Earned paid sick time. Requires public and private employers with six or more employees to provide those employees with earned paid sick time. The measure provides for an employee to earn at least one hour of paid sick leave benefit for every 30 hours worked. An employee shall not use more than 40 hours of earned paid sick time in a year, unless the employer selects a higher limit. Employees shall not be entitled to use accrued earned paid sick time until the ninetieth calendar day following commencement of their employment, unless otherwise permitted by the employer. The bill provides that earned paid sick time may be used (i) for an employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; an employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or an employee's need for preventive medical care; (ii) to provide care to a family member under similar circumstances; (iii) when there is a closure of the employee's place of business or the employee's child's school or place of care due to a public health emergency; or (iv) when an employee's or employee's family member's presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others because of their exposure to a communicable disease. The bill authorizes the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, in the case of a knowing violation, to subject an employer to a civil penalty not to exceed $150 for the first violation, $300 for the second violation, and $500 for each successive violation, if the second or successive violation occurs within two years of the previous violation. The Commissioner of Labor and Industry may institute proceedings on behalf of an employee to enforce compliance with this measure and to collect specified amounts from the employer, which shall be awarded to the employee. Alternatively, an aggrieved employee is authorized to bring a civil action against the employer in which he may recover double the amount of any unpaid earned sick time and the amount of any actual damages suffered as the result of the employer's violation. The measure has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021. This bill incorporates HB 418 and HB 1684.
Sponsored bills
Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leadersand mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makesseveral changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishmentof units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning andprincipal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board ofEducation to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leaderand teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changesrelating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishingschoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with highconcentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensationadjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board toassign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distributionof experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in thelocal school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacherleaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv)requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk studentsand 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 astudent-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boardsto employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) loweringthe ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors inelementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board toprovide at least four specialized student support positions, including schoolsocial workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and other licensed healthand behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.
Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol; removal of Robert E. Lee statue from National Statuary Hall Collection. Creates the Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol to provide for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol and to recommend to the General Assembly as a replacement a statue of a prominent Virginia citizen of historic renown or renowned for distinguished civil or military service to be commemorated in the National Statuary Hall Collection.The Commission will consist of six members appointed as follows: one member of the House of Delegates appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates; one member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; two nonlegislative citizen members who are Virginia or American historians appointed by the Governor; one nonlegislative citizen member appointed upon the vote of the Commission members appointed by the Speaker, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Governor; and the Director of the Department of Historic Resources, who serves ex officio with nonvoting privileges. The Department of Historic Resources will provide staff support to the Commission.The Commission will also be required to (i) select a sculptor for the new statue, with preference given to a sculptor from Virginia; (ii) estimate the costs associated with the replacement of the Robert E. Lee statue, including costs related to construction and placement of the new statue, for the removal and transfer of the Robert E. Lee statue, and for any unveiling ceremony of the new statue; and (iii) recommend to the General Assembly a suitable state, local, or private nonprofit history museum in the Commonwealth for placement of the Robert E. Lee statue.The bill requires the Commission to hold at least one public hearing prior to making any recommendation to the General Assembly on a new statue and requires the costs of the Commission's work to be borne by the Commission from such private funds as are collected by the Commission and general funds as are appropriated by the General Assembly.This bill was incorporated into HB 1406.
Commission to Investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach Mass Shooting; report. Establishes an independent commission to investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting (the Commission). The Commission consists of 21 members appointed as follows: five members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, five members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and 10 members appointed by the Governor. The Superintendent of State Police serves ex officio as a nonvoting member. The Commission is charged with investigating the underlying motive for the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting, investigating the gunman's entire prior employment history with the City of Virginia Beach and his interactions with coworkers and supervisors, determining how the gunman was able to carry out his actions, identifying any obstacles confronted by first responders, identifying and examining the security procedures and protocols in place immediately prior to the shootings, examining the post-shooting communications between law enforcement and families of the victims, and developing recommendations regarding improvements that can be made in the Commonwealth's laws, policies, procedures, systems, and institutions, as well as those of other governmental agencies and private providers.The Office of the State Inspector General or such other person or entity under the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security staffs the Commission, as designated by the Governor. The expenses of the Commission are paid from existing appropriations to the Office of the State Inspector General or any agency under the Secretary, as determined by the Governor. The Commission has a sunset date of November 1, 2022.
State plan for medical assistance services; covered services. Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to include provisions for dental care and eye care for adults.
Day of Women. Recognizes January 22 of each year as the Day of Women in Virginia and provides that January 22 of each year no longer be known as the Day of Tears in Virginia.
Redistricting; population data; reallocationof prison populations. Provides for the preparation of adjustedpopulation data for redistricting and reapportionment purposes toreflect the reallocation of persons incarcerated in state and localcorrectional facilities. The bill provides that a person incarceratedin a state or local correctional facility whose legal residence priorto entering custody was located within the Commonwealth will be deemedto reside at such residence, and a person incarcerated in a stateor local correctional facility whose legal residence prior to enteringcustody was located outside of the Commonwealth or whose legal residenceprior to entering custody cannot be determined will be deemed toreside at the location of the facility in which he is incarcerated.Under the U.S. Census Bureau's current residence criteria, incarceratedpersons are counted at the facility in which they are incarcerated.The bill directs the Division of Legislative Services to preparethe adjusted population data, and the General Assembly and localgoverning bodies are required to use this data as the basis for reapportioningand drawing new districts. The Director of the Department of Correctionsand the Board of Corrections are required to provide to the Divisioncertain information about each person incarcerated who was incarceratedin a state or local correctional facility on the day the decennialcensus is taken, April 1 of a year ending in zero, for these purposes.
Study; JLARC; privately operated prisons; report.Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, in consultationwith the Department of Corrections, to study the use of privatelyoperated prisons in the Commonwealth.
Department of Housing and Community Development;barriers to use of state and federal housing funds; report. Requiresthe Director of the Department of Housing and Community Developmentto prepare an annual report to the Governor and the General Assemblydescribing the efforts of the Department, and other institutionsof the Commonwealth responsible for carrying out housing policy,to reduce administrative and regulatory burdens on obtaining andusing federal and state housing funds.
Worker classification; penalties. Prohibits acontractor from classifying an individual who performs delivery services orconstruction labor services for the contractor as the contractor's independentcontractor if he is an employee of the contractor. An individual performingsuch services for a contractor shall be presumed to be an employee of thecontractor unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Laborand Industry that (i) the individual has been and will continue to be free fromcontrol or direction over the performance of the services performed by theindividual for wages, both under his contract of service and in fact; (ii) theservices are either outside the usual course of the business for which suchservices are performed or such services are performed outside of all the placesof business of the enterprise for which such services are performed; and (iii)such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation,profession, or business. Other factors applicable to such a determination inthe case of an individual performing construction labor services are whetherthe individual maintained a workplace that is subject to inspection pursuant tooccupational safety and health laws and whether the individual has beenassigned an experience rating tax rate for purposes of unemploymentcompensation. Violators are subject to civil penalties and debarment frompublic contracts. The measure requires a contractor entering into a publiccontract to provide an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, attesting that (a)each individual performing delivery services or construction labor services isproperly classified; (b) the contractor has completed a federal I-9 immigrationform and has such form on file for each employee; (c) the contractor hascomplied with requirements for participation with the E-verify program for eachemployee; (d) the contractor has no reasonable basis to believe that anyindividual performing services for such contractor is an undocumented worker;and (e) the contractor is not barred from contracting with the public body.