Sen. Louise Lucas

Celebrating the life of the Honorable HarryRussell Potts, Jr.

Commending Rita Carter Forrester.

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;landlord obligations; tenant safety. Requires a landlord whoowns more than four rental dwelling units, or more than a 10 percentinterest in more than four rental dwelling units, to require allemployees and applicants for employment to submit to fingerprintingand provide personal descriptive information to be forwarded alongwith the employee's or applicant's fingerprints through the CentralCriminal Records Exchange and the Federal Bureau of Investigationfor the purpose of obtaining criminal history record informationregarding such employee or applicant. The bill allows a landlordto disqualify from employment any person who has been convicted ofor found guilty of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendereto, regardless of adjudication, a violent crime committed in anyjurisdiction. The bill also provides that a landlord must (i) establishwritten policies and procedure for the storage and management of,access to, and return of all keys for each rental dwelling unit;(ii) regulate the secure storage of and access to unissued keys;and (iii) maintain a written log for the issuance and return of allkeys. Finally, pursuant to the bill, all relevant landlords must submit certain information on a quarterly basis to the Department of Housingand Community Development to prove compliance with the provisionsoutlined in the bill.

Celebrating the life of Firefighter ChristopherGeorge Griffin.

Commending Costella B. Williams.

Perinatal health care providers; implicit biastraining. Requires the Board of Health to amend its regulationsto require that each hospital develop and implement policies requiringall perinatal health care providers to complete an in-person andinteractive training on implicit bias.

Emergency Shelters Upgrade Assistance Grant Fund. Allows funds in the Emergency Shelters Upgrade Assistance Grant Fund to be paid to entities outlined in local shelter plans to install, maintain, or repair infrastructure for backup energy generation for emergency shelters, including solar energy generators, and improve the hazard-specific structural integrity of shelter facilities owned by the locality or identified in the shelter plan of the locality. This bill is incorporated into SB 353.

Governor's Office; creation of a Secretary ofDisability Services Coordination. Creates the position of Secretaryof Disability Services Coordination to be appointed by the Governor.The bill provides for the responsibilities of the Secretary.

Toll Relief Program; eligibility. Requiresthe Department of Transportation to expand eligibility for the TollRelief Program for the tolls on the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels to residents of the Cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk with an incomeof $45,000 or less per year. The bill requires that all eligibleresidents receive the same toll relief regardless of income level.The bill provides that funding for the additional toll relief shallbe paid by the Commonwealth from the federal American Rescue PlanAct (ARPA), as possible, and any costs not covered by the ARPA shallbe the responsibility of the Commonwealth. The bill expires on January1, 2025.

Income tax; motion picture production tax credit. Removes the sunset for the motion picture production tax credit,which currently is set to expire after taxable year 2026. The billincreases the aggregate limit on credits from $6.5 million to $15million starting with fiscal year 2021 and also provides that creditsallocated for episodic content, gaming, virtual reality, and augmentedreality productions shall not count against the aggregate limit.The bill provides that if the amount of credits actually claimedis less than the aggregate limit for that year, the unclaimed remaindershall be added to the limit for the next year. The bill authorizescredits to be issued for multiyear periods. Under current law, ifproduction continues for more than one year, the taxpayer must filea separate application for each year.