Employment; domestic service. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
Electric vehicle rebate program; creation andfunding; report. Creates a rebate program for the purchase or lease of new and used electric vehicles, to be administered by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. A purchaser or lesseeof an electric vehicle would receive a $2,500 rebate at the timeof purchase, and a purchaser or lessee with an annual household incomethat does not exceed 300 percent of the federal poverty level wouldbe entitled to an additional $2,000 rebate. The motor vehicle dealerwhere the vehicle is purchased or leased would receive a refund forthe amount of the rebate and a $50 incentive payment for each rebateprocessed. Funds would be allocated from the revenues generated bythe sunset of the Virginia Coal Employment and Production IncentiveTax Credit and the Coalfield employment enhancement tax credit andprohibit the allocation of new credits on and after January 1, 2021.The bill also establishes an Electric Vehicle Rebate Advisory Councilto oversee the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program and to make recommendationsregarding its implementation. The Director of the Department of Mines,Minerals and Energy is required to report annually to the Governorand the General Assembly regarding the Program. The Program will expire on September 1, 2026.
Regulation of child-care services in localities.Expands to include all cities the authority related to the regulationof child-care services that is currently available to certain NorthernVirginia localities. This will have the effect of granting all citiesauthority by ordinance to regulate child-care facilities that provideregular care to one or more children not related by blood or marriage.
State Corporation Commission; business entities filings; Virginia Stock Corporation Act. Aligns provisions governing the filings by nonstock corporations, limited liability companies, business trusts, and partnerships related to cancellations, abandonments, name restrictions and registered agent resignations, and entity conversions to the provisions governing such filings for stock corporations. The Virginia Stock Corporation Act was comprehensively updated during the 2019 Session of the General Assembly. The bill includes adjustments to the assessment of annual fees after certain entity conversions or domestications. The bill also provides that certain legacy terms will be construed to mean their updated counterparts during a two-year transition. The bill amends various provisions of the Virginia Stock Corporation Act (the Act). The bill provides that for any notice to shareholders required by the Act, such notice is not required for a shareholder for whom notice of two consecutive annual meetings and all notices of meetings in between, or all distributions in a 12-month period or two consecutive distributions in a period of more than 12 months, have been sent and have been returned undeliverable or could not be delivered. The bill authorizes a board of directors to adopt certain emergency bylaws and exercise its emergency powers when there is a catastrophic event, including an attack on the United States or in any locality in which the corporation conducts its business or customarily holds meetings of the board of directors or shareholders, an epidemic or pandemic, or a declaration of a national emergency by the United States government or an emergency by the government of the locality in which the corporation's principal office is located, that affects the corporation and regardless of whether a quorum of the board of directors or a committee can be readily convened for action. The bill provides that during such an emergency, a board of directors is authorized to take any action it deems practicable and necessary to address the circumstances of the emergency, including (i) postponing any meeting; (ii) for certain corporations, notifying shareholders of any such postponement by filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and (iii) for a distribution that has been declared by the record date that has not occurred, canceling distribution or changing the amount of distributions, or changing the record date or the payment date of such distributions. The bill provides that if the articles of incorporation provide that a board of directors may by adoption of an amendment to the articles of incorporation classify or reclassify unissued shares, the articles of incorporation are deemed to authorize the board of directors to amend the articles unless the articles expressly state that shareholder action is required. The bill provides that the shareholder's list required for inspection by any shareholder may be made available on a reasonably accessible electronic network, provided that the information to gain access to such list is provided with the notice of the shareholders' meeting. The bill also amends provisions regarding when shareholder approval is not required for a plan of merger or share exchange.
Charitable gaming; increase in certain maximum allowable prize amounts. Increases the maximum allowable amount for a single bingo door prize from $50 to $250 and the maximum allowable cumulative door prizes in any one bingo session from $250 to $500. The bill allows up to 10 games per bingo session to feature a regular bingo or special bingo game prize of up to $200. The bill increases the prize for a single instant bingo, pull tab, or seal card from $1,000 to $2,000. Finally, the bill increases from $100 to $200 the allowable amount of increase of a progressive prize per session in certain progressive bingo games. The bill requires the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, beginning July 1, 2024 and at least once every five years thereafter, to convene a stakeholder work group to review the limitations on prize amounts and provide any recommendations to the General Assembly by November 30 of the year in which the stakeholder work group is convened.
Virginia Human Rights Act; definition of employer;person employing one or more domestic workers. Expands the definitionof "employer" for all purposes of the Virginia Human Rights Act toinclude a person employing one or more domestic workers, as definedin the bill.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies; noncompliance with rental agreement; payment plan; removal of sunset. Removes the sunset date of July 1, 2021, from certain provisions enacted during the 2020 Special Session related to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Such provisions (i) changed from five to 14 days the amount of time that a landlord who owns four or fewer rental dwelling units must wait after serving written notice on a tenant notifying the tenant of his nonpayment of rent and of the landlord's intention to terminate the rental agreement if rent is not paid before the landlord may pursue remedies for termination of the rental agreement; (ii) required a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units, or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units, before terminating a rental agreement due to nonpayment of rent, to serve upon such tenant a written notice informing the tenant of the total amount due and owed and offer the tenant a payment plan under which the tenant must pay the total amount due and owed in equal monthly installments over a period of the lesser of six months or the time remaining under the rental agreement; (iii) outlined the remedies a landlord has if a tenant fails to pay the total amount due and owed or enter into a payment arrangement within 14 days of receiving notice or if the tenant enters into a payment arrangement but fails to pay within 14 days of the due date any rent that becomes due under the payment plan or arrangement after such plan or arrangement becomes effective; and (iv) clarified that a tenant is not precluded from participating in any other rent relief programs available to the tenant through a nonprofit organization or under the provisions of a federal, state, or local law, regulation, or action.
Neonicotinoid pesticides; local regulation andnotice; penalty. Requires a person who uses a neonicotinoid pesticide,defined in the bill, to give prior written notice at every addresswithin one-half mile and authorizes the Board of Agriculture andConsumer Services to adopt regulations to enforce the provisionsof the bill. A violation of the failure to give notice is a Class1 misdemeanor and shall be subject to an additional fine of up to $500,000 if death or serious physical harm to any person is causedby the violation. The bill also authorizesany locality to regulate or prohibit the distribution, possession,or sale of any neonicotinoid or other pesticide that the localitydeems harmful to pollinators or to regulate or prohibit any outdooruse in an area that is zoned for residential, business, commercial,or industrial use. A person who violates such ordinance shall besubject to a civil penalty, not to exceed $50 for the first violationor violations arising from the same set of operative facts, and $200for subsequent violations within a 12-month period, but not to exceed$3,000 within a 12-month period.
Certifications for victims of qualifying criminal activity. Establishes a process for a state or local law-enforcement agency, an attorney for the Commonwealth, the Attorney General, or any other agency or department employing law-enforcement officers to complete a certification form or declaration that is required by federal immigration law certifying that a person is a victim of qualifying criminal activity.
Polling places; prohibited activities; unlawfulpossession of a firearm; penalty. Prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm within 40 feet of any building, orpart thereof, used as a polling place, including one hour before andone hour after its use as a polling place, except for (i) a qualifiedlaw-enforcement officer or retired law-enforcement officer, (ii)any person occupying his own private property that falls within40 feet of the polling place, or (iii) a licensed armed securityofficer whose employment or performance of his duties occurs within40 feet of the polling place. The bill further provides that no personshall knowingly possess a firearm within 40 feet of a meeting placefor the local electoral board while the electoral board meets to ascertainthe results of an election or any place used as the setting for arecount. A violation of the provisions of the bill is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
