Statute of limitations to collect medical debt.Provides that the statute of limitations for an action on any contract,written or unwritten, to collect medical debt, including actionsbrought by the Commonwealth, is three years.
School personnel; school nurses. Excludesschool nurse positions from requirements for student support positionsand instead requires each local school board to employ at least onefull-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school,middle school, and high school in the local school division. Thebill also requires the Department of Education to establish and administera waiver process for local school boards for which the requirementsof the bill create an undue hardship.
Expressing the censure of the Senate. Expressesthe censure of the Senate of Virginia for Senator Amanda F. Chase.
Presidential electors; National Popular VoteCompact. Enters Virginia into an interstate compact known asthe Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by NationalPopular Vote. Article II of the Constitution of the United Statesgives the states exclusive and plenary authority to decide the mannerof awarding their electoral votes. Under the compact, Virginia agreesto award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receivesthe most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessinga majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A statemay withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring withinsix months of the end of a President's term shall not become effectiveuntil a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the nextterm.
Employment health and safety standards; heatillness prevention. Requires the Safety and Health Codes Boardto adopt regulations establishing standards designed to protect employeesfrom heat illness, defined in the bill. The measure authorizes anemployee to bring an action based on a violation of such standardsin which injunctive relief and monetary damages may be sought.
Commending O. R. Singleton, Jr.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.
Hate crimes; associational relationships; penalty.Redefines the categories of victims whose intentional selection fora hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminalpenalty for the offense to include a person's actual or perceivedrace, color, ethnicity, religious conviction, national origin, gender,sex, disability, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientationor a person's actual or perceived association with another personor group of a certain actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity,religious conviction, national origin, gender, sex, disability, genderidentity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. The bill addsthese categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hatecrime involves malicious wounding and makes such crime punishableby a term of imprisonment of not less than five years, nor more than40 years. The bill also redefines these categories for the purposesof reporting hate crimes to the central repository of informationmaintained by the Virginia State Police, for civil actions to recoverdamages for vandalism, and for interactive computer service liability.
Virginia Equal Pay Act; civil penalties. Prohibits public and private employers from discriminating between employees on the basis of membership in a protected class in the payment of wages or other compensation, including benefits, by paying wages or other compensation to employees who are members of a protected class at a rate less than the rate at which it pays wages or other compensation to employees who are not members of the protected class for substantially similar work. The measure also prohibits an employer from discriminating between employees by providing less favorable employment opportunities on the basis of membership in a protected class, limiting an employee's right to discuss wages, relying on the wage history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment or determining the wages that the prospective employee is to be paid by the employer upon hire, or taking certain retaliatory actions against an employee. The measure also establishes criteria for when wage differentials between employees are permitted, but requires an employer to (i) provide a prospective employee with the wage range for the position for which the prospective employee is applying upon request or prior to inquiring about the prospective employee's wage expectations or providing an offer of compensation and (ii) maintain records of the wages and wage rates, job classifications, and other terms and conditions of employment for a period of three years. The measure gives an employee who is the subject of a violation a right of action to recover, for certain violations, the greater of compensatory damages or $10,000, liquidated damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees. Violations are also subject to civil penalties.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.
