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
Virginia Public Procurement Act; process for competitive negotiation; including employment of persons with a disability as a factor in evaluating proposals. Provides that, except with regard to contracts for architectural, professional engineering, transportation construction, or transportation-related construction services, a public body may include a proposer's employment of persons with disabilities to perform the specifications of the contract as a factor in evaluating a proposal.
Establishment of the Virginia Voluntary Do NotSell Firearms List; penalty. Creates the Virginia Voluntary DoNot Sell Firearms List (the List) that prohibits the possession,transportation, and sale of firearms to any person who voluntarilyregisters himself to be enrolled into the List. The List shall bemaintained and updated by the Department of State Police. The billmakes it a Class 3 misdemeanor for any person enrolled into the Listto purchase, possess, or transport a firearm. The bill disqualifiesany person enrolled into the List from obtaining a concealed handgunpermit and prohibits such person from being employed by a firearmsdealer. The bill also makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any personwho sells, barters, gives, or furnishes, or has in his possessionor under his control with the intent of selling, bartering, giving,or furnishing, any firearm to any person he knows is enrolled intothe List. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.
Abandoned and stolen shopping carts; local regulation. Provides that any locality with a County Manager Plan or Urban County Executive form of government may, by ordinance, provide that it is unlawful for any person to place, leave, or abandon on any real property in the locality, or within specified districts within the locality, any shopping cart. The bill requires such ordinance to provide that any such shopping cart that remains on the real property at least 15 days after a notice of violation is given to the owner of such shopping cart shall be presumed to be abandoned and subject to removal from the real property by the county or its agents without further notice. In the event that any such shopping cart is so removed, the cost of removal, including the cost of disposal, but not to exceed $300 per cart, shall be charged to the owner of the shopping cart. The bill also authorizes such ordinance to prohibit possession of a shopping cart outside of the designated premises when the owner has posted notice of such prohibition. Such ordinance may provide for a civil penalty of not more than $500.
Obsolete Acts of Assembly; racial inequity. Repeals numerous obsolete and discriminatory Acts of Assembly from the early 20th century. This is a recommendation of the Governor's Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia Law. The purpose of the Commission was to identify and make "recommendations to address laws that were intended to or could have the effect of promoting or enabling racial discrimination or inequity." This bill is identical to HB 1325.
Health insurance; mandated coverage for hearing aids for minors. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for hearing aids and related services for children 18 years of age or younger when an otolaryngologist recommends such hearing aids and related services. The coverage includes one hearing aid per hearing-impaired ear, up to a cost of $1,500, every 24 months. The measure applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2021.
Invocation of constitutional rights in domestic relations cases; adverse inference. Allows the trier of fact in a civil domestic relations proceeding to draw an adverse inference if a party or witness in such a proceeding refuses to answer a question regarding adultery on the grounds that such testimony might be self-incriminating.
Absentee voting; counting military and overseas absentee ballots received after close of polls on election day. Provides that absentee ballots cast by military and overseas absentee voters that are (i) received after the close of the polls on any election day but before 5:00 p.m. on the fourth business day before the State Board of Elections meets to ascertain the results of the election and (ii) postmarked on or before the date of such election are to be counted if the voter is found entitled to vote. The bill provides that a postmark includes any other official indicia of confirmation of mailing by the United States Postal Service or other postal or delivery service. Under current law, such ballots cast by military and overseas absentee voters would be counted in this manner regardless of the date of any postmark, but only if the absentee ballot had been requested on or before, but not sent by, the deadline for making absentee ballots available.
Unlawful detainer; expungement. Creates a process by which unlawful detainer actions filed in a general district court that have been dismissed or nonsuited may be expunged upon request of the defendant to such action. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022, and the provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act.
Common interest communities; electric vehicle charging stations permitted. Prohibits certain common interest community associations from prohibiting the installation of an electric vehicle charging station within the boundaries of a member's unit or limited common element parking space appurtenant to the unit owned by the unit owner or, in the case of a property owners' association, a lot owner's property, and sets forth provisions governing the installation and removal of such charging stations. The bill also requires the association member installing an electric vehicle charging station to indemnify and hold the association harmless from all liability resulting from a claim arising out of the installation, maintenance, operation, or use of such charging station.