Rep. Will Wampler

Celebrating the life of Carl Ray Snodgrass.

Conformity of the Commonwealth's taxation system with the Internal Revenue Code; Rebuild Virginia grants and Paycheck Protection Program loans; emergency. Advances Virginia's date of conformity with the Internal Revenue Code from December 31, 2020, to December 31, 2021. The bill also deconforms from provisions of the (i) federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) related to the net operating loss limitation and carryback, a loss limitation applicable to taxpayers other than corporations, the limitation on business interest, and certain loan forgiveness and other business financial assistance and (ii) federal American Rescue Plan Act related to restaurant revitalization grants and emergency injury disaster loans received for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2021. The bill also retroactively allows up to $100,000 of the individual and corporate income tax deduction or subtraction, as applicable, for Rebuild Virginia grants and certain amounts related to Paycheck Protection Program loans to certain fiscal filers. The bill also allows full deductibility of expenses paid or incurred with forgiven Paycheck Protection Program loan proceeds and expenses paid or incurred with Economic Injury Disaster Loan program funding for taxable year 2021 and thereafter. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Absentee voting; deadline for returning absenteeballot. Requires that an absentee ballot be received before the closing of the polls on election day in order to be counted. Currently,an absentee ballot that is received after the closing of the pollsbut before noon on the third day after the election is counted ifit is postmarked on or before the date of the election.

Voter registration; registration permittedup to and including the day of the election. Repeals a provisionthat would permit any person who is qualified to register to voteto register to vote in person up to and including the day of theelection, notwithstanding any deadline for the close of registration records. The repeal will limit the persons who are entitled to registerto vote after the close of registration records to (i) any member of a uniformed service of the United States who is on active duty,(ii) any person residing temporarily outside of the United States,and (iii) the spouse or dependent residing with someone listed in(i) or (ii).

Commending the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

Multi-jurisdiction grand jury; elder abuse crimes. Adds the following to the list of crimes that a multi-jurisdiction grand jury may investigate: (i) financial exploitation of mentally incapacitated persons and (ii) abuse and neglect of incapacitated adults.

Issuing citations; marijuana and certain trafficoffenses; exclusion of evidence. Removes provisions that no law-enforcementofficer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) withan expired safety inspection or registration sticker until the firstday of the fourth month after the original expiration date; (ii)with defective and unsafe equipment; (iii) without a light illuminatinga license plate; (iv) without brake lights, a high mount stop light,or headlights; or (v) without an exhaust system that prevents excessiveor unusual levels of noise, and the accompanying exclusionary provisions.The bill also removes the exclusionary provisions for operating amotor vehicle (a) in violation of certain restrictions on peoplewith a learner's permit, (b) while smoking with a minor present,(c) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, (d) withcertain objects suspended in the vehicle, and (e) without the requireduse of seat belts, and for certain violations involving pedestrians crossing a highway. The bill also removes the exclusionary provisionthat no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop, search, or seizeany person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana.

Legal holidays; Clerk of Court Day. Establishesthe second Friday of August as a state holiday, in recognition ofthe clerks of the courts of the Commonwealth.

Cannabis control; retail market; penalties.Establishes a framework for the creation of a retail marijuanamarket in the Commonwealth. The bill creates a regulatory and licensingstructure for such retail market and for the cultivation, manufacture,and wholesale of marijuana and marijuana products, to be administeredby the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. The bill also relocatesand modifies numerous criminal provisions regarding marijuana offenses.The bill has staggered effective dates.

Local school boards; composite index of local ability-to-pay; required local effort; adjustment in certain circumstances.Provides that in any case in which a local school board entersinto a comprehensive agreement with a private entity pursuant tothe Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of2002 whereby the private entity finances the construction of a newpublic school building in the local school division through the issuanceof bonds; leases the building to the local school board in an arrangementsuch as a certificate of participation, a double net lease, or atriple net lease; and expects the local school board to make leasepayments in an annual amount that approximates or is equal to theannual debt service on such bonds, the Department of Education shallnot consider 50 percent of such lease payments as capital outlayand debt service and therefore shall not subtract such payments inthe biennial calculation of net local expenditures for operationsor required local effort for the purpose of determining such localschool division's composite index of local ability-to-pay, if sorequested by the local school board.