Rep. Phil Scott

Absentee voting in person; available beginningon the fourteenth day prior to election; hours of operation.Limits absentee voting in person to the two weeks immediately precedingan election. During these two weeks, the bill requires that absentee voting in person be available Monday through Saturday, from 7:00a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day.

Department of Health; mobile food units.Directs the Department of Health to amend its regulations and eachlocal health department and health district to amend its regulationsand guidance documents to allow a mobile food unit to conduct up to 20 percent of its sanitation and food preparation activities withina 50-foot radius of the mobile food unit.

Local government employees; expression of certainopinions protected. Provides that an employee of a locality shallnot be penalized by his employer for expressing his opinion regardinga current or proposed regulation, rule, policy, position, or otheraction or purpose of a public body at an open meeting of such publicbody when such employee is speaking on his own behalf. The bill excludesany speech that is unprotected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, including speech that (i) incites violence;(ii) is obscene, defamatory, or fraudulent; or (iii) discloses privilegedand confidential information. The bill specifies that for purposesof this provision an employee of a locality does not include anyperson appointed to a position in a locality by an elected officialor by a government body composed in whole or in part of electedofficials.

Certificate of public need program; phased elimination. Creates a three-phase process to eliminate the certificate of publicneed requirements for many categories of medical care facilitiesand projects, with elimination of the requirement for a certificateof public need (i) for all medical care facilities other than nursinghomes or specialized centers or clinics or that portion of a physician'soffice developed for the provision of outpatient or ambulatory surgery,cardiac catheterization, computed tomographic (CT) scanning, magneticresonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomographic (PET) scanning,radiation therapy, certain stereotactic radiotherapy, or proton beamtherapy effective July 1, 2024; (ii) for all such services as describedin clause (i) at any existing medical care facility other than nursinghomes or specialized centers or clinics or that portion of a physician'soffice developed for the provision of outpatient or ambulatory surgery,cardiac catheterization, computed tomographic (CT) scanning, magneticresonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomographic (PET) scanning,radiation therapy, certain stereotactic radiotherapy, or proton beamtherapy located outside of a metropolitan statistical area or ina rural census tract within a metropolitan statistical area effectiveJuly 1, 2025; and (iii) for all medical care facilities effectiveJuly 1, 2026.

Fees for resident concealed handgun permits.Eliminates the fees that may be charged for the processing of anapplication for or issuing of a resident concealed handgun permit, including any costs associated with the clerk's consultation withlaw-enforcement agencies, which under current law is $10; a fee notto exceed $35 to the law-enforcement agency conducting the backgroundinvestigation; and a fee not to exceed $5 to the State Police tocover its costs associated with processing the application.

Personal property tax; classification; sunsetdate. Removes the sunset date from the provision of law that authorizes localities to classify most motor vehicles as a class ofproperty subject to a different rate of tax or rate of assessmentfrom the rate applicable to the general class of tangible personalproperty. Under current law, such classification would expire beginningwith taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.

Secretary of the Commonwealth; ad hoc committeeto evaluate executive and legislative collegial bodies. Requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to convene an ad hoc committeefor the purpose of studying and evaluating the efficiency and effectivenessof collegial bodies within the executive and legislative branchesand to develop uniform standards for the establishment and operationof such bodies. The Governor shall appoint three nonlegislative citizenmembers who have previously served as gubernatorial appointees onexecutive branch collegial bodies. The Speaker of the House of Delegatesshall appoint two Delegates and one nonlegislative citizen memberwho has previously served as a legislative appointee on a collegialbody, and the Senate Committee on Rules shall appoint two Senatorsand one nonlegislative citizen member who has previously served asa legislative appointee on a collegial body. The Secretary of theCommonwealth shall serve as the committee's chairman.

Comprehensive community colleges and schoolboards; dual enrollment agreements; parameters. Requires dualenrollment agreements between comprehensive community colleges andschool boards to permit any student to complete an associate degree,the Passport Program, or a one-year Uniform Certificate of GeneralStudies from a comprehensive community college concurrent with ahigh school diploma or high school equivalency program. Current lawrequires such agreements to specify options for students to completean associate degree, the Passport Program, or a one-year Uniform Certificate of General Studies from a comprehensive community college concurrent with a high school diploma.

Dangers and victims of communism; recognition;Standards of Learning and programs of instruction. Requires theGovernor to annually issue a proclamation setting the seventh dayof November as Victims of Communism Day and requiring such day tobe suitably observed in each public elementary and secondary schoolin the Commonwealth as a day honoring the approximately 100 millionindividuals who have fallen victim to communist regimes around theworld and to be suitably observed by a public exercise in the Capitoland elsewhere as the Governor may designate in such proclamation.The bill also requires the Board of Education to include in the historyand social science Standards of Learning in grades six through 12and each school board to emphasize in its Standards-aligned programof instruction in grades six through 12 the study of the dangersof communism.

Education Excellence for All Program established.Permits the parents of qualified students, defined in the bill, toapply for a one-year, renewable Education Excellence for All SavingsAccount, defined in the bill, that consists of an amount that isequivalent to a certain percentage of all applicable annual Standardsof Quality per pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposesand apportioned to the school division in which the qualified studentresides, including the per pupil share of state sales tax fundingin basic aid and any per pupil share of state special education fundingfor which the qualified student is eligible. The bill permits theparent of the qualified student to use the moneys in such accountfor certain qualified expenses of the qualified student, includingtuition, deposits, fees, and required textbooks at a private elementaryschool or secondary school that is located in the Commonwealth. Thebill also contains provisions relating to program and account administrationby the Department of the Treasury and a third party that serves asprogram administrator pursuant to a contract with the Department.