Del. Josh Cole

Alcoholic beverage control; local outdoor refreshment areas. Defines "outdoor refreshment area" and permits the governing body of any locality in the Commonwealth to designate, by ordinance, up to three outdoor refreshment areas within such locality. The bill provides that such ordinance would permit the consumption of alcoholic beverages within the outdoor refreshment area, provided that such alcoholic beverages are purchased from a permanent retail on-premises licensee located within such designated area and are contained in disposable containers with a maximum capacity of no more than 16 fluid ounces that clearly display the selling licensee's name or logo. The bill requires the locality, prior to adopting such an ordinance, to create a public safety plan for each outdoor refreshment area. This bill was incorporated into HB 2266.

Creation of Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman. Creates the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office). The bill enumerates the duties and powers of the Office, which include (i) providing information, as appropriate, to inmates, family members, representatives of inmates, Department of Corrections employees and contractors, and others regarding the rights of inmates; (ii) monitoring conditions of confinement and assessing compliance with applicable federal, state, and local rules, regulations, policies, and best practices as related to the health, safety, welfare, and rehabilitation of inmates; (iii) providing technical assistance to support inmate participation in self-advocacy; (iv) providing technical assistance to local governments in the creation of correctional facility oversight bodies, as requested; (v) establishing a statewide uniform reporting system to collect and analyze data related to complaints received by the Department and data related to (a) deaths, suicides, and suicide attempts in custody; (b) physical and sexual assaults in custody; (c) the number of inmates placed in solitary confinement; (d) the number of facility lockdowns lasting longer than 24 hours; (e) the number of staff vacancies at each facility; (f) the inmate-to-staff ratios at each facility; (g) staff tenure and turnover; and (h) the number of in-person visits to inmates that were made and denied at each facility; (vi) establishing procedures to gather stakeholder input into the Office's activities and priorities, which must include, at a minimum, an annual 30-day period for receipt of and Office response to public comment; (vii) inspecting each state correctional facility at least once every three years and at least once every year for any maximum security facility and any facility where the Office has found cause for more frequent inspection or monitoring; and (viii) issuing publicly periodic facility inspection reports and an annual report with recommendations on the state correctional facilities and a summary of data and recommendations arising from any complaints investigated and resolved. The bill also establishes a Corrections Oversight Committee, which is responsible for selecting the Department of Corrections Ombudsman. The bill additionally outlines the Office's authority to conduct inspections of each Department or Board facility and requires the submission of an annual report to the Governor, the Attorney General, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee for Courts of Justice, and the Director of the Department. The bill also provides for the authority of the Office to conduct investigations of complaints made by inmates, family members or friends, and advocates.

School Equity and Staffing Act; Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leaders and mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. DesignatesMay, in 2021 and in each succeeding year, as Cystic Fibrosis AwarenessMonth in Virginia.

Public employees; prohibition on striking; exception.Exempts employees of a local school board from the prohibition onstriking, and from termination of employment for striking, by publicemployees.

Right to work. Repeals the provisions ofthe Code of Virginia that, among other things, prohibit any agreementor combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organizationwhereby (i) nonmembers of the union or organization are denied theright to work for the employer, (ii) membership in the union or organizationis made a condition of employment or continuation of employment bysuch employer, or (iii) the union or organization acquires an employmentmonopoly in any such enterprise.

Alcoholic beverage control; local outdoor refreshment areas. Defines "outdoor refreshment area" and permits the governingbody of any locality in the Commonwealth to designate, by ordinance, up to three outdoor refreshment areas within such locality. The billprovides that such ordinance would permit the consumption of alcoholicbeverages within the outdoor refreshment area, provided that suchalcoholic beverages are purchased from a permanent retail on-premiseslicensee located within such designated area and are contained indisposable containers with a maximum capacity of no more than 16fluid ounces that clearly display the selling licensee's name orlogo. The bill requires the locality, prior to adopting such an ordinance,to create a public safety plan for each outdoor refreshment area.

