Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra

School board duties; appointment and employmentof division superintendents; oversight. Requires each schoolboard to appoint, employ, and provide oversight for a division superintendentand provides that nothing in the Code of Virginia or the regulationsof the Board of Education shall be construed to prohibit the schoolboard from providing such oversight.

Commending the Honorable L. Kaye Kory.

Housing; Zoning for Housing Production Pilot Program created; affordable dwelling unit policy incentives; report. Creates the Zoning for Housing Production Pilot Program to be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. To be eligible for a grant from the Program, a locality is required to make a change to its zoning policies to allow for by-right development that is expected to further the goal of creating and maintaining mixed-income communities, affordable housing, and moderately priced housing, as those terms are defined in the bill. The Department of Housing and Community Development is required to establish certain guidelines for the Program and to notify eligible localities of the existence and purpose of the Program no later than September 1, 2024. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2027.

Employee Child Care Assistance Program and Fund; established. Establishes the Employee Child Care Assistance Programand Fund to provide matching funds to in order to incentivize employersto contribute to the child care costs of their employees. To participatein the program, an employer is required to enter into an agreementwith its employee and an eligible mixed-delivery provider, definedin the bill, to make child care contributions to the eligible mixed-deliveryprovider on behalf of the employee, and the Department of Educationwill issue a state match directly to such eligible mixed-deliveryprovider or to a third-party administrator. The bill provides thatthe state match shall not exceed 100 percent of the employer contributionmade by an employer on behalf of an employee whose annual gross wagesare equal to or less than the local median household income, definedin the bill, and shall not exceed 80 percent of the employer contributionmade by an employer on behalf of an employee whose annual gross wagesare greater than the local median household income. The bill requiresthat 25 percent of the Fund be used to provide state matching fundsfor employees of small businesses.

Signing of pleadings, motions, and other papers;electronic signatures. Clarifies that an electronic signatureor a digital image of a signature shall satisfy the requirement in current law that every pleading, motion, or other paper of a partybe signed by at least one attorney of record. This bill is a recommendationof the Boyd-Graves Conference.

Drug Treatment Court Act; name change. Renames the Drug Treatment Court Act as the Recovery Court Act. The bill also directs the Supreme Court of Virginia to rename the state Drug Treatment Court Advisory Committee as the Recovery Court Advisory Committee. This bill is identical to SB 725.

Marriage lawful regardless of sex, gender, or race of parties; issuance of marriage license. Provides that no person authorized to issue a marriage license shall deny the issuance of such license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of the parties. The bill also requires that such lawful marriages be recognized in the Commonwealth regardless of the sex, gender, or race of the parties. The bill provides that religious organizations or members of the clergy acting in their religious capacity shall have the right to refuse to perform any marriage. This bill is identical to SB 101.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable OnzleeWare.

Commending Service Employees International Union,Local 32BJ.

Commending Vinegar Hill Magazine.