Del. Lee J. Carter

Economic education and financial literacy requiredin middle and high school grades; employment arrangements. Addsto objectives developed and approved by the Board of Education foreconomics education and financial literacy at the middle and highschool levels the implications of various employment arrangementswith regard to benefits, protections, and long-term financial sustainability. Employment arrangements is defined in the bill as full-time employment, part-time employment, independent contract work, gig work, piecework, contingent work, day labor work, freelance work, and 1099work.

Virginia Human Rights Acts; discrimination onthe basis of disability. Adds discrimination on the basis ofdisability as an unlawful employment practice under the VirginiaHuman Rights Act. The bill also requires employers, defined in thebill, to make reasonable accommodation to the known physical and mentalimpairments of an otherwise qualified person with a disability, ifnecessary to assist such person in performing a particular job, unlessthe employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would imposean undue hardship on the employer. The bill also prohibits employersfrom taking any adverse action against an employee who requests oruses a reasonable accommodation, from denying employment or promotionopportunities to an otherwise qualified applicant or employee because such employer will be required to make reasonable accommodation tothe applicant or employee, or from requiring an employee to takeleave if another reasonable accommodation can be provided to the known limitations related to the disability. The bill creates a cause of action against any employer who denies any of the rights to reasonable accommodation afforded by the bill and permits the court or juryto award compensatory damages, back pay, and other equitable relief.

Child-placing agencies; conscience clause; repeal. Repeals provisions that allowed child-placing agencies to refuse to perform, assist with, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer, or participate in any child placements when the proposed placement would violate the agency's written religious or moral convictions or policies. The bill provides that any child-placing agency that operated pursuant to the provisions of the conscience clause prior to February 1, 2021, may continue to do so until January 1, 2022, but only with regard to placements made prior to February 1, 2022.

Environmental permits; community and environmentaljustice outreach. Requires the applicant for any (i) new or majormodified stationary air pollution source, (ii) new landfill or transfer station, (iii) certification of site approval for a hazardous wastefacility, (iv) new individual Virginia Pollutant Discharge EliminationSystem permit, (v) new individual Virginia Water Protection permit,(vi) new individual Virginia Stormwater Management Program permit,(vii) new individual Virginia Pollution Abatement permit, or (viii)individual ground water withdrawal permit for a new ground water withdrawal to complete certain public notice requirements, including(a) holding a public hearing; (b) publishing notices in English andSpanish in a newspaper, on social media, and on signage at the sitelocation at least 60 days prior to such public meeting; (c) mailingnotices to interested parties; (d) accepting written comments; (e)transcribing meeting information; and (f) responding to communityconcerns to the satisfaction of the Department of Environmental Quality. The bill removes an exemption for applicantsfor a permit to operate a new captive industrial landfill or a new construction-demolition-debris landfill from certain provisions relatingto new landfills or transfer stations. The bill also removes an exemptionfrom certain public notice requirements granted to local governmentor public authority applicants for a permit to operate a landfillor transfer station.

National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol; Barbara Rose Johns. Authorizes, and directs the submission to the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, that the vacant spot of the Commonwealth in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol be filled with a statue to commemorate Barbara Rose Johns. The request is subject to written approval by the Governor and is made in accordance with the recommendation by the Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol.

Virginia Redistricting Commission; removal of commissioners; emergency. Provides for the removal of a commissioner from the Virginia Redistricting Commission for neglect of duty or gross misconduct. Removal would require affirmative votes of at least six of the eight legislative commissioners and at least six of the eight citizen commissioners. Such a vote is required to be recorded and taken in a public meeting. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Status offenders; willful and material violation of court order or terms of probation; notice; orders of disposition for violation. Removes the option for a court to order that a status offender be detained in a secure facility for a willful and material violation of a court order or term of probation.

Law-enforcement officer; duty to render aid;duty to report wrongdoing by another law-enforcement officer. Requires any law-enforcement officer on duty who witnesses another personsuffering from a serious bodily injury or a life-threatening conditionto render aid and makes it a duty to report acts of wrongdoing, definedin the bill and including bias-based profiling, committed by anotherlaw-enforcement officer on duty. Any law-enforcement officer whofails to render such aid or report such wrongdoing committed by anotherlaw-enforcement officer shall be subject to disciplinary action,including dismissal, demotion, suspension, or transfer of the law-enforcementofficer. The bill also expands the definition of "bias-based profiling,"a practice banned for sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, other local law-enforcement officers, and State Police officers in the performance of their official duties, to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Common-law crime of suicide. Abolishes thecommon-law crime of suicide. Suicide is currently a common-law crimein Virginia, although there is no statutorily prescribed punishment.

Redistricting; Virginia Redistricting Commission; transparency in redistricting process; reallocation of prison population. Requires meetings and hearings of the Virginia Redistricting Commission to be livestreamed, whether held virtually or in person, and to allow for public comment. Meetings and hearings that are held in person are required to be conducted in different regions of the Commonwealth, including the Northern Virginia region, the Central Virginia region, the Hampton Roads region, the Southside region, and the Southwest region. An additional public hearing is required to be held in the event that the initial plan for districts submitted by the Commission is rejected by the General Assembly. If adjustments are made to a proposed plan at any stage in response to public comment, the adjusted proposed plan is required to be published on the Commission's website and a public hearing is required to be held. The bill subjects the Supreme Court of Virginia and the special masters appointed by the Court for the establishment of districts to the same requirements and restrictions to which the Commission is subject, including provisions related to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the ban on ex parte communications. Additionally, the bill changes the reallocation of persons incarcerated in federal, state, or local correctional facilities whose address at the time of incarceration was located outside of the Commonwealth or cannot be determined. Currently, such persons are counted as residing at the location of the facility in which he's incarcerated; under the bill, such persons would not be included in the locality's population count and instead would be allocated to a state unit not tied to a specific determined geographic location.