Del. Nick Freitas

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Expungement of police and court records; misdemeanorand nonviolent felony convictions. Allows a person convictedof a misdemeanor or nonviolent felony to file a petition requestingexpungement of the police and court records relating to the convictionif (i) the offense involved no victim; (ii) such person has beenfree from any term of incarceration, probation, and postrelease supervisionimposed as a result of such conviction for at least two years fora misdemeanor offense or at least five years for a felony offense;(iii) such person has no prior or subsequent convictions other than traffic infractions; and (iv) such person has no pending criminalproceeding.

Individual and corporate income tax credit;employers of National Guard members and self-employed National Guardmembers. Provides for taxable years 2020 through 2024 a nonrefundabletax credit against individual and corporate income taxes for (i) wages paid by an employer to an employee who is an active or reserveVirginia National Guard member or (ii) income of a self-employedactive or reserve Virginia National Guard member attributable to his business. The amount of the credit shall be 25 percent if such memberwas in a military pay status for 65 days or more during such taxableyear or 15 percent if such member was in a military pay status forat least 45 days but less than 65 days during such taxable year.The credit shall not be allowed if such member was in a military pay status for less than 45 days during such taxable year. The billallows a taxpayer to carry unused credits over for up to five taxableyears.

General Assembly meetings; streaming and recording. Requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of theSenate to ensure that every (i) subcommittee or committee meetingof a standing committee of the General Assembly, regardless of meetingdate, and (ii) floor session of the House of Delegates or the Senate,including any joint session of the houses, is streamed with closedcaptioning, recorded and archived. The bill defines "stream" and specifiesthat a qualifying meeting is one the date and time of which havebeen scheduled on a public website of any agency of the General Assemblyfor at least one hour prior to the meeting and that takes place inthe State Capitol, the Pocahontas Building, or the General AssemblyBuilding in Richmond. The bill has a delayed effective date of October1, 2020.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; scholasticrecords; charges. Provides that, upon request, scholastic recordsshall be furnished electronically once per academic quarter and physicallyonce per academic year at no charge to the student who is the subject thereof or the student's parent or legal guardian.

Public institutions of higher education; perstudent enrollment-based funding; noncredit workforce training programs.Requires the per student enrollment-based funding provided topublic institutions of higher education to include funding for eachVirginia student enrolled in a noncredit workforce training program.Under current law, per student enrollment-based funding follows eachVirginia undergraduate student.

Board of Medical Assistance Services; reimbursementfor services; family members. Directs the Board of Medical AssistanceServices to revise its regulations governing reimbursement for individualsreceiving treatment under the state plan for medical assistance andany waivers thereto to allow reimbursement of family members, includingspouses, who provide qualifying services.

Industrial hemp; maximum THC concentration.Increases, in the definition of "industrial hemp," the maximum concentrationof tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the plant Cannabis sativa from 0.3percent to one percent. The bill also includes in the definitionof "hemp product" the raw materials of any part of the plant Cannabissativa and eliminates the requirement that the product be otherwiselawful.

Expungement of police and court records; pardons. Allows a person to petition for the expungement of the police andcourt records relating to such person's conviction if he has beengranted a simple pardon for the crime. Under current law, policeand court records relating to convictions are only expunged if aperson received an absolute pardon for a crime he did not commit.