Del. Kelly Fowler

Virginia Human Rights Act; discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of persons related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Requires employers, defined in the bill, to make reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of a person related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, if such accommodation is necessary to assist such person in performing a particular job, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. The bill also prohibits employers from taking any adverse action against an employee who requests or uses a reasonable accommodation and from denying employment or promotion opportunities to an otherwise qualified applicant or employee because such employer will be required to make reasonable accommodation to the applicant or employee. The bill creates a cause of action against any employer who denies any of the rights afforded by the bill and permits the court or jury to award compensatory damages, back pay, and other equitable relief. The bill contains technical amendments and is identical to SB 712.

Drinking water supplies; maximum contaminant levels. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations establishing maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in public drinking water systems for (i) perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonate, and for such other perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances as the Board deems necessary; (ii) chromium-6; and (iii) 1,4-dioxane. The bill requires such MCLs to be protective of public health, including the health of vulnerable subpopulations, and to be no higher than any MCL or health advisory adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the same contaminant. The bill directs the Department of Health to report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions on the status of research related to MCLs by November 1, 2020, and submit a final report by October 1, 2021, detailing the MCL regulations established by the Department of Health. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.

Statewide prioritization process; primary evacuation routes. Requires the Office of Intermodal Planning to include in the results of screening candidate projects in the Six-Year Improvement Program whether such projects are located on a primary evacuation route.

Alcoholic beverage control; winery license privileges. Allows winery licensees to sell at retail the brands of wine thatthe winery owns (i) at premises described in the winery license foron-premises consumption or in closed containers for off-premisesconsumption or (ii) in approved areas at four special events peryear for on-premises consumption or in closed containers for off-premisesconsumption, provided that not less than 20 percent of the volumeof wine sold for on-premises consumption in any calendar year ismanufactured on the licensed premises.

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.

Coal ash ponds; well monitoring program; drinking water well testing. Requires each utility, defined in the bill as the owner or operator of a coal ash pond, to commission an independent well water test on behalf of the owner of any well located within 1.5 miles of such coal ash pond by January 1, 2021, and requires such test to be conducted once per year during each of the five years following the approval of the closure of the coal ash pond and once every five years thereafter. The bill provides that if any test exceeds groundwater quality standards for constituents associated with coal ash, the Virginia Waste Management Board shall instruct the utility to provide alternative water supplies to the owner of the well. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to consider the results of the tests in its permitting, monitoring, or enforcement proceedings.

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; required disclosures for buyer to beware; impounding structures or dams. Directs the Real Estate Board to include in the residential property disclosure statement provided on its website a disclosure relating to the condition or regulatory status of any impounding structure or dam on the owner's property or under the ownership of a common interest community that the owner of the property is required to join. This bill is identical to SB 343.

Worker cooperatives. Establishes worker cooperatives as a category of cooperative associations. A worker cooperative is a stock corporation that has elected to be governed by provisions established by this measure, which include (i) conducting its business primarily for the mutual benefit of its members, (ii) allowing only current and retired employees to be members, (iii) limiting voting rights to current employees, (iv) providing that each employee is entitled to one vote, (v) prohibiting any person from owning more than one membership share, (vi) requiring at least two-thirds of employees to own membership shares, and (vii) requiring that net earnings be paid or credited to members in accordance with the ratio that each member's amount of work performed during a period bears to the total amount of work performed by all members during that period.

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; Real Estate Board; disclosure statement. Requires the residential property disclosure statement form developed by the Real Estate Board and maintained on its website to include a statement signed by the parties acknowledging that the purchaser has been provided a copy of the residential property disclosure statement. Currently, such form only requires an acknowledgment that the purchaser has been advised to review the residential property disclosure statement. The bill also provides that the owner shall provide any disclosures required by the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act separate from other disclosures.

Financing clean energy projects. Authorizesthe Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to sponsor a statewideclean energy financing program. The Department shall engage a privateentity through a competitive selection process to develop and administerthe program.