Campaign finance; prohibited contributions tocandidates. Prohibits any candidate from soliciting or acceptinga contribution from any public service corporation, as defined in§ 56-1, or any political action committee established and administeredby such a corporation.
General Assembly meetings; streaming and recording. Requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of theSenate to ensure that every (i) subcommittee or committee meetingof a standing committee of the General Assembly, regardless of meetingdate, and (ii) floor session of the House of Delegates or the Senate,including any joint session of the houses, is streamed with closedcaptioning, recorded and archived. The bill defines "stream" and specifiesthat a qualifying meeting is one the date and time of which havebeen scheduled on a public website of any agency of the General Assemblyfor at least one hour prior to the meeting and that takes place inthe State Capitol, the Pocahontas Building, or the General AssemblyBuilding in Richmond. The bill has a delayed effective date of October1, 2020.
Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; Board for Barbers and Cosmetology; hair styling license.Adds hair styling as a profession that is regulated by the Boardfor Barbers and Cosmetology. The bill defines "hair styling" as arranging,dressing, curling, waving, cutting, shaping, singeing, shaving, bleaching,coloring, relaxing, or straightening, or performing similar workupon, human hair, or a wig or hairpiece, by any means, includinghands or mechanical or electrical apparatus or appliances.
Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity; definitions; small business. Redefines "small business" for the purposes of programs for the Department of Small Business and SupplierDiversity and the Virginia Public Procurement Act to mean a businessthat together with its affiliates has both 250 or fewer employeesand average annual gross receipts, less the cost of goods sold bythe business, of $10 million or less averaged over the previous threeyears. Currently for these programs, a business qualifies as a smallbusiness if, together with its affiliates, it has either 250 or feweremployees or average annual gross receipts of $10 million or lessaveraged over the previous three years.
Marijuana; legalization of simple marijuanapossession; penalty. Eliminates criminal penalties for possessionof marijuana for persons who are 21 years of age or older. The bill also decriminalizes marijuana possession for persons under 21 yearsof age and provides a civil penalty of no more than $50 for a firstviolation, $100 for a second violation, and $250 for a third or subsequentviolation. Under current law, a first offense is punishable by amaximum fine of $500 and a maximum jail sentence of 30 days, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also modifies severalother criminal penalties related to marijuana. The bill establishesa regulatory scheme for the regulation of marijuana cultivation facilities,marijuana manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities,and retail marijuana stores by the Board of Agriculture and ConsumerServices. The bill imposes a tax on retail marijuana and retail marijuanaproducts sold by a retail marijuana store at a rate of 9.7 percent(for a total sales tax of 15 percent) and provides that 67 percentof the revenues collected from the tax be deposited into the generalfund and 33 percent of the revenues be deposited into a "Retail MarijuanaEducation Support Fund" to be used solely for purposes of public education.
Marijuana; decriminalization of simple marijuana possession; penalty. Decriminalizes marijuana possession and provides a civil penalty of no more than $25. Under current law, a first offense is punishable by a maximum fine of $500 and a maximum jail sentence of 30 days, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill creates a rebuttable presumption that a person who possesses no more than one-half ounce of marijuana possesses it for personal use and provides that the existing suspended sentence and substance abuse screening provisions apply only to criminal violations or to civil violations by a minor. The bill decreases from a Class 5 felony to a Class 6 felony the penalty for distribution or possession with intent to sell more than one-half ounce but not more than five pounds of marijuana. This bill was incorporated into HB 972.
Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty.Prohibits any person, with certain exceptions, from knowingly releasingor causing to be released any balloon outdoors and provides thatany person convicted of a violation shall be liable for a civil penaltyof not less than $250 or more than $2,500, to be paid into the LitterControl and Recycling Fund. A court may, as an alternative to imposingthe penalty, require the performance of at least 10 hours of communityservice in litter abatement activities. Current law prohibits a personfrom releasing 50 or more balloons within an hour and sets the civilpenalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the LifetimeHunting and Fishing Endowment Fund.
Presumption of death; confessions or convictionsof murder. Provides that any person who is a resident of theCommonwealth shall be presumed dead if such person has disappeared,his body has not been found, he is not known to be alive, and anindividual has confessed to such person's murder under oath or hasbeen convicted of such murder. The bill further exempts such personsfrom the notice and hearing requirements otherwise required for thecourt to enter an order determining that the presumed decedent isin fact dead.
Right to reproductive choice. Provides thatevery individual has a fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptionand that a pregnant person has a fundamental right to choose to carrya pregnancy to term, give birth to a child, or terminate a pregnancy.The bill states that the Commonwealth shall not, in the regulationor provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information, denyor interfere with an individual's fundamental rights, including individualsunder state control or supervision. The bill states that any stateor local official who is charged with violating provisions of thissection shall be subject to an action in federal or state court forinjunctive relief and damages. Such action may be brought by any person or entity that may be aggrieved by such official's actions.
Workers' compensation; occupational diseasepresumption; Department of Motor Vehicles officers. Establishesa presumption that hypertension or heart disease causing the deathor disability of a full-time sworn member of the enforcement divisionof the Department of Motor Vehicles is an occupational disease compensableunder the Workers' Compensation Act.
