State Board is required to forward its report to the appropriate attorney for the Commonwealth. The bill provides that discrepancies or missing information discovered during the course of an audit be handled in accordance with current law for incomplete reports, including provisions for assessing civil penalties as appropriate.
Requires the Attorney General to appoint a Virginia Freedom of Information Act Ombudsman (Ombudsman) to promote compliance by state agencies with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bill outlines the powers and duties of the Ombudsman and provides for the Ombudsman to submit by November 30 of each year a report on his activities and policy recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly.
Provides that the Board of Corrections shall make, adopt, and promulgate rules and regulations regarding the provision of information on absentee voting to all persons confined in a local correctional facility who may be eligible to vote and information on the process of applying for a restoration of civil rights and of voting rights for those persons who have been convicted of a felony.
