Sen. Tommy Norment

Commending Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que.

Celebrating the life of Captain Charles F. Noll,Sr., USN, Ret.

Conduct of elections; voter identification and absentee voting; process for applying for, casting, and counting absentee ballots. Requires presentation of a form of identification containing a photograph in order to vote. The bill eliminates current provisions permitting a voter who does not have one of the required forms of identification to vote after signing a statement, subject to felony penalties for false statements, that he is the named registered voter he claims to be. Instead, such voter would be entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The bill prohibits absentee ballots from being returned to any location that is not located in the office of the general registrar, including drop boxes located outside of such locations. The bill provides that no waiver of the absentee ballot envelope witness signature shall be permitted under any circumstances and requires absentee ballots to have, in addition to the witness signature, the witness's printed name and residence address. The bill also requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots that are returned by mail before election day. The general registrar is required to examine the ballot envelopes to verify completion of the required voter affirmation; mark the pollbook, or the absentee voter applicant list if the pollbook is not available, that the voter has voted; and open the sealed ballot envelopes and insert the ballots in optical scan counting equipment or other secure ballot container without initiating any ballot count totals. Current law requires only that the general registrar undertake at least one such activity before election day. So that ballots can be separated from ballot envelopes and scanned, the bill requires that the office of the general registrar be used as a central absentee voter precinct. Absentee ballots processed at any central absentee voter precinct are required to be sorted by the precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assigned and that the resulting vote totals from such ballots be reported separately for each voter precinct.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable MamyeE. BaCote.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;reporting requirements. Directs the Director of Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion to, when sending any memorandum to a public institutionof higher education recommending or mandating diversity of any description,submit copies of such memorandum to the Chairmen of the House Committeeon Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health. Thebill also directs the Director to provide to the Chairmen of theHouse Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Financeand Appropriations by January 1 of each year an itemized list ofexpenditures made by the office of the Director.

Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area; provisional surface water withdrawal permit. Authorizes the State Water Control Board to issue a provisional surface water withdrawal permit within the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area to an applicant that has not identified an end user for the water. Such permit shall not allow the withdrawal of water until an end user has been identified and the permittee has provided a report containing information on the need for and proposed use of the surface water, a description of the raw water intake, and other information. The bill provides that once the Department of Environmental Quality approves the report, the permittee shall request a permit modification. Finally, the bill provides that no potential withdrawal amount of any provisional permit shall be used in the calculation of available water when assessing a subsequent surface water withdrawal application in the affected stream reach if the provisional permit has not been modified to reflect an end user, the Department and the subsequent applicant have found the provisional withdrawal to be inappropriate, and the provisional permit holder has failed to state that an end user will be secured within 12 months.

Possession and consumption of marijuana; penalty. Decriminalizes simple marijuana possession and provides a civil penalty of no more than $25. Current law imposes a maximum fine of $500 and a maximum 30-day jail sentence for a first offense, and subsequent offenses are a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill provides that any violation of simple possession of marijuana shall be charged by a summons in form the same as the uniform summons for motor vehicle law violations and that no court costs shall be assessed for such violations. The bill also provides that a person's criminal history record information shall not include records of any charges or judgments for such violations and records of such charges or judgements shall not be reported to the Central Criminal Records Exchange. However, the bill states that if a violation occurs while an individual is operating a commercial motor vehicle, such violation shall be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles and shall be included on such individual's driving record. Also, the bill states that the procedure for appeal and trial of any violation of simple possession of marijuana shall be the same as provided by law for misdemeanors. The bill also provides that if requested by either party on appeal to the circuit court, trial by jury shall be provided and the Commonwealth shall be required to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Additionally, the bill provides that the suspended sentence/substance abuse screening provisions apply only to criminal violations. The bill defines "marijuana" to include hashish oil and creates a rebuttable presumption that a person who possesses no more than one ounce of marijuana possesses it for personal use. The bill also (i) makes records relating to the arrest, criminal charge, or conviction of possession of marijuana not open to public inspection and disclosure, except in certain circumstances; (ii) prohibits employers and educational institutions from requiring an applicant for employment or admission to disclose information related to such arrest, criminal charge, or conviction; and (iii) prohibits agencies, officials, and employees of the state and local governments from requiring an applicant for a license, permit, registration, or governmental service to disclose information concerning such arrest, criminal charge, or conviction. Also, the bill allows a person charged with a civil offense who is acquitted, a nolle prosequi is taken, or the charge is otherwise dismissed to file a petition requesting expungement of the police records and court records related to the charge. Finally, the bill requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and Forestry, Finance, Health and Human Resources, and Public Safety and Homeland Security to convene a work group to study the impact on the Commonwealth of legalizing the sale and personal use of marijuana and report the recommendations of the work group to the General Assembly and the Governor by November 30, 2020. This bill incorporates SB 815 and is identical to HB 972.