Del. Kaye Kory

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratificationof the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.Commemorates the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the FifteenthAmendment to the Constitution of the United States. This resolutionis a recommendation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.

Virginia Minimum Wage Act; exemption. Removesthe exemption from the Virginia Minimum Wage Act for persons employedin domestic service or in or about a private home or in an eleemosynaryinstitution primarily supported by public funds.

Electric utility regulation; approval of generating facilities. Allows the State Corporation Commission, in its consideration of an application for approval of an electrical generating facility, to consider environmental effects not expressly governed by a permit or expressly considered by a permitting authority, including carbon emissions and the overall impacts of new and existing facilities on the health and welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth. The measure also removes provisions that prohibited the Commission from imposing additional conditions with respect to such matters.

Virginia Housing Development Authority; powerto make loans; loans to finance payments on student debt. Permitsthe Virginia Housing Development Authority (HDA) to make mortgage loans, including federally insured mortgage loans, to finance thepurchase or refinancing of single-family residential housing andto make payments on the homeowner's student loan debt, upon the termsand conditions set forth in the bill. The bill also gives the HDAauthority to promulgate additional terms and conditions related tosuch loans. The bill includes technical changes.

Minimum wage; exemptions. Removes the exemptionfrom the Virginia Minimum Wage Act for individuals who are employedby an employer that does not have four or more persons employed atany one time.

Electric utilities; net energy metering.Declares that an electrical generating facility located on real propertyowned by the customer that is at a location that is separated bya right-of-way or other easement from the location on the customer'sreal property where the electrical generation facility is connectedto the customer's meter or where the customer consumes the electricitygenerated from the electrical generating facility shall be deemedto be located on the customer's premises. Currently, in order tobe eligible to participate in a net energy metering program, a customer'selectrical generating facility is required to be located on the customer'spremises and be connected to the customer's wiring on the customer'sside of its interconnection with the distributor. The bill states that its provisions are declarative of existing law.

Admission to bail; presumption of release on recognizance. Provides that a judicial officer shall release any person taken into custody by an arresting officer for any misdemeanor violation committed in such arresting officer's presence, except for violations of driving or operating a motor vehicle, watercraft, or motorboat while intoxicated, offenses that give rise to a rebuttable presumption against bail, or as otherwise provided in Title 46.2 (Motor Vehicles).

Prohibited pesticides; chlorpyrifos. Prohibitsthe manufacture, distribution, sale, offer for sale, use, or offerfor use of any pesticide containing chlorpyrifos, defined in thebill, as an active ingredient. The bill requires the Virginia Departmentof Agriculture and Consumer Services to seize any such pesticidein lieu of any other penalty imposed under current law for a violationof Chapter 39 (Pesticide Control) of Title 3.2.

Marijuana; legalization of simple marijuanapossession; penalty. Eliminates criminal penalties for possessionof marijuana for persons who are 21 years of age or older. The bill also decriminalizes marijuana possession for persons under 21 yearsof age and provides a civil penalty of no more than $50 for a firstviolation, $100 for a second violation, and $250 for a third or subsequentviolation. Under current law, a first offense is punishable by amaximum fine of $500 and a maximum jail sentence of 30 days, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also modifies severalother criminal penalties related to marijuana. The bill establishesa regulatory scheme for the regulation of marijuana cultivation facilities,marijuana manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities,and retail marijuana stores by the Board of Agriculture and ConsumerServices. The bill imposes a tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuanaproducts sold by a retail marijuana store at a rate of 9.7 percent(for a total sales tax of 15 percent) and provides that 67 percentof the revenues collected from the tax be deposited into the generalfund and 33 percent of the revenues be deposited into a "Retail MarijuanaEducation Support Fund" to be used solely for purposes of public education.

Sale or distribution of flavored tobacco productsprohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits the sale or distributionof flavored tobacco products, defined in the bill, and creates acivil penalty of $1,000 for a first offense and $5,000 for a secondor subsequent offense.