Del. Kaye Kory

Vehicle registration fees; Public Safety TrustFund. Imposes an additional $4 vehicle registration fee to be deposited into the Public Safety Trust Fund, established by the bill.The moneys in the Public Safety Trust Fund are to be used to eliminatebarriers to an inclusive, diverse, and well-qualified workforce byaddressing compensation issues related to staffing, retention, and pay compression at the Department of State Police.

Required release of video or audio recording;discharge of firearm or use of stun weapon or chemical irritant by law-enforcement officer. Requires that, whenever a law-enforcementofficer (i) discharges a firearm or (ii) uses a stun weapon or chemicalirritant on a person resulting in death or serious bodily injury,any video or audio recording that relates to such incident producedor obtained by a law-enforcement officer be open to inspection andavailable for release and posted on a website that is maintained by the law-enforcement agency or on any other website on which the law-enforcement agency generally posts information and that is availableto the public or that clearly describes how the public may accesssuch data within 15 days of producing or obtaining such video oraudio recording. The bill includes exceptions to such release. Thebill also provides that any person denied the rights and privilegesconferred may proceed to enforce such rights and privileges by filinga petition for mandamus or injunction pursuant to the Virginia Freedomof Information Act.

Workers' compensation; injuries caused by repetitiveand sustained physical stressors. Provides that, for the purposesof the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease"includes injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustainedphysical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions,posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill providesthat such injuries are covered under the Act. Such coverage doesnot require that the injuries occurred over a particular period,provided that such a period can be reasonably identified and documentedand further provided that the employment is shown to have primarily caused the injury, considering all causes.

Purchase, possession, or transportation of firearmsfollowing conviction for assault and battery of a family or householdmember; penalties. Prohibits a person who has been convictedof assault and battery of a family or household member from purchasing,possessing, or transporting a firearm. A person who violates thisprovision is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

Memorializing Congress; H.R. 6422; NationalInfrastructure Bank. Urges the Congress of the United Statesto pass H.R. 6422 and create a National Infrastructure Bank to financeurgently needed infrastructure projects.

Suspension or modification of sentence; transferto the Department of Corrections. Provides that if a person hasbeen sentenced for a felony to the Department of Corrections (theDepartment), the court that heard the case, if it appears compatiblewith the public interest and there are circumstances in mitigationof the offense, may, at any time before the person is transferredto the Department or regardless of whether the person has been transferredto the Department, at any time within 12 months of entry of the sentencingorder, suspend or otherwise modify the unserved portion of such asentence. Additionally, notwithstanding the foregoing, the bill providesthat for good cause shown and in the interest of justice the courtmay, at any time before the sentence has been completely served, suspend the unserved portion of any such sentence, place the personon probation for such time as the court shall determine, or otherwisemodify the sentence imposed. Current law allows such suspension ormodification of the unserved portion of a sentence only if the personhas not yet been transferred to the Department of Corrections.

Elections; preclearance of certain covered practices required. Requires the governing body of a covered jurisdiction, prior to enacting or seeking to administer any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or any standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting, to either (i) institute an action in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond for a declaratory judgment that the covered practice neither has the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color or membership in a language minority group nor will result in the retrogression in the position of members of a racial or ethnic group with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise or (ii) submit such covered practice to the Office of the Attorney General for issuance of a certification of no objection. No covered practice can be given effect until the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond has entered such judgment or the Attorney General has issued such certification. The bill permits certain persons to institute an action to compel the governing body of a covered jurisdiction to institute an action in the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond or to seek issuance of a certification of no objection and provides for appeals by the governing body or certain persons to decisions made by the Attorney General. A covered jurisdiction is defined by the bill as any county or city that is determined by the Attorney General using annual American Community Survey data to have a voting age population that contains two or more racial or ethnic groups, each constituting at least 20 percent of its voting age population, but excludes any county or city that, on or after January 1, 2008, was exempt from the preclearance requirements of § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, pursuant to a declaratory jurisdiction issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia under § 4 of that Act.

Income tax deduction; multigenerational households.Creates a $1,000 deduction from Virginia adjusted gross income fortaxable years on and after January 1, 2021, for the head of household taxpayer or married taxpayers filing jointly of a multigenerational residence in the Commonwealth comprised of no less than two adultparent-child generations who are living together for the durationof the taxable year in which the deduction is claimed.

Voting Rights for Women Month. DesignatesNovember, in 2021 and in each succeeding year, as Voting Rights forWomen Month in Virginia.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average.Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate thatis at or above the national average. Under current law, compensationat such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries,effective from the 2022-23 school year through the 2026-27 schoolyear. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.