Del. Cia Price

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;nonrefundable application fee; limitations. Places limitationson when a landlord may charge a nonrefundable application fee inaddition to a refundable application deposit. The bill prohibitsa landlord with more than four rental dwelling units or more thana 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units from charging prospective tenants any nonrefundable application fee inexcess of the amount necessary to reimburse the landlord for anyactual out-of-pocket expenses paid by the landlord to a third party performing a number of pre-occupancy checks on the applicant. Thebill allows an applicant to choose to provide certain informationto the landlord in the form of a portable tenant screening reportin lieu of paying an application fee. When an applicant chooses notto provide such report, a landlord that owns four or fewer rentaldwelling units may charge such applicant actual out-of-pocket expensespaid by the landlord to a third party performing certain pre-occupancychecks on the applicant or, in the case of an application for a publichousing unit, an application fee of no more than $32, including anyactual out-of-pocket expenses paid to a third party by the landlordperforming background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks on theapplicant.

Refundable income tax credit for low-incometaxpayers. Allows low-income individuals and married persons to claim either (i) a nonrefundable income tax credit equal to $300for each individual, his spouse, and any dependents or (ii) a refundableincome tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal earned incometax credit claimed that year by the individual or married personsfor the same taxable year. Under current law, low-income individualsand married persons may elect either of these amounts; however, bothoptions for claiming the credit are nonrefundable. The provisionsof the bill apply to taxable years 2022 through 2028.

Arrest and prosecution of individual experiencing a mental health emergency; assault or assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer. Provides that no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for an assault or assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer if at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the individual (a) is experiencing a mental health emergency or (b) meets the criteria for issuance of an emergency custody order and (ii) the law-enforcement officer subject to the assault or assault and battery was responding to a call for service requesting assistance for such individual. The bill provides that no law-enforcement officer acting in good faith shall be found liable for false arrest if it is later determined that the person arrested was immune from prosecution.

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum);qualifications of voters and the right to vote; persons not entitledto vote. Provides for a referendum at the November 8, 2022, generalelection to approve or reject an amendment that would provide forthe fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, revise the qualificationsof voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitledto vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically investedwith the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and updatethe existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentallyincompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lackthe capacity to understand the act of voting.

Civilian deaths in custody; report. Requiresevery law-enforcement agency and correctional facility to reportto the Department of Criminal Justice Services certain informationregarding the death of any person who is detained, under arrest orin the process of being arrested, en route to be incarcerated, incarcerated,or otherwise in the custody of such law-enforcement agency or correctionalfacility. The bill provides that any law-enforcement agency or correctionalfacility that fails to comply may, at the discretion of the Department,be declared ineligible for state grants or funds. The bill also requiresthe Department to analyze the submitted data to (i) determine themeans by which such information can be used to reduce the numberof such deaths and (ii) examine the relationship, if any, betweenthe number of such deaths and the actions of management of such law-enforcementagencies and correctional facilities. The Director of the Departmentshall annually report the findings and recommendations resultingfrom the analysis and interpretation of the data to the Governor,the General Assembly, and the Attorney General beginning on or beforeJuly 1, 2023, and each July 1 thereafter.

Anti-Human Trafficking and Survivor Trust Fund.Creates the Anti-Human Trafficking and Survivor Trust Fund, whichshall be administered by a Board of Trustees and used for the supportand development of services for the prevention of human traffickingand the treatment and support of human trafficking victims.

Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leaders and mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) increasing from at least three to at least four the required number of specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average.Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate thatis at or above the national average. Under current law, compensationat such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries,effective from the 2023-24 school year through the 2027-28 schoolyear. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023.

Grounds for divorce; cruelty, abuse, desertion,or abandonment; waiting period. Eliminates the one-year waitingperiod for being decreed a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, reasonableapprehension of bodily hurt, or willful desertion or abandonment.

Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and PreventionFund; creation. Establishes the Virginia Center for Firearm ViolenceIntervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department ofCriminal Justice Services and transfers to the Center the administrationof the existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and PreventionFund.