Equal Citizens Month. Designates November,in 2021 and in each succeeding year, as Equal Citizens Month in Virginia.
Minimum wage; farm laborers or farm employees. Eliminates the exemptions from Virginia's minimum wage requirements for (i) persons employed as farm laborers or farm employees and (ii) certain temporary foreign workers.
Virginia Human Rights Act; nondiscriminationin employment; sexual harassment and workplace harassment. Clarifies,by defining sexual harassment and workplace harassment, what constitutesan unlawful employment practice if engaged in by an employer. Thebill also provides (i) a nonexhaustive list of factors to considerwhen determining whether certain conduct constitutes workplace harassment; (ii) that a person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice may file a written complaint with the Division of HumanRights within two years after the occurrence of the alleged unlawfuldiscriminatory practice; and (iii) that an aggrieved person who hasbeen provided a notice of his right to file a civil action for suchgrievance may do so within one year of receiving such notice andmay be awarded reasonable attorney fees, including costs and reasonablelitigation expenses, if the court or jury finds in his favor. Thebill also amends the definition of "employer" to mean a person employingfive or more employees, instead of 15 or more employees under currentlaw, for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks inthe current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person.
Recognition of the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribeof Virginia. Extends state recognition to the Wolf Creek CherokeeTribe of Virginia within the Commonwealth.
Virginia Redistricting Commission; removal of commissioners; emergency. Provides for the removal of a commissioner from the Virginia Redistricting Commission for neglect of duty or gross misconduct. Removal would require affirmative votes of at least six of the eight legislative commissioners and at least six of the eight citizen commissioners. Such a vote is required to be recorded and taken in a public meeting. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Study; Department of Conservation and Recreationand Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; invasiveplant species work group; report. Requests the Department of Conservation and Recreation, jointly with the Department of Agricultureand Consumer Services, to establish a work group to study the saleand use of invasive plant species. The resolution requests that thedepartments work with several state agencies, conservation nonprofits,and plant industry and agriculture groups to develop recommendationsregarding statutory and regulatory changes intended to reduce oreliminate the sale and use of invasive plant species in the Commonwealthand promote the sale and use of native plants.
Status offenders; willful and material violation of court order or terms of probation; notice; orders of disposition for violation. Removes the option for a court to order that a status offender be detained in a secure facility for a willful and material violation of a court order or term of probation.
Law-enforcement officer; duty to render aid;duty to report wrongdoing by another law-enforcement officer. Requires any law-enforcement officer on duty who witnesses another personsuffering from a serious bodily injury or a life-threatening conditionto render aid and makes it a duty to report acts of wrongdoing, definedin the bill and including bias-based profiling, committed by anotherlaw-enforcement officer on duty. Any law-enforcement officer whofails to render such aid or report such wrongdoing committed by anotherlaw-enforcement officer shall be subject to disciplinary action,including dismissal, demotion, suspension, or transfer of the law-enforcementofficer. The bill also expands the definition of "bias-based profiling,"a practice banned for sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, other local law-enforcement officers, and State Police officers in the performance of their official duties, to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Common-law crime of suicide. Abolishes thecommon-law crime of suicide. Suicide is currently a common-law crimein Virginia, although there is no statutorily prescribed punishment.
Study; JLARC; increasing the progressivity ofVirginia's individual income tax system; report. Directs theJoint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study increasingthe progressivity of Virginia's individual income tax system to makeit more progressive and fair in response to economic dynamics.
