Del. Rod Willett

Celebrating the life of Rufus Colfax PhillipsIII.

Commending Larry Parpart.

Administration of government; language accessequity; report. Establishes the Interagency Language Access WorkingGroup in the Office of the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusionwith the following membership: the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, the Governor's Secretaries, and six nonlegislative citizen membersrepresenting organizations that represent individuals with languageaccess needs. The Working Group is established for the purpose ofmaximizing state policies, resources, technical assistance, and procurementpractices to further language access and equity in the Commonwealthand its state government agencies. The bill also requires each stateagency to designate a language access coordinator who will be responsiblefor the agency's annual language access report, the requirements ofwhich are set out in the bill. The Secretary of Administration isdirected to establish criteria for state agencies to procure languageinterpretation and translation services and to establish a policyfor compensating multilingual state employees who are required aspart of their job to provide interpretation, translation, or otherbilingual skills at least once a month.

Use of confidential informants in drug-related investigations. Directs the Department of Criminal Justice Servicesto establish a model policy for the use of confidential informantsin drug-related investigations and to include in such model policythat (i) no individual currently on probation may serve as a confidentialinformant without notice to his probation or parole officer, (ii)no individual who has recently violated the terms of his probationor parole shall serve as a confidential informant, (iii) law-enforcementpersonnel shall obtain approval from the appropriate local attorneyfor the Commonwealth prior to working with a confidential informant,and (iv) such confidential informant shall not unlawfully use orpossess any controlled substances.

Study; JLARC; effects of gun violence on communities;report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commissionto study the social, physical, emotional, and economic effects ofgun violence on communities across the Commonwealth.

Unemployment insurance; Resiliency Plan. Requiresthe Virginia Employment Commission, as part of its biennial strategicplan submitted to the Department of Planning and Budget, to developand maintain an unemployment insurance Resiliency Plan that describesthe specific actions the agency would take, depending on the levelof increase in unemployment insurance (UI) claims, to address staffing,communications, and other relevant aspects of operations to ensurecontinued efficient and effective administration of the UI program.

Paid sick leave; health care providers and grocery store workers. Requires employers to provide paid sick leave to health care providers, grocery store workers, and home health workers who provide agency-directed services. Under current law, employers are only required to provide paid sick leave to home health workers who provide consumer-directed services. The bill removes requirements that workers work on average at least 20 hours per week or 90 hours per month to be eligible for paid sick leave. Additionally, the bill provides that certain health care providers may waive their right to accrue and use paid sick leave and provides an exemption for certain other health care providers.

Unaccompanied homeless youth; consent to medicalcare. Provides that except for the purposes of sterilizationor abortion, a minor who is 14 years of age or older and who is an unaccompanied homeless youth shall be deemed an adult for the purposeof consenting to surgical or medical examination or treatment, includingdental examination and treatment, for himself or his minor child.The bill describes evidence sufficient to determine that a minoris an unaccompanied homeless youth and provides that no health careprovider shall be liable for any civil or criminal action for providingsurgical or medical treatment to an unaccompanied homeless youthor his minor child without first obtaining the consent of his parentor guardian provided in accordance with the law, with the exceptionof liability for negligence in the diagnosis or treatment of suchunaccompanied homeless youth.

Juvenile justice; human trafficking screening.Requires the Department of Juvenile Justice to use trauma-informedscreening measures to identify whether any child committed to theDepartment has been a victim of human trafficking and determine appropriate treatment and service options. The bill also requires that, in casesin which a juvenile and domestic relations district court or circuitcourt orders that a juvenile within its jurisdiction be physicallyexamined and treated by a physician or local mental health center,such examination include trauma-informed screening measures to identifywhether the juvenile has been a victim of human trafficking and determineappropriate treatment and service options.

State parks; free entry for veterans. Establishesa Veteran's Passport program for veterans of the Armed Forces of theUnited States or members of the Virginia National Guard that entitlesthe bearer to enter state parks in the Commonwealth without the paymentof a parking or admission fee.