Purchase of handguns; limitation on handgunpurchases. Removes the prohibition on any person who is not a licensed firearms dealer from purchasing more than one handgun ina 30-day period. Current law makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for aviolation of this provision, subject to certain exemptions.
Board of Education; policy on certain instructionalmaterial and related academic activities; annual parental notification;replacement or alternative material and activities; local compliance.Requires the Board of Education to establish, and each local schoolboard to comply with, a policy to require each public elementaryor secondary school to (i) annually notify the parent of any student enrolled in a class or course in which the instructional materialor related academic activities includes or may include sexually explicitcontent, as defined in the bill, or content that depicts sexual misconduct,as defined in the bill; (ii) permit the parent of any student toreview instructional material that includes sexually explicit contentor content that depicts sexual misconduct, upon request; and (iii)provide, as a replacement or an alternative to instructional materialand related academic activities that include sexually explicit contentor content that depicts sexual misconduct, instructional materialand related academic activities that do not include sexually explicit content or content that depicts sexual misconduct to any studentwhose parent so requests.
Absentee voting; permanent absentee voter listrepealed. Repeals the provisions of law by which any registered voter may apply to receive absentee ballots for all elections inwhich he is eligible to vote and remains on the list until the voterrequests in writing to be removed from the list, the voter's registrationis canceled or placed on inactive status pursuant to law, or thevoter moves to a different address not in the same county or cityof his registration.
Carrying dangerous weapon to place of religiousworship; repeal. Repeals the prohibition on the carrying of dangerousweapons in a place of worship without good and sufficient reasonwhile a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place.
Constitutional amendment (first reference);education; state appropriations to private schools. Removes the requirement that private schools be nonsectarian in order to be eligiblefor appropriation of state funds.
Absentee voting; excuse required to vote absenteeby mail; excuse required to vote absentee in person prior to thesecond Saturday preceding an election. Requires a registeredvoter to provide a reason for being absent or unable to vote at hispolling place on election day in order to receive an absentee ballotto vote by mail. Registered voters offering to vote absentee in personare similarly required by the bill to provide a reason until thesecond Saturday immediately preceding an election, at which timean excuse is not required to vote absentee in person. The bill providesthat an application for an absentee ballot is required to receivean absentee ballot by mail and to vote absentee in person beforethe second Saturday immediately preceding an election. The bill alsorepeals the permanent absentee voter list and limits the special annual application to those voters with an illness or disability.
Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Creditsprogram. Increases from 65 percent to 75 percent the tax creditfor the value of the monetary or marketable securities donation madeby a taxpayer to an eligible scholarship foundation.
Elections; absentee voting; ballots to be sortedand results to be reported by precinct. Provides that absentee ballots processed at a central absentee precinct must be sorted bythe precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assignedand that the resulting vote totals from such ballots must be reportedseparately for each voter precinct.
Education Savings Account Program; establishment. Establishes the Education Savings Account Program (the Program),to be administered by the Department of Education (the Department)with assistance from each local school board, whereby the parentof any elementary or secondary school student who (i) is a memberof a household whose annual income does not exceed two times theannual household income that would qualify the student for free orreduced-price lunch and (ii) was eligible to attend a public schoolin the Commonwealth in the preceding semester or is starting elementaryor secondary school in the Commonwealth for the first time is eligibleto receive an education savings account, for as long as the studentis of school age and the amount of which is determined pursuant toa calculation set forth in the bill, to cover certain enumeratededucational expenses for his child. The bill requires the Departmentto establish rules and regulations for the Program and contains conditions,limitations, and other requirements for the Program, including provisionsrelating to the accountability and educational autonomy of individualsand entities receiving account funds to cover qualified expenses.
Fees for resident concealed handgun permits.Eliminates the fees that may be charged for the processing of anapplication for or issuing of a resident concealed handgun permit, including any costs associated with the clerk's consultation withlaw-enforcement agencies.
