Reporting lost or stolen firearms; civil penalty. Requires that, if a firearm is lost or stolen from a person who lawfully possessed it, such person shall report the loss or theft of the firearm to any local law-enforcement agency or the Department of State Police within 48 hours after such person discovers the loss or theft or is informed by a person with personal knowledge of the loss or theft. The bill requires the relevant law-enforcement agency to enter the report information into the National Crime Information Center. A violation is punishable by a civil penalty of not more than $250. The bill provides that a person who, in good faith, reports the loss or theft is immune from criminal or civil liability for acts or omissions that result from the loss or theft. The immunity does not apply to a person who knowingly gives a false report. The bill does not apply to the loss or theft of an antique firearm.
Sponsored bills
Department of Motor Vehicles; release of information. Reorganizes and clarifies the responsibilities of the Department of Motor Vehicles regarding the management and distribution of information in its records. The bill limits the release of certain information in the Department's records and authorizes certain notices to be sent electronically or by postcard. The bill repeals sections of the Code (i) requiring the Department to furnish a certificate linking a license plate number to an individual and (ii) permitting the Department to publish personal information related to certain delinquent accounts online. The bill contains technical amendments and contains an emergency clause.
Virginia Information Technologies Agency; required information security training program for state employees. Requires the Chief Information Officer of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (the CIO) to develop by November 30, 2020, and annually update a curriculum and materials for training all state employees in information security awareness and in proper procedures for detecting, assessing, reporting, and addressing information security threats. The bill requires the Commonwealth's executive, legislative, and judicial branches and independent agencies, beginning January 1, 2021, to provide annual information security training for each of its employees using the curriculum and materials developed by the CIO.
Allowing access to firearms by minors; penalty. Provides that any person who recklessly leaves a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any person under the age of 14 is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Current law provides that any person who recklessly leaves a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any child under the age of 14 is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. This bill incorporates HB 72 and HB 463.
Election day; extending polling hours. Extends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. the time at which polls close on election day. The bill aligns candidate filing deadlines and party nomination deadlines with the closing of polls. The bill provides that these changes will not become effective unless reenacted by the 2021 Session of the General Assembly. The bill incorporates HB 1643.
Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism. Provides that no newsperson engaged in journalism shall be compelled by the Commonwealth or a locality in any criminal proceeding to testify about, disclose, or produce protected information, as defined in the bill, except when the court finds that (i) the protected information is necessary to the proof of an issue material to an administrative or criminal proceeding; (ii) the protected information is not obtainable from any alternative source; (iii) the Commonwealth or locality exhausted all reasonable methods for obtaining the protected information from all relevant alternative sources, if applicable; and (iv) there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the protected information, including preventing harm to or death of a person. The bill further provides that any information obtained in violation of the provisions of the bill shall be inadmissible for any purpose in an administrative or criminal proceeding.
Public utilities; use of small, women-owned, or minority-owned business. Provides that in any proceeding in which the State Corporation Commission is required to determine whether costs incurred by a public utility in its delivery or provision of any goods or service are reasonable or prudent, the incremental portion of the costs incurred as a result of its contracting with a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business to deliver or provide the goods or service will not be found to be unreasonable or imprudently incurred if the costs of contracting with the small, women-owned, or minority-owned business do not exceed, by more than three percent, the costs that would have been incurred had it used the lowest-cost qualified business. The measure applies to businesses that are certified as small, women-owned, or minority-owned by the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity.
Doulas; certification; registry. Provides that no person shall use or assume the title "state-certified doula," as defined in the bill, unless such person is a community-based doula who has received training and education as a doula from an entity approved by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose and been certified as a doula by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose and that no entity shall hold itself out as providing training and education necessary to meet the requirements for certification as a doula unless its curriculum and training program has been approved by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose. The bill also directs the Board of Health to adopt regulations setting forth the requirements for (i) use of the title "state-certified doula" and (ii) training and education necessary to satisfy the requirements for certification by the Department of Health as a state-certified doula.
Coal ash ponds; private wells and public water supply wells; resident notification. Requires a utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to complete a survey of all private wells and public water supply wells within 1.5 miles of each of its ponds by October 1, 2020, and to notify residents via mail and a local newspaper posting that the survey will be conducted.
Schedule VI controlled substances; hypodermic syringes and needles; limited-use license. Allows the Board of Pharmacy to issue a limited-use license for the purpose of dispensing Schedule VI controlled substances, excluding the combination of misoprostol and methotrexate, and hypodermic syringes and needles for the administration of prescribed controlled substances to a doctor of medicine, osteopathic medicine, or podiatry, a nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant, provided that such limited-use licensee is practicing at a nonprofit facility. The bill requires such nonprofit facilities to obtain a limited-use permit from the Board and comply with regulations for such a permit. This bill directs the Board of Pharmacy to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. This bill is identical to SB 1074.