Del. Carrie Coyner

Advisory Council on Sickle Cell Disease; established;report. Establishes the Advisory Council on Sickle Cell Diseaseto advise the State Health Commissioner on the efforts to improveawareness of sickle cell disease and the needs of individuals withsickle cell disease. The bill requires the Board of Health to reportannually by December 1 to the Governor and the General Assemblyregarding its activities and recommendations.

Local fiscal distress; determination by Auditor of Public Accounts; state intervention. Sets out a procedure for determining when localities are in fiscal distress, as defined in the bill, and when state intervention may be necessary. The bill requires the Auditor of Public Accounts to develop criteria for a preliminary determination that a locality may be in fiscal distress. The bill also requires the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget to identify any amounts remaining unexpended from general fund appropriations in the state budget as of June 30 of each year, which constitute state aid to local governments. From such unexpended balances, the Governor may reappropriate up to $750,000 from amounts that would otherwise revert to the balance of the general fund and transfer such amounts as necessary to establish a component of fund balance that may be used for the purpose of providing technical assistance and intervention actions for localities deemed to be fiscally distressed and in need of intervention to address such distress. The bill provides that if a report to the Governor concludes that a locality is either unwilling or unable to comply with the conditions necessary to address its fiscal distress, the Governor shall use all powers available to him to intervene for the purpose of addressing such fiscal distress. The bill further grants authority to the Governor to appoint an emergency fiscal manager and grant the manager with all powers available and necessary to implement a plan to restore sustainable fiscal health to the locality. The emergency fiscal officer shall give timely notice of any proposed actions to be taken and an opportunity for public input prior to such action and shall establish benchmarks that will allow a locality to exit the state intervention plan upon meeting such benchmarks.

Omitted taxes; installment agreements. Allowsthe governing body of a locality to allow its treasurer or othercollecting official to enter into an installment agreement lastingup to 72 months for payment of taxes by a taxpayer who has been assessedwith omitted taxes.

Pass-through entity tax; penalty waiver.Directs the Department of Taxation to waive penalties imposed onany pass-through entity paying the pass-through entity income taxfor taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2021, but beforeJanuary 1, 2024. The waiver shall not apply to any penalty imposeddue to a false or fraudulent action by the taxpayer with the intentionof evading the tax.

Income tax; interest; employer retention credit. Provides authority to the Tax Commissioner to waive interest on taxpayersthat received a federal employer retention tax credit. Such waivershall only be permissible if the taxpayer was eligible for and received the federal tax credit, filed an amended return, and was found tohave an additional tax liability due to the reduction in deductiblewages that resulted from claiming the credit.

Magistrates; appointment and supervision.

State parks; First Responder and Veteran Passport;discounted entry and parking. Establishes a First Responder andVeteran Passport that entitles a first responder or a veteran ofthe Armed Forces of the United States or other military service toreceive a 50 percent discount on parking and admission fees at stateparks in the Commonwealth.

National Teacher Certification Incentive RewardProgram and Fund; eligibility; incentive grant awards. Renamesthe National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fundas the National Board Certification Incentive Reward Program andFund, expands eligibility for incentive grant awards from such Fundpursuant to such Program from solely teachers who have obtained nationalcertification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standardsto (i) all public school staff who are candidates for initial nationalcertification or maintenance of national certification to cover certaincosts of obtaining or maintaining such certification and (ii) allpublic school staff who have successfully obtained or maintainedsuch certification. The bill also declares as eligible for an annualincentive grant award in the amount of $7,500 all public school staffwho have obtained or maintained such certification. Current law declaresas eligible for an annual incentive grant award of $5,000 in thefirst year and $2,500 in each subsequent year all teachers who haveobtained or maintained such certification.

Vacant buildings; registration. Permits any county, city, or town to require, by ordinance, the owner ofany building that has been vacant for at least 12 months and (i) thatmeets the definition of "derelict building" in relevant law, (ii)that meets the definition of "criminal blight" in relevant law, or(iii) in which a locality has determined a person is living withoutthe authority of the owner to register such building annually. Undercurrent law, any city and certain towns are permitted to requirethe owner of any building that has been vacant for at least 12 monthsand meets the definition of "derelict building" in relevant law toregister such building annually. This bill is a recommendation ofthe Virginia Housing Commission.

Board of Education; creation and maintenance of Virginia Parent Data Portal. Requires the Board of Education, on or before July 1, 2025, to create and maintain the Virginia Parent Data Portal that, among other things, (i) displays individualized student assessment data on all state-supported assessments, defined in the bill, (a) in a format that shows both current and cumulative data over time and (b) within 45 days of a state-supported assessment window closing for each state-supported assessment; (ii) provides (a) a description of the purpose of each state-supported assessment, (b) an explanation of how to interpret student data on each state-supported assessment, (c) a comparison of a student's performance on each state-supported assessment with the performance of the student's school, the student's school division, and the Commonwealth, and (d) guidance to support parents in understanding and addressing the specific academic needs of their students; (iii) is viewable from a mobile device in addition to a desktop computer; (iv) leverages existing school division user management to restrict user access to students and their parents; and (v) is compatible with each local school division's existing student information system to enable direct integration of state-supported assessment data into local school division parent portals.The bill requires the Board and the Department of Education to develop professional development for principals and teachers in encouraging and supporting parents to engage with, interpret, and use student assessment data available through the Portal to support their student's learning and requires each school board to annually provide such professional development to principals and teachers.