Virginia Human Rights Act; definition of employer;person employing one or more domestic workers. Expands the definitionof "employer" for all purposes of the Virginia Human Rights Act toinclude a person employing one or more domestic workers, as definedin the bill.
Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses. Provides that the discovery of, perception of, or belief about another person's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, is not a defense to any charge of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder.
Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc. Prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and housing on the basis of a person's military status, defined as a member of the uniformed services of the United States or a reserve component thereof or a spouse or other dependent of the same. The bill also prohibits terms in a rental agreement in which the tenant agrees to waive remedies or rights under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prior to the occurrence of a dispute between the landlord and the tenant.
Prohibited discrimination; status as activemilitary or a military spouse. Prohibits discrimination in publicaccommodations, employment, and housing on the basis of a person'sstatus as active military or a military spouse.
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.
Public elementary and secondary schools; possession and administration of undesignated stock albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers. Requires each local school board to adopt and implement policies for the possession and administration of undesignated stock albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers in every public school in the local school division, to be administered by any school nurse, employee of the school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by the local health director and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers for any student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication. The bill requires the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to develop and implement policies for the administration of stock albuterol in public schools.
U.S. Route 1; "Emancipation Highway." Renames any section of U.S. Route 1 in Virginia that is designated as "Jefferson Davis Highway" to "Emancipation Highway." The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Provides that the occupational disease presumption for death caused by hypertension or heart disease will apply for salaried or volunteer emergency medical services personnel who have at least five years of service and are operating in a locality that has legally adopted a resolution declaring that it will provide one or more of such presumptions. This bill incorporates HB 2080.
Virginia Housing Development Authority; workgroup to establish Virginia Good Neighbor Next Door program.Directs the Virginia Housing Development Authority to convene a stakeholderwork group to establish a plan for the creation of a Virginia GoodNeighbor Next Door program, similar to the Good Neighbor Next Doorprogram administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, to provide financial incentives for law-enforcementofficers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, andteachers to purchase homes within designated revitalization areasin the localities in which they are employed. The bill requires thework group to report its findings and recommendations, includingany legislative recommendations, to the Governor and the Chairmenof the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee onGeneral Laws and Technology no later than July 1, 2022.
