Prohibited discrimination; public accommodations, employment, credit, and housing: causes of action; sexual orientation and gender identity. Creates causes of action for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations and employment in the Virginia Human Rights Act. Currently, under the Act there is no cause of action for discrimination in public accommodations, and the only causes of action for discrimination in employment are for (i) unlawful discharge on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, or childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation by employers employing more than five but fewer than 15 persons and (ii) unlawful discharge on the basis of age by employers employing more than five but fewer than 20 persons. The bill allows the causes of action to be pursued privately by the aggrieved person or, in certain circumstances, by the Attorney General. Before a civil cause of action may be brought in a court of the Commonwealth, an aggrieved individual must file a complaint with the Division of Human Rights of the Department of Law, participate in an administrative process, and receive a notice of his right to commence a civil action. The bill prohibits discrimination in public and private employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill also codifies for state and local government employment the current prohibitions on discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, or status as a veteran. Additionally, the bill (a) prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran; (b) prohibits discrimination in credit on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, disability, and status as a veteran; and (c) adds discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran as an unlawful housing practice. The bill makes technical amendments. This bill incorporates SB 66 and SB 159.
Sponsored bills
Distributed renewable energy. Promotes the establishment of distributed renewable solar and other renewable energy. The measure (i) requires the State Corporation Commission to establish by regulation a shared solar program that allows multifamily customers of investor-owned utilities, other than American Electric Power, to purchase electric power through a subscription in a shared solar facility; (ii) raises the cap on the total amount of renewable energy that can be net metered in a utility's service territory from one percent to six percent, five percent of which is available to all customers and one percent of which is available only to low-income utility customers; (iii) raises the cap for net-metered nonresidential generation facilities from one megawatt to three megawatts; (iv) allows certain localities to install solar or wind facilities of up to five megawatts on government-owned property and use the electricity for government-owned buildings; (v) increases the cap on the capacity of generation from facilities from the customer's expected annual energy consumption to 150 percent of such amount for customers in Dominion Energy Virginia's service territory; (vi) prohibits standby charges for any residential customer-generator or agricultural customer-generator of an investor-owned utility other than Dominion Energy Virginia; and (vii) increases the cap on third party power purchase agreements to 500 megawatts for jurisdictional customers and 500 megawatts for nonjurisdictional customers of Dominion Energy Virginia and to 40 megawatts for customers of American Electric Power. The measure also amends the Commonwealth Energy Policy to include provisions supporting distributed generation of renewable energy. This bill is identical to HB 572, HB 1184, and HB 1647.
Capital outlay plan. Updates the six-yearcapital outlay plan for projects to be funded entirely or partially from general fund-supported resources.
Minimum wage; pay based on work done. Eliminatesthe exemption to Virginia's minimum wage requirements for personswho normally work and are paid based on the amount of work done.
Absentee voting; no excuse required. Permits any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot in any election in which he is qualified to vote. The bill removes the current list of statutory reasons under which a person may be entitled to vote by absentee ballot and removes references to those reasons from other sections of the Code. This bill incorporates SB 45, SB 137, SB 696, and SB 879.
Research and development in the Commonwealth. Creates the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (the Authority) to oversee and support research, development, and commercialization, as well as related investment and seed-stage funding, in the Commonwealth. The Authority is governed by an 11-member Board, consisting of the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, six nonlegislative members appointed by the Governor, and four nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Joint Rules Committee. Existing grant, loan, and investment funds currently administered by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority and the Virginia Research Investment Committee, repealed under the bill, would be consolidated under the Authority, and the Authority would be responsible for developing an Innovation Index for the Commonwealth. The bill contains technical amendments. This bill is identical to HB 1017.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; allocation of funds. Provides that increases in service approved by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board shall not be included in the calculation of the annual increase in total operating expenses included in an approved WMATA budget.
Memorials for war veterans. Provides that a locality may remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover any monument or memorial for war veterans on the locality's public property, not including a monument or memorial located in a publicly owned cemetery, regardless of when the monument or memorial was erected, and removes certain criminal and civil penalties. Current law makes it unlawful to disturb or interfere with such monuments or memorials or to prevent citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation, and care of such monuments or memorials. Prior to removing, relocating, contextualizing, or covering any such publicly owned monument or memorial, the local governing body shall publish notice of such intent in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality. The notice shall specify the time and place of a public hearing at which interested persons may present their views, not less than 30 days after publication of the notice. After the completion of the hearing, the governing body may vote whether to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monument or memorial. If the governing body votes to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monument or memorial, the local governing body shall first, for a period of 30 days, offer the monument or memorial for relocation and placement to any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield. The local governing body shall have sole authority to determine the final disposition of the monument or memorial. The bill authorizes the local governing body to call for an advisory referendum prior to voting on such motion. The bill repeals an 1890 act of assembly related to the placement of a statue in the City of Alexandria and does not apply to a monument or memorial located on the property of a public institution of higher education within the City of Lexington. The bill also provides that the Board of Historic Resources shall promulgate regulations governing the manner in which any monument or memorial may be contextualized. This bill incorporates HB1625 and is identical to SB 183.
Child care providers; out-of-state backgroundchecks. Requires certain child care providers and employees orvolunteers thereof to submit to background checks that include acriminal history record information check and sex offender registrycheck in any state in which the applicant has resided in the precedingfive years.
Foster care; termination of parental rights; independent living needs assessments; supervisory spans of control. Requires local boards of social services and child-placing agencies, if the child has been in the custody of a local board or child-placing agency for 15 of the most recent 22 months and no petition for termination of parental rights has been filed with the court, to include in the petition for a permanency planning hearing the reasons why a petition to terminate parental rights has not been filed and the reasonable efforts made regarding reunification or transfer of custody to a relative. The bill requires that local boards and child-placing agencies provide information to birth parents regarding the parent's option to voluntarily terminate parental rights, and that the Commissioner of Social Services develop clear guidance documents regarding the manner in which such information should be relayed. The bill requires the Board of Social Services to promulgate regulations related to termination of parental rights, independent living needs assessments and plans, and reporting requirements for local boards and child-placing agencies. The bill requires the Commissioner to (i) provide training to local boards and child-placing agencies regarding common errors made related to termination of parental rights and (ii) establish a work group to assess the feasibility and costs of establishing supervisory spans of control for foster care supervisors. The work group shall report its findings by November 30, 2020.