Del. Kelly Fowler

Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund and Program.Establishes the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund and requires theDepartment of Criminal Justice Services to establish the Law-Enforcement OfficerTuition Grant Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund on acompetitive basis to local law-enforcement agencies to cover the cost oftuition, books, and mandatory fees at a public institution of higher educationfor up to two years for any law-enforcement officer employed by such agency whoenters into an agreement to continue to serve as a law-enforcement officer forsuch agency upon completion of his course of study for a period at least aslong as the length of the course of study undertaken and paid for pursuant tothe Program. The Fund and Program replace a similar provision of current lawwhereby the Department of Criminal Justice Services enters into contracts tomake payments directly to certain public and private institutions of highereducation to cover the cost of tuition, books, and mandatory fees for state andlocal law-enforcement officers who enroll in a program of study relating totheir law-enforcement duties. The bill requires the Department of CriminalJustice Services to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee onAppropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee onFinance, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later thanSeptember 1, 2024, on the funding, utilization, and effectiveness of the Fundand Program. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2025.

Commission to Investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach Mass Shooting; report. Establishes an independent commission to investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting (the Commission). The Commission consists of 21 members appointed as follows: five members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, five members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and 10 members appointed by the Governor. The Superintendent of State Police serves ex officio as a nonvoting member. The Commission is charged with investigating the underlying motive for the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach mass shooting, investigating the gunman's entire prior employment history with the City of Virginia Beach and his interactions with coworkers and supervisors, determining how the gunman was able to carry out his actions, identifying any obstacles confronted by first responders, identifying and examining the security procedures and protocols in place immediately prior to the shootings, examining the post-shooting communications between law enforcement and families of the victims, and developing recommendations regarding improvements that can be made in the Commonwealth's laws, policies, procedures, systems, and institutions, as well as those of other governmental agencies and private providers.The Office of the State Inspector General or such other person or entity under the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security staffs the Commission, as designated by the Governor. The expenses of the Commission are paid from existing appropriations to the Office of the State Inspector General or any agency under the Secretary, as determined by the Governor. The Commission has a sunset date of November 1, 2022.

New media and technology innovation income tax credit. Establishes a new media and technology innovation income tax credit, starting with taxable year 2020, which is a nonrefundable tax credit for expenses related to producing in Virginia commercial advertisements, digital interactive media productions, and episodic television series. The bill allows a company to submit a single application for a project covering multiple tax years and requires such company to make available a third-party audit of its project-related expenses.The bill provides that the Department of Taxation and the Virginia Film Office shall review applications for credits and that the MEI (Major Employment and Investment) Project Approval Commission shall review applications for tax credits and recommend whether to endorse them; however, its recommendation shall not be binding on the determination of the Department and the Virginia Film Office on whether to approve the application.The credit equals 15 percent of expenses or 20 percent for productions in economically distressed areas of Virginia. Expenses eligible for the credit exclude purchases that were exempt from sales tax unless such purchases were made at least one year prior to such taxpayer entering into an agreement with the Virginia Film Office related to the tax credit. Productions may receive additional credits of up to 20 percent of (i) production costs over $250,000 and (ii) compensation paid to Virginia residents who are first-time actors or production crew members.The bill provides that credits may be carried over to subsequent taxable years for up to 10 years and transferred to another party upon payment to the Department of a fee of two percent. The bill authorizes the Governor to use funds from any source to buy back credits from credit holders, provided that the Governor pays at least 80 percent of their value.

Day of Women. Recognizes January 22 of each year as the Day of Women in Virginia and provides that January 22 of each year no longer be known as the Day of Tears in Virginia.

Emergency custody and temporary detentionorders; execution. Clarifies the meaning of the term "execute"for purposes of emergency custody and temporary detention orders,clarifies the scope of the medical evaluation of treatment that maybe required by a facility of temporary detention, and provides thatin cases in which an emergency custody or temporary detention orderis not executed because of the time necessary to provide requiredmedical evaluation and care, the facility shall notify the communityservices board.

Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund; grant program.Changes the Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund (the Fund) from alending program to a grant program. The bill directs the Fund to grant money to localities to enable them to offer cost-sharing programsto help residents and businesses that are subject to recurrent flooding.

Constitutional offices; candidates to be nominatedby petition. Requires candidates for constitutional offices tobe nominated only by the petition process provided for independentcandidates.

Study; Albemarle-Pamlico Watershed; report.Requests the Department of Environmental Quality to study the Albemarle-Pamlico Watershed in Virginia, including land use, stormwater, groundwater,storm information, and flora and fauna.

Study; Department of Rail and Public Transportation; Commonwealth Corridor passenger rail service; report. Requeststhe Department of Rail and Public Transportation to study the feasibilityof an east-west Commonwealth Corridor passenger rail service connectingHampton Roads, Richmond, and the New River Valley.

Paid family and medical leave program. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administera paid family and medical leave program with benefits beginning January 1, 2023. Under the program, benefits are paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for the program isprovided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginningin 2022. The amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee'saverage weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weeklywage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflectchanges in the statewide average weekly wage. The measure caps theduration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The billprovides self-employed individuals the option of participating inthe program.