Del. Mark L. Cole

Veterans and active duty members of the ArmedForces; teachers; credit for service. Requires each local schoolboard to give any veteran or active duty member of any of the ArmedForces of the United States or the Commonwealth who it employs asa teacher in the local school division credit for any time servedin any such forces in determining such teacher's step on the localschool division's teacher salary scale.

Children's Services Act; special educationprograms. Expands eligibility for services under the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private schoolspecial education program to a public school special education programestablished and funded jointly by a local governing body and schooldivision located within Planning District 16 for the purpose of providingspecial education and related services when (i) the public schoolspecial education program is able to provide services comparableto those of an approved private school special education program and (ii) the student would require placement in an approved privateschool special education program but for the availability of thepublic school special education program.

Celebrating the life of Renee Marie Kelahan.

Commending the Lake Taylor High School footballteam.

Commending the Maury High School football team.

Study; JLARC; feasibility of adjusting the compositeindex of local ability to pay; report. Requires the Joint LegislativeAudit and Review Commission to study the feasibility of adjustingthe composite index of local ability to pay by (i) reviewing currentstatutory, constitutional, and budgetary provisions governing thecalculation of Standards of Quality costs and funding; (ii) examiningthe components of the composite index of local ability to pay; (iii)evaluating other states' public school funding formulas; (iv) hearinglocal concerns and seeking input from various state and national experts, as applicable; and (v) determining the feasibility of reducingthe local share under the Local Composite Index (LCI) in schooldivisions in which the locality is determined to have above-averagefiscal stress or high fiscal stress by the Virginia Commission onLocal Government in its most recent "Report on the Comparative RevenueCapacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia Countiesand Cities."

Expungement of certain offenses. Allowsa person to petition for expungement of a deferred disposition dismissalfor underage alcohol possession or using a false ID to obtain alcoholwhen the offense occurred prior to the person's twenty-first birthday, all court costs and fines and orders of restitution have been satisfied, and the person seeking the expungement is at least 21 years of ageand has no other alcohol-related convictions. The bill provides thatany person seeking expungement of an alcohol-related charge shallbe assessed a $150 fee, which shall be paid into the state treasuryand credited to the Department of State Police.

Petition for vacatur and expungement of convictionsand police and court records of victims of human trafficking.Allows any person who was a victim of human trafficking at the timeof an offense that led to a criminal charge or conviction of certaincrimes to petition the court to vacate such conviction and expungethe police and court records related to such conviction or to expungethe police and court records related to such charge. The bill provides that there is a rebuttable presumption that a person's participationin an offense was a result of having been a victim of human traffickingif there is official documentation, defined in the bill, of the petitioner'sstatus as a victim of human trafficking at the time of the offense.

Expungement of police and court records; pardons. Allows a person to petition for the expungement of the police andcourt records relating to such person's conviction if he has beengranted a simple pardon for the crime. Under current law, policeand court records relating to convictions are only expunged if aperson received an absolute pardon for a crime he did not commit.

Expungement of police and court records.Allows a person convicted of certain offenses, or charged with such offenses which charges were deferred and dismissed, who was under21 years of age at the time of the offense, and who has successfullycompleted all terms of probation to file a petition for expungementafter at least seven years have passed since (i) the date of dismissalof the charge; (ii) the date of conviction, if no active sentenceof incarceration was imposed; or (iii) the date of completion ofan active sentence of incarceration, if an active term of incarcerationwas imposed as a result of the conviction. Any conviction that isexpunged will be considered a prior conviction for purposes of prosecutionof any subsequent offense for which the prior conviction statutorilyenhances punishment. Convictions for violent felony offenses andoffenses for which registration with the Sex Offender and CrimesAgainst Minors Registry is required are not eligible for expungementunder the bill.