Del. Kaye Kory

Distribution of mail voter registration applicationforms; certain public and private institutions of higher education.Requires the Department of Elections to provide a reasonable numberof mail voter registration application forms to public institutionsof higher education, nonprofit private institutions of higher educationthat are eligible to participate in the Tuition Assistance GrantProgram, and any other education institution that is authorized toissue bonds. The bill requires the State Council of Higher Educationfor Virginia to assist the Department by providing a list of suchinstitutions and by requesting those institutions to make the mailvoter registration application forms available to students.

Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention Fund; report. Creates the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention Fund, which shall be administered by the Department of Social Services, in coordination with the Department of Health and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, and used to develop, support, and evaluate programs that prevent sexual and domestic violence through strategies that (i) promote healthy practices related to relationships, sexuality, and social-emotional development and (ii) counteract the factors associated with the initial perpetration of sexual and domestic violence. This bill is identical to SB 297.

Nonpayment of wages; private action; liability for payment of wages due under construction contracts; penalties. Provides that an employee has a private cause of action, individually, jointly, with other aggrieved employees as a collective action, on behalf of similarly situated employees as a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act against an employer who fails to pay wages to recover the amount of wages due plus interest at eight percent annually from the date the wages were due, an additional amount as liquidated damages, and reasonable attorney fees and costs. If the court finds that the employer knowingly failed to pay wages, the court shall award the employee reasonable attorney fees and costs and the employer is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation. 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 triple the amount of wages due and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The measure also provides that any construction contract entered into on or after July 1, 2020, shall be deemed to include a provision under which the general contractor and the subcontractor are jointly and severally liable to pay the wages due to the subcontractor's employees. If the wages due to the subcontractor's employees are not paid, the general contractor is subject to criminal and civil penalties for which an employer is liable for failing or refusing to pay wages. The measure requires the subcontractor to indemnify the general contractor for wages, damages, interest, penalties, or attorney fees owed as a result of the subcontractor's failure to pay the wages unless the subcontractor's failure to pay wages was because of the general contractor's failure to pay moneys due to the subcontractor. The measure also provides that the lack of privity between the general contractor and the employees of the subcontractor is not a defense in an action against the general contractor arising from nonpayment of wages to the subcontractor's employees. This bill incorporates HB 482.

Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill incorporates HB 1138 and is identical to SB 935.

Minority language accessibility; voting and election materials. Requires the State Board of Elections to prescribe, and a covered locality to provide, voting and election materials in languages other than English. A county, city, or town is designated by the State Board as a covered locality if the State Board determines, in consultation with the Director of the Census, based on the 2010 American Community Survey census data and subsequent American Community Survey data in five-year increments, or comparable census data, that (i) either (a) more than five percent of the citizens of voting age of such county, city, or town are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process; (b) more than 10,000 of the citizens of voting age of such county, city, or town are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process; or (c) in the case of a county, city, or town containing all or any part of an Indian reservation, more than five percent of the American Indian citizens of voting age within the Indian reservation are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process and (ii) the illiteracy rate of the citizens of the language minority as a group is higher than the national illiteracy rate. The bill also allows the State Board to make available voting and election materials in any additional languages other than those required as it deems necessary and appropriate. The State Board may accept voting and election materials translated by volunteers but shall verify the accuracy of such translations prior to making the translated materials available to a county, city, or town, or any voter. The bill has a delayed effective date of September 1, 2021.

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.

Pharmacists; prescribing, dispensing, and administration of controlled substances. Allows a pharmacist to initiate treatment with and dispense and administer certain drugs and devices to persons 18 years of age or older in accordance with a statewide protocol developed by the Board of Pharmacy in collaboration with the Board of Medicine and the Department of Health. The bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to establish such protocols by November 1, 2020, to promulgate emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill, and to convene a work group to provide recommendations regarding the development of protocols for the initiating of treatment with and dispensing and administering of additional drugs and devices for persons 18 years of age and older. The bill also clarifies that an accident and sickness insurance policy that provides reimbursement for a service that may be legally performed by a licensed pharmacist shall provide reimbursement for the initiating of treatment with and dispensing and administration of controlled substances by a pharmacist when such initiating of treatment with or dispensing or administration is in accordance with regulations of the Board of Pharmacy.

Parental educational information; tobacco andnicotine vapor products. Requires each school board to annuallyprovide parents of pupils in grades kindergarten through 12 informationregarding the health dangers of tobacco and nicotine vapor products. The bill requires that the information provided be consistent withguidelines set forth by the Department of Education.

Stormwater management; proprietary best management practices. Directs the State Water Control Board to adopt regulations providing for the use of a proprietary best management practice (BMP) only if another state, regional, or national certification program has verified and certified its nutrient or sediment removal effectiveness. The bill requires any proprietary BMP that is included on the Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse website prior to July 1, 2020, to provide documentation to the Department of Environmental Quality showing that its effectiveness has been verified by another state, regional, or national certification program and prohibits any such proprietary BMP that fails to provide such documentation from being used in any stormwater management plan submitted on or after January 1, 2022.

Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.