Rep. Joseph C. Lindsey

Expungement of certain charges and convictions.Allows a person to petition for expungement of convictions and deferreddisposition dismissals for marijuana possession, underage alcoholpossession, and using a false ID to obtain alcohol when the offenseoccurred prior to the person's twenty-first birthday; all court costs,fines, and restitution have been satisfied; and five years have elapsedsince the date of completion of all terms of sentencing and probation.

Expungement of certain charges and convictions.Allows a person to petition for expungement of convictions and deferreddisposition dismissals for simple larceny or concealment of goodsor merchandise when (i) the goods or merchandise consisted of foodor medically necessary supplies, (ii) the offense occurred priorto the person's twenty-first birthday, and (iii) five years havepassed since the date of completion of all terms of sentencing andprobation.

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; misdemeanor and nonviolent felony convictions. Allows a person convicted of a misdemeanor or nonviolent felony to file a petition requesting expungement of the police and court records relating to the conviction if such person has (i) been free from any term of incarceration, probation, and postrelease supervision imposed as a result of such conviction for at least eight years; (ii) no prior or subsequent convictions other than traffic infractions; and (iii) no pending criminal proceeding.

Voter registration; close of registration records. Reduces the period of time that registration records must be closedbefore a general or primary election from 21 days to 13 days. The bill adjusts other deadlines to reflect this change. The period oftime that the registration records must be closed before a specialelection remains the same.

Employment; disclosure of terms. Requires every employer of employees who are 18 years of age or older who work for daily wages or are employed to work on a project for a total of 10 days or less, with some exceptions specified in the measure, to furnish to such employees, at the time of the employee's hiring, a written disclosure of information regarding the terms of employment, including the name and address of the employer, the rate of pay and basis thereof, and the regular payday. The measure also requires employers to notify its employees in writing of any changes to this information.

City of Norfolk; financing of an arena and facility. Grants the City of Norfolk certain powers relating to construction of an arena and facility. Among those powers is the authority to (i) issue bonds to construct the arena and facility, (ii) receive state sales and use tax revenue that is attributable to the arena and facility, and (iii) use such revenue to repay such bonds. The bill provides that the City of Norfolk's entitlement to state sales and use tax revenue will expire on the earliest of (a) the maturity date of any bonds it issues related to constructing the arena and facility, (b) the expiration date of its contractual obligations related to the arena or facility, or (c) July 1, 2055. The powers granted by the bill to the City of Norfolk are similar to those granted to the City of Virginia Beach with respect to a sports or entertainment project.

Parole; exception to limitation on the applicationof parole statutes. Provides that an incarcerated person is eligiblefor parole if (i) such person was sentenced by a jury prior to thedate of the Supreme Court of Virginia decision in Fishback v.Commonwealth, 260 Va. 104 (June 9, 2000), in which the Courtheld that a jury should be instructed on the fact that parole hasbeen abolished, for a noncapital felony committed on or after theabolition of parole went into effect (on January 1, 1995) and (ii)the jury was not instructed on the abolition of parole in the Commonwealth.

Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act; fund. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to incorporate into regulations previously adopted by the State Air Pollution Control Board certain provisions establishing a carbon dioxide cap and trade program to reduce emissions released by electric generation facilities. Such provisions are required to comply with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative model rule. The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to establish, implement, and manage an auction program to sell allowances into a market-based trading program. The bill requires revenues from the sale of carbon allowances, to the extent permitted by Article X, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia, to be deposited in an interest-bearing account and to be distributed without further appropriation (i) to the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; (ii) to the Department of Housing and Community Development for low-income energy efficiency programs; (iii) for administrative expenses; and (iv) to the Department of Housing and Community Development in partnership with the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to administer and implement low-income energy efficiency programs. The bill continues the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund as the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund for the purpose of creating a low-interest loan program to help inland and coastal communities that are subject to recurrent or repetitive flooding. The bill authorizes the Authority to pledge the assets of the Fund as security for any bonds issued to finance flood prevention or protection projects and directs the Authority to manage the Fund in accordance with a memorandum of agreement with the Department. The bill also authorizes any locality using moneys in the Fund to provide a loan for a project in a low-income geographic area to forgive the principal of such loan, with the obligation of the locality to repay the loan remaining in effect. The bill provides that if the Governor seeks to include the Commonwealth as a full participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the regulations shall require that certain purchasers be responsible for obtaining allowances under certain agreements. The measure authorizes the costs of allowances to be recovered by Phase I and Phase II Utilities from ratepayers. This bill incorporates HB 20 and HB 1152 and is identical to SB 1027.

Standards and criteria for congressional and state legislative districts. Provides criteria by which congressional and state legislative districts are to be drawn. Such criteria include equal population requirements, with a deviation of no more than five percent permitted for state legislative districts; compliance with laws and judicial decisions relating to racial and ethnic fairness; preservation of communities of interest, which are defined to mean a neighborhood or any geographically defined group of people living in an area who share similar social, cultural, and economic interests; and compactness and contiguity. The bill also includes provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, related to redistricting, that prohibit the drawing of districts in ways that improperly dilute minority populations' voting power. The bill prohibits maps of districts, when considered on a statewide basis, from unduly favoring or disfavoring any political party. The bill further provides for the preparation and use of adjusted population data for redistricting and reapportionment purposes to reflect the reallocation of persons incarcerated in federal, state, and local correctional facilities. Persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was in the Commonwealth are to be counted at that address and persons incarcerated in such a facility whose address at the time of incarceration was outside of the Commonwealth or cannot be determined are to be counted at the facility. This bill is identical to SB 717.