Sen. Mark Obenshain

Creates the Red Tape Reduction Commission (the Commission) to develop and maintain a state regulatory baseline of all current state regulatory requirements, with the initial baseline to be completed by January 1, 2019. The bill defines a regulatory requirement as any action required to be taken or information required to be provided in accordance with a statute or regulation in order to access government services or operate and conduct business and excludes requirements that are necessary to conform to changes in Virginia statutory law or the appropriation act where no agency discretion is involved or to meet requirements of federal law or regulations. The bill also provides that after the regulatory baseline has been established, any subsequent regulatory requirement proposed by an agency that is not included in the initial state regulatory baseline is considered a new regulatory requirement and requires the approval of the Commission before it may be enacted. In addition, the bill provides for the Commission to review current state regulatory requirements and provide recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly on measures to reduce the baseline regulatory requirements. The Commission must submit a report to the Governor and General Assembly by November 1, 2017, on (i) the organizational structure of the Commission, (ii) duties of staff, and (iii) guidelines for determining what constitutes a regulatory requirement. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.

Provides that if a residential dwelling unit is foreclosed upon and a tenant is lawfully occupying the dwelling unit at the time of the foreclosure, the foreclosure shall act as a termination of the rental agreement by the landlord. The bill also provides that, if there is in effect at the date of the foreclosure sale a written property management agreement between the landlord and a real estate licensee licensed pursuant to the provisions of § 54.1-2106.1, the foreclosure shall convert the property management agreement into a month-to-month agreement between the successor landlord and the real estate licensee acting as a managing agent, except in the event that the terms of the original property management agreement between the landlord and the real estate licensee acting as a managing agent require an earlier termination date. Except in the event of foreclosure, the bill permits a real estate licensee acting on behalf of a landlord client as a managing agent who elects to terminate the property management agreement to transfer any funds held in escrow by the licensee to the landlord client without his consent, provided that the real estate licensee provides written notice to each tenant that the funds have been so transferred. The bill provides that, in the event of foreclosure, a real estate licensee shall not transfer any funds to a landlord client whose property has been foreclosed upon. The bill provides immunity, in the absence of gross negligence or intentional misconduct, to any such licensee acting in compliance with the provisions of § 54.1-2108.1. The bill clarifies that a tenant residing in a dwelling unit that has been foreclosed upon is eligible to file an assertion pursuant to § 55-225.12 and that a court may order any moneys accumulated in escrow to be paid to the successor landlord or the successor landlord's managing agent, if any.

Creates the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The bill allows fiduciaries to manage digital property such as computer files, web domains, and virtual currency, and restricts a fiduciary's access to electronic communications such as email, text messages, and social media accounts unless the original user consented to such access in a will, trust, power of attorney, or other record. The bill repeals the Privacy Expectation Afterlife and Choices Act, which was enacted in 2015. This bill is identical to

Provides that the Supreme Court and any other court clerk may provide online access to subscribers who have entered into an agreement with the clerk to have secure remote access to court records of nonconfidential criminal case information to confirm the complete date of birth of a defendant. This bill is identical to