Del. Shelly Simonds

Absentee voting; procedural and process reforms; availability and accessibility reforms; penalty. Makes various reforms to absentee voting processes and procedures, including those related to availability and accessibility. The bill requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots returned before the day of an election, including verifying the correct completion of the voter affirmation statement, and provides for an opportunity for an absentee voter to make corrections to the statement in certain circumstances. The bill requires the establishment of drop-off locations for the return of voted absentee ballots. Additionally, a central absentee voter precinct is required to be established in each locality; currently, establishment is optional. On the day of the election, officers of election are required to begin processing absentee ballots in the central absentee voter precincts prior to the close of polls, but no ballot vote counts are permitted to be transmitted outside of the central absentee voter precinct before the close of polls; a violation of such prohibition is a Class 1 misdemeanor. When reporting election results to the Department of Elections, the general registrars are required to report absentee ballots cast early in person separately from all other absentee ballots. Additionally, a voter who has applied for and received an absentee ballot may choose to instead vote at his polling place on election day, and such voter shall be entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The bill requires a ballot marking tool with screen reader assistive technology to be made available for absentee voters with a print disability. Restrictions on the availability of absentee voting for first-time voters who registered by mail are repealed. The bill contains technical amendments for organizational and readability purposes.

Public institutions of higher education; admissions applications; criminal history. Prohibits each public institution of higher education, with the exception of the Virginia Military Institute, from (i) utilizing an institution-specific admissions application that contains questions about the criminal history of the applicant or (ii) denying admission to any applicant on the basis of any criminal history information provided by the applicant on any third-party admissions application accepted by the institution. The bill permits each public institution of higher education to inquire into the criminal history of any individual who has been admitted to but has yet to enroll at the institution and withdraw an offer of admission to any individual whom the institution subsequently determines to have a criminal history that poses a threat to the institution's community. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.

Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for certain diseases. Provides that the occupational disease presumption for death caused by hypertension or heart disease will apply for salaried or volunteer emergency medical services personnel who have at least five years of service and are operating in a locality that has legally adopted a resolution declaring that it will provide one or more of such presumptions. This bill incorporates HB 2080.

Virginia Housing Development Authority; workgroup to establish Virginia Good Neighbor Next Door program.Directs the Virginia Housing Development Authority to convene a stakeholderwork group to establish a plan for the creation of a Virginia GoodNeighbor Next Door program, similar to the Good Neighbor Next Doorprogram administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, to provide financial incentives for law-enforcementofficers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, andteachers to purchase homes within designated revitalization areasin the localities in which they are employed. The bill requires thework group to report its findings and recommendations, includingany legislative recommendations, to the Governor and the Chairmenof the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee onGeneral Laws and Technology no later than July 1, 2022.

Study; gold mining; prohibition on permitting;report. Directs the Secretary of Natural Resources, the Secretaryof Health and Human Resources, and the Secretary of Commerce andTrade to conduct a study of the mining of gold in the Commonwealth.The bill requires that the study be conducted in consultation withthe Virginia Council on Environmental Justice and appropriate stakeholders,including experts in mining, hydrology, toxicology, and other fields;environmental organizations; representatives of potentially affectedcommunities in localities with significant deposits of gold; and residentsof Native American communities in such counties. Thebill provides that the study shall evaluate the impacts of gold miningon public health, safety, and welfare; evaluate whether existing air and water quality regulations are sufficient; consider which processingand beneficiation techniques, including cyanide heap leaching andcyanide vat leaching, should be permitted; consider whether the dewateringof an open pit mine should be permitted; make a recommendation asto whether the issuance of any permit to operate a gold mine shouldbe prohibited; and report its findings to the General Assembly byJuly 1, 2023. The bill also prohibits the issuance of any permitby the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to operate a goldmine of an area larger than 10 acres until July 1, 2024.

Governor's Secretaries; Secretary of Labor created. Creates in the Governor's Cabinet the position of Secretary of Labor. The bill transfers from the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to the Secretary of Labor responsibility for the Department of Labor and Industry, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, and the Virginia Employment Commission. The bill removes the position of Chief Workforce Development Advisor and reassigns its duties to the Secretary of Labor. The bill also adds the Secretary of Labor to the Governor's comprehensive economic development policy committee.

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit, interruption of services, or actions taken to make premises unsafe. Provides that a general district court shall enter an order upon petition by a tenant that his landlord has (i) removed or excluded the tenant from the dwelling unit unlawfully, (ii) interrupted or caused the interruption of an essential service to the tenant, or (iii) taken action to make the premises unsafe for habitation. The bill allows entry of a preliminary order ex parte to require the landlord to allow the tenant to recover possession of the dwelling unit, resume any such interrupted essential service, or fix any willful actions taken by the landlord or his agent to make the premises unsafe for habitation if there is good cause to do so and the tenant made reasonable efforts to notify the landlord of the hearing. The bill requires that any ex parte order entered shall further indicate a date for a full hearing on the petition that is no later than 10 days from the initial hearing date. Finally, the bill provides that, at a full hearing on such petition, the tenant shall recover actual damages, the greater of $5,000 or four months' rent, and reasonable attorney fees.

Workforce development; data sharing. Expands the type of workforce development data that state agencies may share with the Virginia Workforce System to support workforce program evaluation and policy analysis. The bill removes the requirement that all personal identifying information be removed before being shared among other state agencies and with the Workforce Development System and instead requires the identifying attribute information necessary to match entities across programs, support the coordination of services, and evaluate outcomes to be shared among agencies that enter into the memorandum of understanding supporting the Virginia Workforce Data Trust.

Historic resources; acquisition and lease of land. Exempts additional land acquisition activities of the Department of Historic Resources (the Department) and the Board of Historic Resources (the Board) from review by the Department of General Services and authorizes the Department and Board to undertake additional leasing and property acquisition activities related to battlefield properties, designated landmarks, and other properties of historic significance.

Enslaved Ancestors College Access ScholarshipProgram established. Establishes the Enslaved Ancestors CollegeAccess Scholarship Program, whereby Longwood University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Virginia MilitaryInstitute, and The College of William and Mary in Virginia are requiredto annually provide, starting in the 2022-2023 academic year and with any source of funds other than state funds or tuition or fee increases,to at least one African American Virginia student who was born inthe Commonwealth and has a total household income that is not morethan 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines a renewable scholarshipin an amount sufficient to cover tuition, mandatory fees, room andboard, books and other educational supplies, and tutoring at the institution. The bill requires the State Council of Higher Educationfor Virginia to collaborate with such institutions to establish guidelinesfor the implementation of the Program and to annually collect informationon the implementation of the Program from such institutions and reportsuch information to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations,the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Educationand Health, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, and the Virginia African American Advisory Board.