Del. Michael P. Mullin

Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans; report; sunset. Creates the Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans to (i) study the current impact and long-term inequities of slavery and the subsequent state-sanctioned de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination practiced against African Americans and (ii) make recommendations to the General Assembly on appropriate remedies. The bill requires the Commission to annually submit a report on its interim activity and work to the Governor and the General Assembly. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2022.

Office of the Children's Ombudsman established. Establishes the Office of the Children's Ombudsman as a means of effecting changes in policy, procedure, and legislation; educating the public; investigating and reviewing actions of the State Department of Social Services, local departments of social services, child-placing agencies, or child-caring institutions; and monitoring and ensuring compliance with relevant statutes, rules, and policies pertaining to children's protective services and the placement, supervision, treatment, and improvement of delivery of care to children in foster care and adoptive homes. The Office of the Children's Ombudsman is headed by the Children's Ombudsman, who is appointed for a term of four years by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Firearm transfers; criminal history record information checks; penalty. Requires a background check for any firearm transfer and directs the Department of State Police (the Department) to establish a process for transferors to obtain such a check from licensed firearms dealers. A transferor who sells a firearm to another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that a transferee who receives a firearm from another person without obtaining the required background check is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill exempts transfers (i) between immediate family members; (ii) that occur by operation of law; (iii) by the executor or administrator of an estate or by the trustee of a testamentary trust; (iv) at firearms shows in accordance with law; (v) that are part of a buy-back or give-back program; (vi) of antique firearms; (vii) that occur at a shooting range, shooting gallery, or any other area designed for the purpose of target shooting, for use during target practice, a firearms safety or training course or class, a shooting competition, or any similar lawful activity; or (viii) that are temporary transfers that (a) occur within the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm or (b) are necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The bill removes the provision that makes background checks of prospective purchasers or transferees at firearms shows voluntary. The bill also provides that the Department shall have three business days to complete a criminal history record information check before a firearm may be transferred. The bill establishes an appropriation for the fiscal impact of the bill and authorizes the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget to allocate such appropriation among the agencies and programs impacted by the bill. This bill incorporates HB 355.

Deferred dispositions; property crimes; larceny and receiving stolen goods. Provides that a court, upon such plea if the facts found by the court would justify a finding of guilt, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the accused, may defer further proceedings and place him on probation subject to terms and conditions for a first offense misdemeanor larceny provided such person has not previously been convicted of any felony or had a prior deferred disposition for the same offense. The bill also provides that deferred disposition will no longer be allowed for peeping crimes. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Criminal Justice Conference. This bill incorporates HB 1592 and is identical to SB 286.

Vital records; definitions.Expands the definitionof "dead body," for the purposes of the administration of vital recordsand the prohibition against disposal or concealment, beyond the recently deceased to include human bodies or body parts in any state of decomposition.

Multi-jurisdiction grand jury investigations. Provides that a multi-jurisdiction grand jury may investigate any condition that involves or tends to promote criminal violations of any law of the Commonwealth. Under current law, the jurisdiction of a multi-jurisdiction grand jury is limited to certain enumerated criminal offenses.

Electric utilities; retail competition. Shortens from five years to three years the period that a customer who switches from an investor-owned electric utility to a licensed competing supplier is barred from returning as a customer of the utility. The measure provides that if a single person purchases electric energy from a licensed supplier and such electric energy is composed of a percentage of renewable energy equal to or greater than the percentages of the renewable energy portfolio standard program goals as of January 1, 2020, and no less than the percentage of renewable energy that the licensed supplier is required to provide pursuant to any renewable energy portfolio standard that is subsequently established, such person will constitute a single retail customer, notwithstanding that service is provided to noncontiguous sites. Under current law, for the purposes of purchasing energy from a licensed competing supplier, noncontiguous sites are considered individual retail customers and cannot be aggregated to meet the energy demand threshold regardless of common ownership or control. The measure provides that for cooperative customers the lockout period remains five years and noncontiguous sites are still considered individual retail customers. The measure also allows individual retail customers of an electric utility to purchase electric energy provided 100 percent from renewable energy from any licensed supplier. The measure eliminates the condition that permits such purchases only if the electric utility serving the applicable exclusive service territory does not offer a tariff for 100 percent renewable energy. Finally, the measure directs the State Corporation Commission to update its consumer protection regulations relating to the availability of service through licensed suppliers.

Division of Offshore Wind; established. Establishes the Division of Offshore Wind in the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy and gives it the following powers and duties: (i) to identify specific measures that will facilitate the establishment of the Hampton Roads region as a wind industry hub for offshore wind generation projects in state and federal waters off the United States coast; (ii) to coordinate state agencies' activities related to offshore wind; (iii) to develop and implement a stakeholder engagement strategy that identifies key groups, sets forth outreach objectives, and outlines a timeline for outreach and engagement; (iv) to identify regulatory and other barriers to the deployment of offshore wind and attraction of offshore wind supply chain businesses; and (v) to provide staff support for the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority and facilitate fulfillment of the Authority's purpose and duties.

Public institutions of higher education; eligibility for in-state tuition. Provides that any student is eligible for in-state tuition who (i) attended high school for at least two years in the Commonwealth and either (a) graduated on or after July 1, 2008, from a public or private high school or program of home instruction in the Commonwealth or (b) passed, on or after July 1, 2008, a high school equivalency examination approved by the Secretary of Education; (ii) has submitted evidence that he or, in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least two years prior to the date of registration or enrollment; and (iii) registers as an entering student or is enrolled in a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill states that students who meet these criteria shall be eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, except students with currently valid visas issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(F), 1101(a)(15)(H)(iii), 1101(a)(15)(J) (including only students or trainees), or 1101(a)(15)(M). Information obtained in the implementation of the provisions of the bill shall only be used or disclosed to individuals other than the student for purposes of determining in-state tuition eligibility. This bill incorporates HB 1138 and is identical to SB 935.

Health insurance; nondiscrimination; gender identity or transgender status. Prohibits a health carrier from denying or limiting coverage or imposing additional cost sharing or other limitations or restrictions on coverage, under a health benefit plan for health care services that are ordinarily or exclusively available to covered individuals of one sex, to a transgender individual on the basis of the fact that the individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded is different from the one to which such health services are ordinarily or exclusively available. The measure also prohibits a health carrier from (i) subjecting an individual to discrimination under a health benefit plan on the basis of gender identity or being a transgender individual or (ii) requiring that an individual, as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under a health benefit plan, pay a premium that is greater than the premium for a similarly situated covered person enrolled in the plan on the basis of the covered person's gender identity or being a transgender individual. The measure requires health carriers to assess medical necessity according to nondiscriminatory criteria that are consistent with current medical standards.