Constitutional amendment (first reference); marriage between two individuals; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; affirmative right to marry. Repeals the constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman as well as the related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of persons and prohibits the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from denying the issuance of a marriage license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of such parties. The Commonwealth and its political subdivisions are required to recognize any lawful marriage between two parties and to treat such marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex, gender, or race of such parties. The amendment provides that religious organizations and clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuse to perform any marriage.
Del. Josh Cole
Sponsored bills
Department of Human Resource Management; disclosureof certain information. Requires the Department of Human ResourceManagement to provide any recognized public employee association,upon the request of such association, a list containing the nameand work address of each current state employee. The bill requiressuch association to ensure that the information contained in suchlist remains confidential and prohibits any mailing sent by suchassociation to a state employee from containing (i) political or partisan content, (ii) commercial advertising, or (iii) the personal informationof any state employee.
School boards; teachers; terms of employment;employment verification; requirement. Requires each school boardto provide written verification of employment within 10 days of receipt of any request for employment verification from a former employeeof the school board.
Public schools; transfer and management ofscholastic records; disclosure of information in court notices; transferof disciplinary records; requirements. Requires the superintendentof any school division to, upon receiving notification of the dispositionin a delinquency case concerning a student who is not enrolled insuch school division, forward such notification to the superintendentof the school division where such student is enrolled or where suchstudent intends to enroll, as evidenced by the receipt of a request from the other school division for such student's scholastic records.Current law only permits the superintendent of any such school divisionto forward such notification to the superintendent of the schooldivision in which the student is currently enrolled. The bill alsorequires a copy of the complete student disciplinary records of anystudent transferring from one school division to another to be transferredto the school division to which such student is transferring, uponrequest from such school division.
Public school staffing ratios; specializedstudent support positions. Increases the number of specialized student support positions required to be employed by each local schoolboard from at least three to at least four such positions per 1,000students in the local school division. Such specialized student supportpositions include school social workers, school psychologists, schoolnurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts,and other licensed health and behavioral positions.
Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gougingprovisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing priorto the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlordswho are under the ordinance may be required to give at least two months'written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent bymore than the locality's calculated allowance, described in the billas the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent duringany 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the ConsumerPrice Index or seven percent, whichever is less, states that suchallowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowance on itswebsite by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined inthe bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allows alocality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will developand implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply forand be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by theordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establisha civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set outin the ordinance.
Towing; registration for tow truck drivers;Driver Authorization Document; penalty. Requires tow truck drivers,prior to registration or the first renewal on or after January 1,2025, with the Department of Criminal Justice Services, to obtaina Driver Authorization Document, for which such drivers must take instructional courses, the requirements for which are set forth inthe bill, and complete a drug test. The bill has a delayed effectivedate of January 1, 2025.
Commending Dr. Willis L. Lonzer III.
Commending the Culpeper County Volunteer FireDepartment.
Celebrating the life of Ben Judson Honaker,Jr.