Del. Clint Jenkins

Commending Redella S. Pepper.

Constitutional amendment (first reference);marriage; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; recognition ofsame-sex marriages. Repeals the constitutional provision definingmarriage as only a union between one man and one woman, as well asthe related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of theUnited States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the Commonwealthand its political subdivisions and its agents are required to issuemarriage licenses, recognize marriages, and treat all marriages equallyunder the law, regardless of the gender of the two parties to themarriage. The amendment further provides that religious organizationsand clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuseto perform any marriage.

Celebrating the life of Billy Joe Roberts.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable MamyeE. BaCote.

Bail; data collection and reporting standards; report. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to (i) collect data relating to bail determinations for any person who is held in custody pending trial or hearing for an offense, civil or criminal contempt or otherwise, in every locality; (ii) create a uniform reporting mechanism for criminal justice agencies to submit such data; and (iii) submit an annual report on the data collected to the Governor and the General Assembly, as well as publish the annual report on the Department's website. The bill also provides that the law addressing bail is to be construed so as to give effect to a general presumption in favor of release pretrial. The bill also requires the Department to report to the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary by January 1, 2022, on the development and application of the uniform reporting mechanisms. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022, for provisions related to the creation of uniform reporting mechanisms and data collection by the Department. This bill was incorporated into HB 2110.

Presumption of death; missing person report.Provides that a person who is a resident of the Commonwealth shallbe presumed dead if such person disappears for two successive years,his body has not been found, he is not known to be alive, and a missingperson report has been issued for him by a local law-enforcement agency.

Minimum wage; exemptions. Removes the exemptionfrom the Virginia Minimum Wage Act for individuals who are employedby an employer that does not have four or more persons employed atany one time.

Expungement of police and court records; nolleprosequi taken or acquittal. Provides that a court that takesa nolle prosequi or enters a judgment acquitting a person of a criminalcharge shall, upon motion of the person, enter an order requiringthe expungement of the police and court records relating to the charge.Currently, such a person may file a separate petition for the expungementof such records; however, except in certain cases involving misdemeanorcharges, the person is not entitled to an order of expungement, andthe court hearing the petition must find that the continued existenceand possible dissemination of such records causes or may cause circumstancesthat constitute a manifest injustice to such person before such anorder will be entered.

Petition for vacatur and expungement of convictionsand police and court records of victims of human trafficking.Allows any person who was a victim of human trafficking at the timeof an offense that led to a criminal charge or conviction of certaincrimes to petition the court to vacate such conviction and expungethe police and court records related to such conviction or to expungethe police and court records related to such charge. The bill provides that there is a rebuttable presumption that a person's participationin an offense was a result of having been a victim of human traffickingif there is official documentation, defined in the bill, of the petitioner'sstatus as a victim of human trafficking at the time of the offense.

Flood Insurance Fund; low-income Virginians.Creates a Flood Insurance Fund and directs the Executive Director of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Resources Authority toestablish a program to use the Fund to subsidize the purchase offlood insurance by low-income Virginians. Such program shall includean application process, application guidelines, and a ranking systemthat prioritizes the use of the Fund to support the purchase of floodinsurance in the most flood-prone areas.