Employment; domestic service. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
Constitutional amendment (first reference); marriage; repeal of same-sex marriage prohibition; affirmative right to marry. Repeals the constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman as well as the related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015). The amendment provides that the right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of persons and requires the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions and agents to issue marriage licenses, recognize marriages, and treat all marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex or gender of the parties to the marriage. Religious organizations and clergy acting in their religious capacity have the right to refuse to perform any marriage. This resolution incorporates HJ 539 and HJ 557.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; law-enforcementcriminal incident information; criminal investigative files. Adds criminal investigative files, defined in the bill, relatingto a criminal investigation or proceeding that is not ongoing, alsodefined in the bill, to the types of law-enforcement and criminalrecords required to be released in accordance with the provisionsof the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Under current law, therelease of criminal investigative files is discretionary. The billalso provides that the mandatory release of criminal incident informationrelating to felony offenses and criminal investigative files shallbe enjoined if a court finds by a preponderance of the evidence thatthe release of such information would likely effect certain results,outlined in the bill. The bill contains technical amendments. Thisbill is a recommendation of the Virginia Freedom of Information AdvisoryCouncil.
Homicides and assaults and bodily woundings; certain matters not to constitute defenses. Provides that the discovery of, perception of, or belief about another person's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, is not a defense to any charge of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder.
Department of Medical Assistance Services; testing for, treatment of, and vaccination against COVID-19; emergency services. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to, during a public health emergency related to COVID-19 declared by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, deem testing for, treatment of, and vaccination against COVID-19 to be emergency services for which payment may be made pursuant to federal law for certain aliens not lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
Active military or a military spouse; prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, etc. Prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and housing on the basis of a person's military status, defined as a member of the uniformed services of the United States or a reserve component thereof or a spouse or other dependent of the same. The bill also prohibits terms in a rental agreement in which the tenant agrees to waive remedies or rights under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act prior to the occurrence of a dispute between the landlord and the tenant.
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for COVID-19. Establishes a presumption that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of health care providers is an occupational disease compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The bill provides that the COVID-19 virus is established by a positive diagnostic test for COVID-19, an incubation period consistent with COVID-19, and signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that require medical treatment. The bill provides that such presumption applies to any death or disability occurring on or after March 12, 2020, caused by infection from the COVID-19 virus, provided that for any such death or disability that occurred on or after March 12, 2020, and prior to December 31, 2021, the claimant received a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 from a licensed physician, after either a presumptive positive test or a laboratory-confirmed test for COVID-19, and presented with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that required medical treatment. The bill provides that such presumptions do not apply to any person offered by his employer a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 unless the person's physician determines in writing that immunization would pose a significant risk to the person's health.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies; landlord's acceptance of rent with reservation; tenant's right of redemption. Prohibits a landlord from accepting full payment of rent, as well as any damages, money judgment, award of attorney fees, and court costs, from a tenant and receiving an order of possession pursuant to an unlawful detainer action and proceeding with eviction, unless there are bases for the entry of an order of possession other than nonpayment of rent stated in the unlawful detainer action filed by the landlord. Under current law, a landlord may accept full or partial payment of all rent and receive an order of possession pursuant to an unlawful detainer action and proceed with eviction, provided that he has stated in a written notice to the tenant that any and all amounts owed to the landlord by the tenant, including payment of any rent, damages, money judgment, award of attorney fees, and court costs, would be accepted with reservation and would not constitute a waiver of the landlord's right to evict the tenant from the dwelling unit. The bill provides specific language that must be included within such notice, and requires a landlord who elects to seek possession of the dwelling unit to provide a copy of the notice to the court for service to the tenant along with the summons for unlawful detainer. The bill also allows tenants to exercise the right of redemption in unlawful detainer actions an unlimited number of times. Under current law, tenants may only exercise the right of redemption once during any 12-month period of continuous residency in the dwelling unit, regardless of the term of the rental agreement or any renewal term of the rental agreement. The bill directs the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (Director) to develop a sample termination notice to be maintained on the Department of Housing and Community Development's (Department) website that includes language referencing acceptance of rent with reservation by a landlord following a breach of a lease by a tenant, and requires the Department to convene a stakeholder group to provide input to the Director regarding the development of such sample termination notice.
Virginia Housing Development Authority; workgroup to establish Virginia Good Neighbor Next Door program.Directs the Virginia Housing Development Authority to convene a stakeholderwork group to establish a plan for the creation of a Virginia GoodNeighbor Next Door program, similar to the Good Neighbor Next Doorprogram administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, to provide financial incentives for law-enforcementofficers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, andteachers to purchase homes within designated revitalization areasin the localities in which they are employed. The bill requires thework group to report its findings and recommendations, includingany legislative recommendations, to the Governor and the Chairmenof the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee onGeneral Laws and Technology no later than July 1, 2022.
Test driving vehicles; residence districts;civil penalty. Authorizes localities by ordinance to requiremotor vehicle dealers in the locality to notify a buyer or potential buyer that test driving a motor vehicle in a residence district that has been designated for increased fines is prohibited, unlessthe buyer or potential driver is driving to or from his residence.The bill requires the locality to notify licensed motor vehicle dealerslocated within the locality of the enactment of such ordinance andsend a copy of such notification to the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board.The bill authorizes the locality to notify the Board if a buyer orpotential buyer is convicted of a traffic infraction while conductinga test drive in a prohibited location. The bill provides that the Board may determine if the proper notice was given and impose a civilpenalty if such notice was not given.
