Del. Lashrecse D. Aird

Establishes the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman (the Office) within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office's duties include (i) receiving, reviewing, and attempting to resolve complaints from qualified education loan borrowers; (ii) compiling and analyzing data on such complaints; (iii) assisting qualified education loan borrowers to understand their rights and responsibilities under the terms of qualified education loans; (iv) providing information regarding the problems and concerns of qualified education loan borrowers; (v) analyzing and monitoring the development and implementation of applicable laws and policies; and (vi) disseminating information concerning the availability of the Office to assist qualified education loan borrowers and any other participant in qualified education loan lending with qualified education loan servicing concerns. The Office is further required to establish and maintain a qualified education loan borrower education course by December 1, 2019. This bill is identical to

Provides that at least four members of the seven-member Dinwiddie Airport and Industrial Authority (Authority) shall be residents of the County of Dinwiddie and removes the requirement that one member of the Authority shall be a resident of the City of Petersburg. Current law provides that only four members shall be residents of the County of Dinwiddie. The bill makes discretionary the removal of any appointee who ceases to reside within the County of Dinwiddie. The bill contains technical amendments.

Adds any locality or person that owns a historical African American cemetery to the list of qualified organizations able to receive funds for the preservation of historical African American cemeteries and graves. The bill also allows any locality to receive and hold such funds on behalf of any qualified organization until such time as the organization is able to receive or utilize the funds. The bill requires that the owner of a historical African American cemetery allow reasonable ingress and egress to such cemetery by members of an organization qualified to receive funds for cemetery care and maintenance.

Directs the Virginia Board of Workforce Development to recommend strategies to identify and engage discouraged workers and unemployed individuals not currently served by the workforce system and measurably improve the performance of federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 Title 1 Youth programs so they lead to improved employability and the development of skills to enter the workforce in a high-demand field. The Board shall report on the recommended strategies by October 1, 2019.

Makes several changes relating to course credit at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, including requiring (i) the Virginia Community College System to develop a 15-credit-hour Passport Program and a 30-credit-hour Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program to be offered at each comprehensive community college and for which courses are transferable, except in certain circumstances, to each baccalaureate public institution of higher education and (ii) each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to develop pathway maps that clearly set forth the courses that a student at a comprehensive community college is encouraged to complete prior to transferring to the baccalaureate institution.

Creates the Henrietta Lacks Commission to establish through a public-private partnership the Henrietta Lacks Life Sciences Center in Halifax County as a cancer research and treatment center designed to (i) transform and accelerate cancer research and treatment through the use of biodata tools, (ii) provide tailored cancer treatment medicine to an underserved portion of rural Southside Virginia, and (iii) incubate new biotech businesses across the Southside Virginia region. The bill requires the Commission to annually submit a report on its interim activity and work to the Governor and General Assembly. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2021.

Establishes an income tax modification for companies that, from 2018 through 2028, either (i) invest at least $5 million in new capital investment in a qualified locality and create at least 10 jobs paying at least twice the minimum wage in a qualified locality or (ii) create at least 50 jobs paying at least twice the minimum wage in a qualified locality. A company is eligible to claim the modification only if it had no property or payroll in Virginia on the effective date of the act.