Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2028. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2027. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 120 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.
Del. Jeion Ward
Sponsored bills
Department of Taxation; accounts receivable; collection. Directs the Department of Taxation, Department of Accounts, and Office of the Attorney General to analyze the pervasiveness of outstanding accounts receivable due to the Commonwealth and collection efforts related to such receivables. The Department of Taxation shall report on the findings and recommendations of such analysis and submit such report to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations and House Committee on Appropriations by November 1, 2025.
Minimum wage. Increases the minimum wage incrementally to $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2027. The bill codifies the adjusted state hourly minimum wage of $12.41 per hour that is effective January 1, 2025, and increases the minimum wage to $13.50 per hour effective January 1, 2026, and to $15.00 per hour effective January 1, 2027. The bill requires the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to establish an adjusted state hourly minimum wage by October 1, 2027.
Importation, sale, manufacture, etc., of assault firearms and certain ammunition feeding devices prohibited; penalties. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, or transfers an assault firearm, as that term is defined in the bill with some exceptions, and prohibits a person who has been convicted of such violation from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm for a period of three years from the date of conviction. The bill provides that an assault firearm does not include any firearm that is an antique firearm, has been rendered permanently inoperable, is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action, or was manufactured before July 1, 2025. The bill also prohibits the sale of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill provides that any person who willfully and intentionally (i) sells an assault firearm to another person or (ii) purchases an assault firearm from another person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and that any person who imports, sells, barters, or transfers a large capacity ammunition feeding device is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person younger than 21 years of age to import, sell, manufacture, purchase, possess, transport, or transfer an assault firearm regardless of the date of manufacture of such assault firearm with some exceptions. This bill is identical to SB 1181.
Collective bargaining by public employees; exclusive bargaining representatives. Repeals the existing prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees. The bill creates the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriate bargaining units and provide for certification and decertification elections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employees and local government employees. The bill requires public employers and employee organizations that are exclusive bargaining representatives to meet at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The bill repeals a provision that declares that, in any procedure providing for the designation, selection, or authorization of a labor organization to represent employees, the right of an individual employee to vote by secret ballot is a fundamental right that shall be guaranteed from infringement. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 917.
School boards; prohibition against hiring or contracting for the services of certain individuals; certain criminal convictions. Prohibits each school board from employing or contracting for the services of any individual who has been convicted of any felony crime of violence as defined in the bill or any offense involving a child. Current law prohibits each school board from employing or contracting for the services of any individual who has been convicted of any violent felony set forth in a certain statutory definition of "barrier crime" or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child, or the solicitation of any such offense.
Life insurance; health insurance; unfair discrimination; pre-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus. Prohibits any person from refusing to insure, refusing to continue to insure, or limiting the amount or extent of life insurance or accident and sickness insurance coverage available to an individual or charge an individual a different rate for the same coverage based solely on the status of such individual as having received pre-exposure prophylaxis for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus.
Workplace violence policy required for certain employers; civil penalty. Requires any employer of 100 or more employees to develop, implement, and maintain a workplace violence policy no later than January 1, 2027. The bill includes requirements for such a policy, such as procedures and methods for employee reporting of incidents and post-incident investigations. Employers subject to the bill are required to maintain documentation of workplace violence incidents for not less than five years. An employer that violates the provisions of the bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. The bill prohibits retaliation from an employer on the basis of reporting a workplace violence incident and provides that any employee who makes a report of workplace violence shall be immune from civil liability. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Public school employees; suspension; conditions for continued receipt of salary. Clarifies that no school board employee shall be suspended without notice and, if applicable, an opportunity to be heard and that any individual who is so suspended, regardless of the length of such suspension, shall continue to receive his then applicable salary unless and until the school board, after a hearing, determines otherwise.
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-2499.8, 3.2-4113, 4.1-352, 4.1-600, 4.1-601, 4.1-603, 4.1-604, 4.1-606, 4.1-607, 4.1-611, 4.1-614, 4.1-621, 4.1-1100, 4.1-1101, 4.1-1121, 4.1-1500, 4.1-1501, 4.1-1502, 4.1-1601, 4.1-1604, 5.1-13, 9.1-1101, 16.1-69.40:1, 16.1-260, 16.1-273, 16.1-278.9, 18.2-46.1, 18.2-247, 18.2-248, 18.2-248.01, 18.2-251, 18.2-251.03, 18.2-251.1:1, 18.2-251.1:2, 18.2-251.1:3, 18.2-252, 18.2-254, 18.2-255, 18.2-255.1, 18.2-255.2, 18.2-258, 18.2-258.02, 18.2-258.1, 18.2-265.1, 18.2-265.2, 18.2-265.3, 18.2-287.2, 18.2-308.012, 18.2-308.4, 18.2-460, 18.2-474.1, 19.2-66, 19.2-81, 19.2-81.1, 19.2-83.1, 19.2-188.1, 19.2-303.01, 19.2-386.22 through 19.2-386.25, 19.2-389, 19.2-389.3, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 19.2-392.02, 19.2-392.6, 22.1-206, 22.1-277.08, 23.1-1301, 46.2-105.2, 46.2-347, 48-17.1, 53.1-231.2, 54.1-2903, 58.1-301, and 59.1-200, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 6 of Title 4.1 sections numbered 4.1-629, 4.1-630, and 4.1-631, by adding in Title 4.1 chapters numbered 7 through 10, consisting of sections numbered 4.1-700 through 4.1-1008, by adding sections numbered 4.1-1102 through 4.1-1105, 4.1-1106, 4.1-1113, 4.1-1114, 4.1-1115, 4.1-1117, 4.1-1118, and 4.1-1119, by adding in Title 4.1 a chapter numbered 12, consisting of sections numbered 4.1-1200 through 4.1-1206, by adding in Chapter 13 of Title 4.1 sections numbered 4.1-1300, 4.1-1301, and 4.1-1303 through 4.1-1309, by adding in Chapter 14 of Title 4.1 sections numbered 4.1-1403 through 4.1-1406, by adding in Article 2 of Chapter 1 of Title 6.2 a section numbered 6.2-108, and by adding in Chapter 44 of Title 54.1 a section numbered 54.1-4426; and to repeal §§ 4.1-1101.1, 4.1-1105.1, 18.2-248.1, and 18.2-251.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to cannabis control; retail market; penalties.