Del. Nick Freitas

Emergency Services and Disaster Law; limitation on duration of executive orders. Provides that no rule, regulation, or order issued declaring a state of emergency may remain effective for more than seven days without approval of at least two-thirds of all members elected to each house of the General Assembly. The bill also provides that a rule, regulation, or order issued declaring a state of emergency may be renewed but not for longer than 30 days without the approval of at least two-thirds of all members elected to each house of the General Assembly. The bill contains technical amendments.

Local license taxes; elimination of authorityto impose. Prohibits any county, city, or town from imposingany license tax or fee in any taxable year beginning on or afterJanuary 1, 2023. The bill does not apply to any severance tax thatis levied as a license tax.

Falun Gong; Persecution by Chinese CommunistParty. Condemns the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners bythe Chinese Communist Party.

Administrative Process Act; regulations; public notice and economic impact; prohibition on certain regulations. Requires that an agency prepare a detailed notice of intended regulatory action for any regulation that it plans to promulgate. The bill requires that prior to publication by the Registrar of Regulations, the notice of intended regulatory action be submitted to the Attorney General for a determination as to whether the agency has the explicit authority to promulgate the regulation as proposed in the notice of intended regulatory action. The bill requires the Attorney General to report the notice of intended regulatory action and its determination to the Governor for approval. Within 10 days after publication by the Registrar of a notice of intended regulatory action for a proposed regulation, either the chairman or vice-chairman of the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules may submit a written directive to the agency that prepared the notice for the agency to hold a preliminary public hearing and comment period on the notice of intended regulatory action. The bill prescribes requirements for the conduct of such public hearings on regulatory matters. The bill requires the Department of Planning and Budget to prepare an economic impact analysis of the proposed regulation that includes a qualitative analysis of the regulation and a detailed quantitative analysis of the impact of the regulation, which must include analysis of the implementation and compliance costs that are reasonably expected to be incurred by or passed along to the businesses, localities, and individuals that may be affected by the proposed regulation. The bill requires the Department of Planning and Budget to determine whether $10 million or more in implementation and compliance costs are reasonably expected to be incurred by or passed along to businesses, localities, and individuals over any two-year period as a result of the proposed regulation. After the Department of Planning and Budget submits an economic impact analysis for a proposed regulation to the legislature but before the agency submits the proposed regulation for final approval by the Governor, the chairman or vice-chairman of the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules may request an independent economic impact analysis to be prepared by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission for the proposed regulation. The Department of Planning and Budget is required to provide a detailed explanation of any variance between estimates in the two economic impact analyses. If either economic impact analysis indicates $10 million or more in implementation and compliance costs, the bill requires the agency proposing the regulation to stop work on the proposed regulation until the regulation is modified to reduce its costs to below the $10 million threshold or a bill is enacted explicitly allowing the regulation to proceed.

Opioid Abatement Authority and Fund; boardof directors; allocation of funds. Increases from 11 to 15 thenumber of members of the board of directors of the Opioid AbatementAuthority by increasing from one to five the representatives of theaddiction and recovery community. The bill also delineates the allocationof the unrestricted portion of deposits to the Opioid Abatement Fund.

Individual and corporate income tax credit;employers of National Guard members and self-employed National Guardmembers. Provides for taxable years 2022 through 2026 a nonrefundabletax credit against individual and corporate income taxes for (i)wages paid by an employer to an employee who is a Virginia NationalGuard member or (ii) income of a self-employed Virginia National Guardmember attributable to his business. The bill provides that the amountof the credit is 25 percent if such member was in a military paystatus for 65 days or more during the taxable year or 15 percentif such member was in a military pay status for 45 to 64 days duringthe taxable year. The credit is not allowed if such member was ina military pay status for fewer than 45 days during the taxable year.

Contracts with government agencies forpublic works; agreements with labor organizations. Removes certain provisions of the Code that require bidders for public works contractsto enter into or adhere to pre-hire collective bargaining agreementswith labor organizations on public works projects. The bill revertsthe application of such provisions to state agencies specifically, rather than public bodies, which distinction was made in 2020. Thebill also adds the option for injunctive relief to prevent a violationof its provisions, which was repealed in 2020. The provisions of the bill do not apply to public-private agreements that may interferewith the labor relations of employees covered by the federal NationalLabor Relations Act or Railway Labor Act.

Public-Private Competition Act. Createsthe Public-Private Competition Act, which prohibits public bodiesfrom engaging in any commercial activity, defined in the bill tomean any activity that can be performed by an existing private business.The bill creates an exemption for commercial activities that publicbodies are required to perform pursuant to the Constitution of Virginia.The bill also repeals the Competitive Government Act, which requiresthe Governor to (i) conduct a study at least once every two yearsto examine whether at least three commercial activities being performedby state employees at state agencies and institutions are being accomplishedin the most cost-efficient and effective manner and (ii) outsource any commercial activity for which the study determines that outsourcingmay result in reduced costs or otherwise provide a measurable benefitto the Commonwealth.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable FrankDuVal Hargrove, Sr.

Public utility ratemaking; contracting withsmall, women-owned, or minority-owned businesses. Repeals certainprovisions of the Code relating to proceedings in which the StateCorporation Commission is required to determine whether costs incurredby a public utility in its delivery or provision of any goods orservices are reasonable or prudent. In such proceedings, the incrementalportion of costs incurred as a result of contracting with a small,women-owned, or minority-owned business to deliver or provide thegoods or services are currently not considered unreasonable or imprudentlyincurred if the costs do not exceed by more than three percent thecosts that would have been incurred had the utility used the lowest-costqualified business; the bill repeals this provision.