Sen. Bill DeSteph

Income tax; subtraction for low-income military veterans with a permanent service-connected disability. Provides an income tax subtraction for the military retirement income received by a veteran who has been rated with a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability. The bill provides that the subtraction is available only to those taxpayers whose federal adjusted gross income is no greater than 150 percent of the federal poverty level for a four-person household.

Individual and corporate income tax credit;employers of National Guard members and self-employed National Guardmembers. Provides for taxable years 2020 through 2024 a nonrefundabletax credit against individual and corporate income taxes for (i) wages paid by an employer to an employee who is an active or reserveVirginia National Guard member or (ii) income of a self-employedactive or reserve Virginia National Guard member attributable to his business. The amount of the credit shall be 25 percent if such memberwas in a military pay status for 65 days or more during such taxableyear or 15 percent if such member was in a military pay status forat least 45 days but less than 65 days during such taxable year.The credit shall not be allowed if such member was in a military pay status for less than 45 days during such taxable year. The billallows a taxpayer to carry unused credits over for up to five taxableyears.

Abuse and neglect of children; contact withother parent; penalty. Provides that any parent, guardian, orother person responsible for the care of a child under the age of18 whose willful act or omission interferes with such child's contactand relationship with the other parent, guardian, or other personresponsible for the care of such child, including unreasonably denyingthe other parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the careof such child access to or visitation with such child, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

Health plans; calculation of enrollee's contributionto out-of-pocket maximum or cost-sharing requirement; rebates.Requires any carrier issuing a health plan in the Commonwealth tocount the amount of any rebates received or to be received by thecarrier or its pharmacy benefits manager in connection with the dispensingor administration of a prescription drug when calculating the enrollee'soverall contribution to any out-of-pocket maximum or any cost-sharingrequirement under the carrier's health plan.

Commending the Washington Nationals.

Study; Secretary of Administration;State Board of Elections; electronic return of voted military-overseasballots; pilot program; report. Requests the Secretary of Administrationto oversee and develop a charter and directives for the State Boardof Elections to form a working group to study implementation of electronicreturn of voted military-overseas ballots. In conducting its study, the State Board of Elections with the working group shall study anddevelop initial instructions and procedures that (i) consider issuesrelated to accessibility, auditability, authentication, verification,and security through encryption, in order to ensure that any processimplemented would guarantee the accuracy and integrity of voted military-overseasballots, and (ii) recommend (a) security measures necessary to reasonablysecure the transmission, processing, and storage of voter data frominterception and unauthorized access; (b) methods for verifying andauthenticating the identity of the voter electronically when registeringto vote and when requesting a ballot from and returning a ballotto the voter's jurisdiction; (c) methods for the encryption of votedballots; and (d) a procedure for security reviews after an election.The study shall focus on implementation of electronic return of votedmilitary-overseas ballots first as a limited pilot program in 2021,and later on a statewide basis.

Alcoholic beverage control; food-to-beverageratio. Provides an alternative to the food-to-beverage ratiofor mixed beverage restaurant licensees by allowing such licenseesto meet applicable food sale requirements by demonstrating at least$10,000 in monthly food sales.

Teledentistry. Defines "teledentistry," establishes requirements for the practice of teledentistry, establishes requirements for the taking of dental scans for use in teledentistry by dental scan technicians, and clarifies requirements related to the use of digital work orders for dental appliances in the practice of teledentistry. The bill also requires the Board of Dentistry to review all applications for renewal of a license to identify those applicants who deliver dental services through teledentistry and report such information annually by October 1 to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Joint Commission on Health Care. This bill was incorporated into SB 122.

Violation of protective order while armed withfirearm or other deadly weapon; mandatory minimum sentence; penalty.Provides for a three-year mandatory minimum sentence to be servedconsecutively with any other sentence upon a conviction for violationof a protective order while knowingly armed with a firearm or otherdeadly weapon. Current law does not specify a mandatory minimum sentence.

Stolen firearms; penalties. Creates orenhances penalties for crimes related to larceny of a firearm or useof a stolen firearm during the commission of a felony. The bill providesthat it is (i) a Class 3 felony with a five-year mandatory minimumsentence to commit larceny of a firearm with the intent to sell ordistribute and (ii) a Class 5 felony with a two-year mandatory minimumsentence to sell or distribute, attempt to sell or distribute, orpossess with the intent to sell or distribute a stolen firearm. Thebill adds a one-year mandatory minimum sentence to the crime of receivinga stolen firearm, which is a Class 6 felony. Finally, the bill increasesthe mandatory minimum sentences for possession of a firearm duringthe commission of a felony, if such firearm was stolen, from threeyears to five years for a first offense and from five years to 10years for a second or subsequent offense.