Del. Rod Willett

School Equity and Staffing Act; Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leaders and mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Paid family and medical leave program. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administera paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January 1, 2024. Under the program, benefits are paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for the program isprovided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginningin 2023. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee'saverage weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weeklywage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflectchanges in the statewide average weekly wage. The measure caps theduration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The billprovides self-employed individuals the option of participating inthe program.

Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity;Small Business Procurement Enhancement Program established; report.Establishes the Small Business Procurement Enhancement Program (theProgram) with a statewide goal of 42 percent of small business utilizationin all discretionary spending by state agencies in procurement orders,prime contracts, and subcontracts. In addition, the bill (i) providesfor a small business set-aside for competition among all small businessesfor state agency purchases of up to $100,000 for goods, nonprofessionalservices, and construction and up to $80,000 for professional servicesand (ii) establishes certification criteria for participation inthe Program by business operations on the basis of the total numberof employees or annual gross receipts, averaged over the previousthree years.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average.Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate thatis at or above the national average. Under current law, compensationat such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries,effective from the 2022-23 school year through the 2026-27 schoolyear. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.

Tobacco retail licensing; penalties. Thebill prohibits any person from selling any tobacco product at retailwithout first obtaining a license from the Alcoholic Beverage ControlAuthority (the Authority). The bill prohibits the sale of tobaccoproducts and hemp products intended for smoking from vending machines.The bill imposes civil penalties on licensees for selling tobaccoproducts without a license and for selling tobacco products to personsunder age 21. Licenses would be subject to annual renewal and subject to revocation for violations of federal, state, or local laws relatedto tobacco products. The bill creates the Tobacco Retail AdministrationSubfund for the purpose of funding the Authority's costs of administeringlicenses and enforcing laws related to tobacco retail licensing. The bill updates, for the purpose of the crimeof selling or distributing tobacco products to a person younger than21 years of age, the definition of "tobacco products" by includingin such definition products currently defined as nicotine vapor productsor alternative nicotine products. The bill also removes provisionsprohibiting the attempt to purchase, purchase, or possess tobaccoproducts and hemp products intended for smoking by persons youngerthan 21 years of age. The bill also removes the exception allowingthe sale of tobacco products to active-duty military personnel whoare 18 years of age or older.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.

Commending Little Oil Company, Inc.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);marriage; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; recognition ofsame-sex marriages. Repeals the constitutional provision definingmarriage as only a union between one man and one woman, as well asthe related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of theUnited States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the Commonwealthand its political subdivisions and its agents are required to issuemarriage licenses, recognize marriages, and treat all marriages equallyunder the law, regardless of the gender of the two parties to themarriage. The amendment further provides that religious organizationsand clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuseto perform any marriage.

Advanced recycling; definition. Defines"advanced recycling" as a manufacturing process for the conversionof post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbonraw materials and other materials. The bill also defines "gasification,""post-use polymer," and other terms related to advanced recycling.

Use sick leave for the care of immediate familymembers. Requires employers with a sick leave program to allowan employee to use his sick leave for the care of an immediate familymember. The measure applies only to employers that have 25 or moreemployees and that provide paid sick leave that allows an employeeto be absent from work in the event of the employee's own incapacity,illness, or injury. The measure applies only to employees who workat least 30 hours per week, and it caps the amount of sick leavethat may be used for the care of immediate family members at fivedays per calendar year.