Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts established.Permits the parents of qualified students, defined in the bill, to apply to the school division in which the qualified student residesfor a one-year, renewable Parental Choice Education Savings Accountthat consists of an amount that is equivalent to a certain percentage of all applicable annual Standards of Quality per pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposes and apportioned to the residentschool division in which the qualified student resides, includingthe per pupil share of state sales tax funding in basic aid and any state per pupil share of special education funding for which thequalified student is eligible. The bill permits the parent of thequalified student to use the moneys in such account for certain education-relatedexpenses of the qualified student, including tuition, deposits, fees,and required textbooks at a private elementary school or secondaryschool that is located in the Commonwealth. The bill also contains provisions relating to auditing, rescinding, and reviewing expensesmade from such accounts.
Sponsored bills
Immunizations; authority of the Commissionerof Health; religious exception. Exempts a person, including aparent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects to administrationof a vaccine on religious grounds from mandatory immunization requirementsduring an epidemic. Currently, exemption from mandatory immunization requirements during an epidemic is available only to those personsto whose health the administration of the vaccine would be detrimental,as certified in writing by a licensed physician.
Coastal Virginia Resiliency Authority; established.Establishes the Coastal Virginia Resiliency Authority (the Authority)as a body politic and corporate, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth.The bill provides that the Authority shall be governed by a 17 memberBoard of Directors as follows: (i) the Secretary of Natural and HistoricResources or his designee; (ii) the Secretary of Transportation orhis designee; (iii) the Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture,Conservation and Natural Resources or his designee; (iv) the Chairof the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resourcesor his designee; (v) a member of the Senate appointed by the SenateCommittee on Rules; (vi) three members of the House of Delegatesappointed by the Speaker of the House; (vii) an Officer, defined inthe bill, from the each of the Hampton Roads, Crater, Richmond Region, Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck, and Accomack-Northampton PlanningDistrict Commissions selected by the Governor; and (viii) threenonlegislative members who reside in the Hampton Roads, Crater, Richmond Region, Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck, or Accomack-NorthamptonPlanning District Commissions appointed by the Joint Rules Committee.Certain portions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January1, 2023.
Local school boards and comprehensive community colleges; compensation structure for adjunct instructors; credit-bearing and noncredit workforce credentials. Encourages local school boards and comprehensive communities colleges to enter into local or regional agreements for the establishment and implementation of a competitive compensation structure to recruit and retain adjunct instructors to be jointly compensated by the relevant school boards and colleges to prepare both high school students and college students to earn credit-bearing workforce credentials and noncredit workforce credentials, as that term is defined in relevant law.
Certified pollution control equipment; certificationby subdivisions. Provides that for pollution control equipmentto be used as part of a political subdivision's water, wastewater,stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems, suchequipment may be certified by the political subdivision itself insteadof by the state certifying authority. This bill is identical to SB684.
Girl Scout Week. Designates the week ofMarch 12, in 2022 and in each succeeding year, as Girl Scout Weekin Virginia.
Rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Lowers the rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel on July 1, 2022, from 26.2 cents per gallon to 21.2 cents per gallon on gasoline and from 27 cents per gallon to 20.2 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, the rates that were in effect before July 1, 2021. The bill provides that the rate of tax on gasoline and diesel fuel will return to 26.2 and 27 cents per gallon, respectively, on July 1, 2023, and will be indexed based on the change in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for both 2021 and 2022; thereafter, the rate will be indexed annually.
Income tax; standard deduction. Increasesthe standard deduction, starting with taxable year 2022, from $4,500to $9,000 for single filers and from $9,000 to $18,000 for married filers (one-half of such amount in the case of a married individualfiling a separate return). The increase would remain in effect fortaxable years 2026 and after, when, under current law, the standard deduction is scheduled to be reduced to $3,000 for single filersand to $6,000 for married filers.
Attorney General; instituting or conductingcriminal prosecutions for certain acts of violence. Authorizesthe Attorney General to institute or conduct criminal prosecutionsin cases involving a violation of the criminal laws for certain actsof violence when such prosecution is requested by the sheriff orchief of police investigating the violation. The bill also providesthat prior to instituting or conducting a criminal prosecution forsuch cases, the Attorney General shall give notice to the local attorneyfor the Commonwealth where such violation occurred of his intentto institute or conduct such criminal prosecution.
Collective bargaining; law enforcement; transparencyand accountability. Prohibits a county, city, or town from enteringinto a collective bargaining contract with a labor union or otheremployee association representing law-enforcement officers or employeesof a law-enforcement agency that (i) prevents the Attorney Generalfrom seeking equitable relief against a law-enforcement agency engagingin a pattern or practice of unconstitutional misconduct; (ii) includesany stipulation that delays officer interviews or interrogationsafter alleged wrongdoing for a set length of time; (iii) providesofficers with access to evidence before interviews or interrogations about alleged wrongdoing; (iv) mandates the destruction or purgingof disciplinary records from personnel files after a set length oftime, or limits the consideration of disciplinary records in futureemployment actions; (v) prohibits the interrogation, investigation,or punishment of officers on the basis of alleged wrongdoing if aset length of time has elapsed since its alleged occurrence, or sincethe initiation of the investigation; (vi) prohibits supervisors frominterrogating, investigating, or disciplining officers on the basisof anonymous civilian complaints; or (vii) requires arbitration of disputes related to disciplinary penalties or termination.