Fossil fuel projects moratorium. Establishesa moratorium, effective January 1, 2022, on any approval by anystate agency or political subdivision required for (i) electric generatingfacilities that generate fossil fuel energy through the combustionor use of a fossil fuel resource; (ii) import or export terminalsfor fossil fuel resources; (iii) modification of an import or exportterminal for a fossil fuel resource; (iv) gathering lines or pipelinesfor the transport of any fossil fuel resource that requires the useof public land or eminent domain on private property; (v) modificationof such gathering lines or pipelines; (vi) refineries of a fossilfuel resource; (vii) any facilities that change the physical stateof fossil fuels for the purposes of transporting such fuel; and (vii)exploration for any type of fossil fuel, unless preempted by applicablefederal law. The measure requires the establishment of job trainingprograms and energy worker protections, transitional assistance forworkers in the fossil fuel industry and affected communities, andenvironmental justice protections.

Campaign finance; prohibited contributions tocandidates. Prohibits any candidate from soliciting or acceptinga contribution from any public service corporation, as defined inthe bill, or any political action committee established and administeredby such a corporation.

Green New Deal Act. Establishes a moratorium, effective January 1, 2022, on approval by any state agency or political subdivision of any approval required for (i) electric generating facilities that generate fossil fuel energy through the combustion of a fossil fuel resource; (ii) import or export terminals for fossil fuel resources; (iii) certain maintenance activities relating to an import or export terminal for a fossil fuel resource; (iv) gathering lines or pipelines for the transport of any fossil fuel resource that  require the use of eminent domain on private property; (v) certain maintenance activities relating to such gathering lines or pipelines; (vi) refineries of a fossil fuel resource; and (vii) exploration for any type of fossil fuel, unless preempted by applicable federal law. The measure also requires that at least 80 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier in calendar years 2028 through 2035 be generated from clean energy resources. In calendar year 2036 and every calendar year thereafter, 100 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier is required to be generated from clean energy resources. The clean energy mandates apply to a public utility or other person that sells not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy to retail customers or generates not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy for use by the person. The Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy is authorized to bring actions for injunctions to enforce these requirements. The measure requires the Department to adopt a Climate Action Plan that addresses all aspects of climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, resiliency, and assistance in the transition from current energy sources to clean renewable energy. The measure provides that any retail electric supplier that fails to meet any goal or benchmark is liable for a civil penalty equal to twice the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or mandate that was not achieved, or three times the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or benchmark that was not achieved if not met in an environmental justice community. The measure provides that it is the goal of the Commonwealth to achieve a 36 percent reduction in electric energy consumption in buildings by 2036. The measure requires the Department, in coordination with the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (Council) to establish performance benchmarks for environmental justice communities and to establish programs for jobs for people in environmental justice communities. The measure requires the Council to develop and make available to each state agency training modules designed to facilitate the promotion of environmental justice. The measure requires the Department to establish the Transitioning Workers Program (the Program) to provide support for workers in the fossil fuel industry and affected communities and provide such workers job training, relocation support, income and benefit support, and early retirement benefits. The measure provides for funding such program by 20 percent of the revenue generated by the allowance auction established by the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. The measure prohibits the Commission from approving construction of any new utility-owned generating facilities that emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity. The measure requires that all utility costs associated with the construction of, acquisition of, or agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of certain required generation and storage facilities are recovered through the utility's rates for generation and distribution services. The measure requires that under the renewable energy portfolio standard program, Dominion Energy Virginia and American Electric Power be required to produce their electricity from 80 percent renewable sources by 2028 and 100 percent by 2036. The measure increases the incremental energy efficiency savings that each investor-owned incumbent electric utility is required to achieve that start in 2022 at 2.4 percent for American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia of the average annual energy retail sales by that utility in 2020 and increases those savings annually.