Del. Jason S. Miyares

Tax credit for purchase of aquaculture oysterfloats. Establishes an individual nonrefundable income tax creditfor taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, but beforeJanuary 1, 2025, for the purchase price of aquaculture oyster floatspurchased during the taxable year. The amount of credit allowed underthis section shall not exceed $500. The total amount of tax creditsavailable under this section for a calendar year shall not exceed $50,000. If the amount of the credit exceeds the taxpayer's tax liabilityfor the taxable year in which the aquaculture oyster floats werepurchased, the amount that exceeds the tax liability may be carriedover for credit against the income taxes of the taxpayer in the nextfive taxable years.

Group Violence Intervention Board; Divisionof Group Violence Intervention; Project Ceasefire Grant Fund; ProjectExile Grant Fund. Establishes the Group Violence InterventionBoard to coordinate and assist federal, state, and local group violenceintervention efforts. The bill also establishes within the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services (the Department) the Division of Group Violence Intervention (the Division), to be headed by an executivedirector appointed by the Director of the Department. The bill providesthat the Division is responsible for (i) coordinating the effortsof members of state and local law enforcement, community members,and social services providers to combat group violence; (ii) serving as a clearinghouse for research, best practices, and strategies thatmay be utilized in the implementation, execution, and evaluationof group violence interventions; and (iii) implementing and administeringvarious federal, state, and local grant funds that aid group violenceintervention efforts. Finally, the bill creates the Project CeasefireGrant Fund, which provides money to organizations that are involvedin group violence intervention efforts, and creates the Project ExileGrant Fund, which provides money to organizations that assist formergang members or individuals attempting to leave gangs.

Virginia National Guard; state active duty for emergency response; pay and allowances for members. Establishes rates of pay and allowances for members of the Virginia National Guard and Virginia Defense Force.

Bystander claims for intentional or negligentinfliction of injury or death; emotional distress. Provides thata bystander who witnesses, live and in-person, an event during whichthe intentional or negligent infliction of injury to or death ofa victim occurs may recover damages for resulting emotional distress,proven by a preponderance of the evidence, with or without a physicalimpact or physical injury to the bystander, if (i) the bystanderis related to the victim or (ii) although not related to the victim, the bystander is in close proximity to the victim at the time theevent occurs and is aware that such event is causing injury to orthe death of the victim.

Hurricane and Flooding Risk Reduction and BondRating Protection Act of 2020; report. Establishes the Hurricaneand Flooding Risk Reduction and Bond Rating Protection Act of 2020,which establishes the Commonwealth of Virginia as a nonfederal sponsorof hurricane and flooding risk reduction projects. There is alsoestablished the Virginia Hurricane and Flood Risk Reduction Authority(the Authority) and a board of directors (the Board) of the Authority.The Board shall exercise for the Governor executive authority overall phases of hurricane and flood risk reduction programs, includinginvestigations, construction, operations, and maintenance. The Authorityshall be established to fulfill the directives of the Board. TheAuthority shall be hosted by a department of the Commonwealth asdesignated by the Governor. That department shall provide supportto the Authority, including budgeting, work facilities, administrative management, logistics, human resources, legal, contracts, and information resources. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC)shall consult with Louisiana's Legislative Fiscal Office to assessthe increased state and local tax flows in Louisiana that resultedfrom post-Katrina federal spending, including spending for civilworks storm and flooding risk reduction projects. The bill requiresJLARC to report to the General Assembly no later than November 1,2020, on the results of its initial assessment.

Virginia Minority Business Commission; report. Establishes a 13-member legislative Commission to promote the growthand competitiveness of Virginia minority-owned businesses. The bill provides that the Commission sunsets on July 1, 2023.

Certificate of public need; exception; physician-owned ambulatory surgery center. Exempts physician-owned ambulatorysurgery centers, as that term is defined in the bill, from the requirementof obtaining a certificate of public need before undertaking a project.

Conditional release of geriatric prisoners;exceptions. Prohibits persons serving a sentence imposed upona conviction of murder in the first degree or a sexually violentoffense, if the offense resulting in such conviction occurred onor after July 1, 2020, from petitioning the Parole Board for conditionalrelease. Under current law, such persons may petition the ParoleBoard when such persons reach age 65 and have served at least fiveyears of their sentence or reach age 60 and have served at least10 years of their sentence. The prohibition does not apply to anyperson who is serving a life sentence for any crime other than homicideand who was under the age of 18 at the time of the commission ofthe offense.

Power of attorney; witness or notary public. Requires that a power of attorney signed on or after July 1, 2020, be signed before at least one witness or a notary public.

Expungement of prostitution convictions.Allows a person to petition for expungement of convictions for prostitutionwhen the person was induced to engage in prostitution through theuse of force, intimidation, or deception by another.