Del. Charniele Herring

Constitutional amendment (first reference); franchise and officers; felon disenfranchisement; automatic restoration of political rights. Provides that no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote until the completion of his sentence of imprisonment, at which time, without further action required of him, his political rights, including the right to vote, shall be restored. A person convicted of a felony may also have his civil rights restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. This resolution incorporates HJ 546.

Confidentiality of juvenile court records; exceptions. Provides that juvenile case files shall be open for inspection by(i) the Department of Social Services or any local department ofsocial services that is providing services or care for, or has accepteda referral for investigation and the provision of services pursuantto a request for relief of custody regarding, a juvenile who is thesubject of the record for (a) a purpose relevant to the provisionof the services or care or (b) the purpose of conducting an investigationor family assessment of child abuse or neglect involving the juvenilewho is the subject of the record and (ii) the Department of BehavioralHealth and Developmental Services or any local community servicesboard that is providing treatment, services, or care for a juvenilewho is the subject of the record for a purpose relevant to the provisionof the treatment, services, or care.

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.

Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for COVID-19. Establishes a presumption that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of health care providers is an occupational disease compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The bill provides that the COVID-19 virus is established by a positive diagnostic test for COVID-19, an incubation period consistent with COVID-19, and signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that require medical treatment. The bill provides that such presumption applies to any death or disability occurring on or after March 12, 2020, caused by infection from the COVID-19 virus, provided that for any such death or disability that occurred on or after March 12, 2020, and prior to December 31, 2021, the claimant received a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 from a licensed physician, after either a presumptive positive test or a laboratory-confirmed test for COVID-19, and presented with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that required medical treatment. The bill provides that such presumptions do not apply to any person offered by his employer a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 unless the person's physician determines in writing that immunization would pose a significant risk to the person's health.

Absentee voting; procedural and process reforms; availability and accessibility reforms; penalty. Makes various reforms to absentee voting processes and procedures, including those related to availability and accessibility. The bill requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots returned before the day of an election, including verifying the correct completion of the voter affirmation statement, and provides for an opportunity for an absentee voter to make corrections to the statement in certain circumstances. The bill requires the establishment of drop-off locations for the return of voted absentee ballots. Additionally, a central absentee voter precinct is required to be established in each locality; currently, establishment is optional. On the day of the election, officers of election are required to begin processing absentee ballots in the central absentee voter precincts prior to the close of polls, but no ballot vote counts are permitted to be transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct before the close of polls; a violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor. When reporting election results to the Department of Elections, the general registrars are required to report absentee ballots cast early in person separately from all other absentee ballots. Additionally, a voter who has applied for and received an absentee ballot may choose to instead vote at his polling place on election day, and such voter shall be entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The bill requires a ballot marking tool with screen reader assistive technology to be made available for absentee voters with a print disability. Restrictions on the availability of absentee voting for first-time voters who registered by mail are repealed. The bill contains technical amendments for organizational and readability purposes.

Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fundand Program established. Establishes the Get Skilled,Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fund and requires the Virginia Community College System to establish the G3 Program for the purpose of providing financial assistance from the Fund to certain low-income and middle-income Virginia students who are enrolled in an educational program at an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher educationthat leads to an occupation in a certain high-demand field. The billcontains provisions for student eligibility, financial assistanceaward amounts, and data reporting.

Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabis oil. Prohibits an employer from discharging, disciplining, or discriminating against an employee for such employee's lawful use of cannabis oil pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner for the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee's diagnosed condition or disease. The bill provides that such prohibition does not (i) restrict an employer's ability to take any adverse employment action for any work impairment caused by the use of cannabis oil or to prohibit possession during work hours or (ii) require an employer to commit any act that would cause the employer to be in violation of federal law or that would result in the loss of a federal contract or federal funding.

Alcoholic beverage control; local outdoor refreshment areas. Renames the "local special events" license as the "outdoor refreshment area" license. The bill allows the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to increase the frequency and duration of events held under such license after adoption of an ordinance by a locality requesting such increase in frequency and duration. Under current law, localities are limited to holding 16 events per year under such license, with each event lasting no more than three consecutive days, except during the effective dates of any rule, regulation, or order that is issued by the Governor or State Health Commissioner to meet a public health emergency and that effectively reduces allowable restaurant seating capacity. The bill also increases the state and local license fees for outdoor refreshment area licenses issued pursuant to a local ordinance. This bill incorporates HB 2051.

Fines and costs; accrual of interest; deferralor installment payment agreements. Provides that no interestshall accrue on any fine or costs imposed in a criminal case or ina case involving a traffic infraction (i) for a period of 180 daysfollowing the date of the final judgment imposing such fine or costs;(ii) during any period the defendant is incarcerated; and (iii) fora period of 180 days following the date of the defendant's releasefrom incarceration if the sentence includes an active term of incarceration.Current law prohibits interest from accruing on such fines or costsfor a period of 40 days from the date of the final judgement imposing such fine or costs or during any period the defendant is incarcerated. The bill also removes the requirement thata defendant be unable to make payment of a fine, restitution, forfeiture, or penalty and costs within 30 days of sentencing in order to beeligible to enter into a deferred or installment payment agreementand allows any defendant to enter such payment agreements. The billremoves the one-time fee not to exceed $10 that a court may assesswhen a defendant is unable to make payment within 90 days of sentencingand provides that no fee shall be assessed in connection with a defendant'sparticipation in a deferred or installment payment agreement. Thebill removes the requirement that a defendant make a down paymentupon entering a deferred, modified deferred, or installment paymentagreement.

Abolition of the death penalty. Abolishes the death penalty, including for those persons currently under a death sentence. The bill incorporates HB 1779.