Commission to Investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach Mass Shooting; report. Establishes an independent commission to investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting (the Commission). The Commission consists of 21 members appointed as follows: five members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, five members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and 10 members appointed by the Governor. The Superintendent of State Police serves ex officio as a nonvoting member. The Commission is charged with investigating the underlying motive for the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting, investigating the gunman's entire prior employment history with the City of Virginia Beach and his interactions with coworkers and supervisors, determining how the gunman was able to carry out his actions, identifying any obstacles confronted by first responders, identifying and examining the security procedures and protocols in place immediately prior to the shootings, examining the post-shooting communications between law enforcement and families of the victims, and developing recommendations regarding improvements that can be made in the Commonwealth's laws, policies, procedures, systems, and institutions, as well as those of other governmental agencies and private providers.The Office of the State Inspector General or such other person or entity under the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security staffs the Commission, as designated by the Governor. The expenses of the Commission are paid from existing appropriations to the Office of the State Inspector General or any agency under the Secretary, as determined by the Governor. The Commission has a sunset date of November 1, 2022.
Del. Sam Rasoul
Sponsored bills
Physicians; medical specialty board certificationoptions. Prohibits requiring maintenance of certification fromphysicians licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth, asa prerequisite to hospital medical staff membership, employment,malpractice liability insurance coverage, network status, or reimbursementfor services provided to a person covered by a health insurance policy.
State plan for medical assistance services; covered services. Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to include provisions for dental care and eye care for adults.
Day of Women. Recognizes January 22 of each year as the Day of Women in Virginia and provides that January 22 of each year no longer be known as the Day of Tears in Virginia.
Redistricting; population data; reallocationof prison populations. Provides for the preparation of adjustedpopulation data for redistricting and reapportionment purposes toreflect the reallocation of persons incarcerated in state and localcorrectional facilities. The bill provides that a person incarceratedin a state or local correctional facility whose legal residence priorto entering custody was located within the Commonwealth will be deemedto reside at such residence, and a person incarcerated in a stateor local correctional facility whose legal residence prior to enteringcustody was located outside of the Commonwealth or whose legal residenceprior to entering custody cannot be determined will be deemed toreside at the location of the facility in which he is incarcerated.Under the U.S. Census Bureau's current residence criteria, incarceratedpersons are counted at the facility in which they are incarcerated.The bill directs the Division of Legislative Services to preparethe adjusted population data, and the General Assembly and localgoverning bodies are required to use this data as the basis for reapportioningand drawing new districts. The Director of the Department of Correctionsand the Board of Corrections are required to provide to the Divisioncertain information about each person incarcerated who was incarceratedin a state or local correctional facility on the day the decennialcensus is taken, April 1 of a year ending in zero, for these purposes.
Study; JLARC; privately operated prisons; report.Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, in consultationwith the Department of Corrections, to study the use of privatelyoperated prisons in the Commonwealth.
Worker classification; penalties. Prohibits acontractor from classifying an individual who performs delivery services orconstruction labor services for the contractor as the contractor's independentcontractor if he is an employee of the contractor. An individual performingsuch services for a contractor shall be presumed to be an employee of thecontractor unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Laborand Industry that (i) the individual has been and will continue to be free fromcontrol or direction over the performance of the services performed by theindividual for wages, both under his contract of service and in fact; (ii) theservices are either outside the usual course of the business for which suchservices are performed or such services are performed outside of all the placesof business of the enterprise for which such services are performed; and (iii)such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation,profession, or business. Other factors applicable to such a determination inthe case of an individual performing construction labor services are whetherthe individual maintained a workplace that is subject to inspection pursuant tooccupational safety and health laws and whether the individual has beenassigned an experience rating tax rate for purposes of unemploymentcompensation. Violators are subject to civil penalties and debarment frompublic contracts. The measure requires a contractor entering into a publiccontract to provide an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, attesting that (a)each individual performing delivery services or construction labor services isproperly classified; (b) the contractor has completed a federal I-9 immigrationform and has such form on file for each employee; (c) the contractor hascomplied with requirements for participation with the E-verify program for eachemployee; (d) the contractor has no reasonable basis to believe that anyindividual performing services for such contractor is an undocumented worker;and (e) the contractor is not barred from contracting with the public body.
Demographic statements for bills; preparationby JLARC. Permits, beginning October 1, 2020, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the Minority Leader of the House of Delegates,the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of theSenate to request that a demographic statement, defined in the billas a statement that uses available data to outline the potentialeffects of a bill on specified demographic disparities within the Commonwealth, including a statement of whether the bill is likelyto increase or decrease such disparities, to the extent that suchdata is available, be prepared by the Joint Legislative Audit andReview Commission. Each requester may request the preparation ofup to five demographic statements per regular session of the GeneralAssembly. If a bill for which a demographic statement is preparedis introduced, the demographic statement shall be made availableto the public.
Grand larceny; threshold. Increases from$500 to $1,500 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goodsor chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grandlarceny. The bill increases the threshold by the same amount forthe classification of certain property crimes.
Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit beginning in taxable year 2020 for expenses incurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member, defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activities of daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percent of eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver, but shall not exceed $1,000. In order to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) not receive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expenditures and (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for married persons. Both the caregiver and the eligible family member must be residents of Virginia. The bill requires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claiming the credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forward by the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable year for which the credit was issued. The credit expires beginning with taxable year 2025.