Sen. Joe Morrissey

Personal income tax deduction; veterans witha 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability.Provides an additional personal income tax deduction of $930 forveterans who have been rated with a 100 percent service-connected,permanent, and total disability. This deduction is allowed regardlessof whether the taxpayer itemizes deductions for the taxable yearfor federal income tax purposes.

Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit beginning in taxable year 2020 for expenses incurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member, defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activities of daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percent of eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver, but shall not exceed $1,000. In order to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) not receive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expenditures and (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for married persons. Both the caregiver and the eligible family member must be residents of Virginia. The bill requires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claiming the credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forward by the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable year for which the credit was issued. The credit expires beginning with taxable year 2025.

Law enforcement; use of force; data collectionand reporting requirement. Requires state and local law-enforcementofficers to collect data on use of force incidents involving law enforcement and forward the data to the Superintendent of StatePolice, which the Department of State Police shall include in theannual Crime in Virginia report. Such incidents include the following:(i) any fatality to a civilian; (ii) any serious bodily injury toa civilian; or (iii) in the absence of either death or serious injury,a discharged firearm by a state or local law-enforcement officerat or in the direction of a person. The bill specifies information required to be included in such incident report.

Study; JLARC; special education staffing ratios;report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commissionto include in its current review of the effectiveness of Virginia'sspecial education programs an examination of the prescribed and actualratios of students to special education instructional and supportpersonnel in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealthto determine whether any adjustment to such ratios is necessary.

Interest on fines and costs in criminal casesand traffic infractions. Eliminates the accrual of interest onany fine or costs imposed in a criminal case or in a case involvinga traffic infraction. The bill provides that any such fine or coststhat have accrued interest prior to July 1, 2020, shall cease toaccrue interest on July 1, 2020, and such accrued interest may bewaived by any court. A person who owes fines and costs on which interesthas accrued may move any court in which he owes fines and costs to waive the interest that accrued on such fines and costs and shallhave such interest waived for any period of incarceration.

Community services boards; funding formula;population and need. Adds the total population of the area servedby each community services board and the level of need for servicesprovided by a community services board among the population of thearea served to the list of criteria the Department of BehavioralHealth and Developmental Services must consider when allocating state-controlledfunds to community services boards.

Department of Corrections; hepatitis C antiviral medication. Directs the Department of Corrections to issue a Request for Proposals to pharmaceutical manufacturers for the purchase of an unrestricted five-year supply of hepatitis C antiviral medication and any necessary ancillary services at an annual fixed rate. The bill requires the Department to report to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 30, 2020, and by November 30 during each year of the contract, regarding the status of the contract, whether the contract has lowered the Department's hepatitis C treatment costs, and inmate health outcomes resulting from the contract.

Juveniles; trial as adult. Increases from14 years of age to 16 years of age the minimum age at which a juvenilecan be tried as an adult in circuit court for a felony.

Child abuse and neglect; gender identity orsexual orientation. Expands the definition of "abused or neglected child" to include any child whose parents, or other person responsiblefor his care, create or inflict, threaten to create or inflict, orallow to be created or inflicted upon such child a physical or mentalinjury on the basis of the child's gender identity or sexual orientation.

State subsidy of property tax exemptions fordisabled veterans and surviving spouses. Requires the Commonwealthto subsidize local real estate tax relief for disabled veterans andsurviving spouses of members of the armed forces killed in actionwhen more than one percent of a locality's real estate tax base islost due to such state-mandated tax relief programs. The Commonwealthwould subsidize only that portion of tax exempt real estate thatexceeds the one percent threshold. Thebill requires the Auditor of Public Accounts to establish an applicationprocess whereby a locality would demonstrate that more than one percentof its real estate tax base was lost. The Auditor would certify tothe Governor and the General Assembly those localities that wouldbe eligible for a subsidy, and the Governor would include in theBudget Bill a proposed appropriation of the amount of the state subsidyto be provided to localities certified as eligible localities.