Del. Don Scott

Commending Costella B. Williams.

Perinatal health care providers; implicit biastraining. Requires the Board of Health to amend its regulationsto require that each hospital develop and implement policies requiringall perinatal health care providers to complete an in-person andinteractive training on implicit bias.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; exclusions to application of chapter; local administrative investigations; disclosure. Adds email addresses as information that, when furnished in confidence to the local governing body, with respect to complainants in local investigations are exempt from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The bill expands the applicability of the exemption to zoning enforcement complaints for all such complaints, not just individual enforcement complaints. The bill also adds local public health and safety, nuisance, and waste and recycling complaints to the list of complainants whose personal information is exempt from disclosure.

Toll Relief Program; eligibility. Requires the Department of Transportation to expand eligibility for the TollRelief Program for the tolls on the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels toresidents of the Cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk with an incomeof $45,000 or less per year. The bill requires that all eligibleresidents receive the same toll relief regardless of income level.The bill provides that funding for the additional toll relief shallbe paid by the Commonwealth from the federal American Rescue PlanAct (ARPA), as possible, and any costs not covered by the ARPA shallbe the responsibility of the Commonwealth. The bill expires on January1, 2025.

Income tax; motion picture production tax credit. Removes the sunset for the motion picture production tax credit,which currently is set to expire after taxable year 2026. The billincreases the aggregate limit on credits from $6.5 million to $15million starting with fiscal year 2021 and also provides that creditsallocated for episodic content, gaming, virtual reality, and augmentedreality productions shall not count against the aggregate limit.The bill provides that if the amount of credits actually claimedis less than the aggregate limit for that year, the unclaimed remaindershall be added to the limit for the next year. The bill authorizescredits to be issued for multiyear periods. Under current law, ifproduction continues for more than one year, the taxpayer must filea separate application for each year.

Commending the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey V. Guns.

Electronic toll collection device; notifications. Requires the Department of Transportation to offer holders of an E-ZPass the option to receive an electronic notification when such device passes through an electronic toll collection system. The bill requires that a customer have the option to opt in and out of such notifications, subject to verification of account privileges, online, by phone, and via the E-ZPass mobile application.

Probation violations; periods of probation andsuspension; technical violations. Provides that the court mayfix the period of probation and the period of suspension for up tothe statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originallyhave been sentenced to be imposed for any offense; however, the courtmay fix the period of probation or suspension for up to two yearsfor an offense punishable as a Class 1 or Class 2 misdemeanor ifthe sentence does not include any active period of incarceration.Currently, the limitation on periods of probation and periods ofsuspension is up to the statutory maximum period of imprisonmentfor any offense. The bill also specifies that a probationer's failureto maintain contact with the probation officer without reasonable excuse or justification whereby his whereabouts are no longer knownto the probation officer shall not be treated as a technical violation;accordingly, if the court finds the basis of a violation is a probationer'sfailure to maintain such contact without reasonable excuse or justification,then the court is not subject to the limitations on sentencing andmay revoke the suspension and impose or resuspend any or all of theperiod previously suspended.

Earned sentence credits. Provides that sentence credits may be earned by any person committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections (the Department), regardless of whether the person is confined in a state or local correctional facility. The bill allows inmates to earn more than 4.5 sentence credits for each 30 days served on a sentence for a conviction of robbery or carjacking, provided that the inmate did not use a weapon or threaten or harm another person during the commission of the offense. The bill allows inmates to earn enhanced sentence credits for consecutive sentences served after the completion of any offense that would otherwise limit the inmate to earning 4.5 sentence credits for each 30 days served. The bill allows an inmate to earn Level I sentence credits if, provided certain other requirements are met, the inmate had no more than one minor correctional infraction and no serious correctional infractions within the previous 12 months. The bill directs the Department to establish a program that allows victims to advocate on behalf of an inmate for reclassification of the inmate's sentence credits. The bill provides that the earned sentence credit provisions of § 53.1-202.3 of the Code of Virginia, which would become effective on July 1, 2022, shall apply retroactively to the entire sentence of any person who is committed to the custody of the Department and is participating in the earned sentence credit program on July 1, 2022. The bill requires the Department, among other things, to provide notice to inmates regarding sentence credit adjustments and an adjusted release date by July 1, 2022, and establish a process through which inmates may appeal the Department's determinations regarding sentence credit adjustments.

Commending George Mason University.