Voter registration; automatic voter registration. Provides for the automatic electronic transmission by the Department of Motor Vehicles to the Department of Elections of certain information for any person coming into an office of the Department of Motor Vehicles or accessing its website in order to (i) apply for, replace, or renew a driver's license; (ii) apply for, replace, or renew a special identification card; or (iii) change an address on an existing driver's license or special identification card if the person indicates that he is a United States citizen and is 17 years of age or older and, at the time of the transaction, does not decline to have his information transmitted to the Department of Elections for voter registration purposes. The option to decline to have his information so transmitted shall be presented at the time of one of the specified transactions with the Department of Motor Vehicles and shall be accompanied by a warning that intentionally making a materially false statement during the transaction is punishable under Virginia law as a felony. Upon receipt of the information collected to ensure that the person meets all voter registration eligibility requirements, the Department of Elections is required to determine whether the person is already registered to vote. If the person is not already registered to vote, the Department of Elections is required to transmit the information to the appropriate general registrar. The bill repeals the requirement that the Department of Motor Vehicles offer, accept, receive, and send voter registration applications. The provisions of the bill are contingent on funding in a general appropriation act. This bill incorporates SB 278.
Sponsored bills
Purchase of handguns; limitation on handgun purchases; penalty. Prohibits any person who is not a licensed firearms dealer from purchasing more than one handgun in a 30-day period and establishes such an offense as a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill exempts from this provision (i) persons who have been issued a certificate by the Department of State Police under certain circumstances and with an enhanced background check, (ii) law-enforcement agencies and officers, (iii) state and local correctional facilities, (iv) licensed private security companies, (v) persons who hold a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit, (vi) persons whose handgun has been stolen or irretrievably lost or who are trading in a handgun, (vii) purchases of handguns in a private sale, and (viii) purchases of antique firearms. This bill incorporates SB 22. This bill is identical to HB 812.
Suspension of driver's license for nonpayment of fines or costs. Repeals the requirement that the driver's license of a person convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to provide for immediate payment of fines or costs be suspended. The bill also removes a provision allowing the court to require a defendant to present a summary prepared by the Department of Motor Vehicles of the other courts in which the defendant also owes fines and costs. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to return or reinstate any person's driver's license that was suspended prior to July 1, 2019, solely for nonpayment of fines or costs. Such person does not have to pay a reinstatement fee. The bill contains an emergency clause and incorporates SB 10, SB 514, and SB 814.
Provision of abortion; informed consent; regulations. Eliminates the procedures and processes, including the performance of an ultrasound, the provision of specified information, and the offer to review certain printed materials, required under existing law to effect a pregnant person's informed written consent prior to the performance of an abortion; however, the bill retains the requirement that a physician obtain a pregnant person's informed written consent prior to performing any abortion. The bill expands who can perform first trimester abortions to any person licensed by the Board of Medicine as a physician's assistant and acting within such person's scope of practice or any person jointly licensed by the Board of Medicine and Nursing as a nurse practitioner acting within the nurse practitioner's such person's scope of practice. The bill removes a provision classifying facilities that perform five or more first trimester abortions per month as hospitals for the purpose of complying with regulations establishing minimum standards for hospitals.
Fairfax County; policemen's pension and retirementboard. Increases from seven to eight the number of members onthe policemen's pension and retirement board created in a countythat has adopted the urban county executive form of government (FairfaxCounty) and increases from two to three the number of members ofsuch board who shall be members of such retirement system and employedby the county police department as sworn police officers and whohave been elected by the members of the retirement system who areemployed by the police department as sworn police officers.
Corrections Private Management Act; name change;private management prohibited. Removes the authority of the Directorof the Department of Corrections pursuant to the Corrections PrivateManagement Act (the Act) to enter into contracts with prison contractorsfor the operation of prison facilities, including management, custodyof inmates, and provision of security. The bill does not affect theDirector's authority pursuant to the Act, renamed by the bill theCorrections Private Services Act, to enter into private contractsfor other correctional services, including those related to foodservice, medical care, transportation, sanitation, information systems,education and training programs, recreational or religious activities,financing, construction, or maintenance. The bill has a delayed effectivedate of July 1, 2023.
Early childhood care and education; licensing. Requires the Board of Education to establish a statewide unified public-private system for early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth to be administered by the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Department of Education. The bill transfers the authority to license and regulate child day programs and other early child care agencies from the Board of Social Services and Department of Social Services to the Board of Education and Department of Education. The bill maintains current licensure, background check, and other requirements of such programs. Such provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021. The bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a plan for implementing the statewide unified early childhood care and education system and requires the Department of Social Services and the Department of Education to enter into a cooperative agreement to coordinate the transition. The bill also requires the Board of Education to establish, no later than July 1, 2021, a uniform quality rating and improvement system designed to provide parents and families with information about the quality and availability of certain publicly funded early childhood care and education providers and to publish the initial quality ratings under such system in the fall of 2023. This bill is identical to HB 1012.
Fairfax County; policemen's retirement system. Authorizes any person who has been a member of another county retirement system and who withdraws therefrom and becomes a member of the policemen's retirement system established by a county that has adopted the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax County) to purchase membership service credit for service rendered while a member of such other county retirement system by paying into the policemen's retirement system all contributions that would have been due from the person had the person been a member of the policemen's retirement system for each of the years for which membership service credit is sought. The bill contains technical amendments.
Permitted provisions in the zoning ordinance;worker protection. Authorizes a locality to include in its zoningordinance certain conditions as part of the grant of a special exceptionthat permits development at a floor area ratio (FAR) greater than1.0 or 25 units per acre, or requires the construction of or improvementsto public facilities, public roads, or other publicly owned or managedareas. Such conditions may require a developer, directly or throughits contractors, to enter into binding contractual commitments thatprovide certain protections for the skilled and unskilled workershired to build the development project.
Firearms; removal from persons posing substantial risk; penalties. Creates a procedure by which any attorney for the Commonwealth or two law-enforcement officers may apply to a general district court, circuit court, or juvenile and domestic relations district court judge or magistrate, who must consult with the attorney for the Commonwealth, for an emergency substantial risk order to prohibit a person who poses a substantial risk of injury to himself or others from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm. Upon service of an emergency substantial risk order, the person who is subject to the order shall be given the opportunity to voluntarily relinquish any firearm. An emergency substantial risk order shall expire on the fourteenth day following issuance of the order. The bill requires a court hearing in the circuit court for the jurisdiction where the order was issued within 14 days from issuance of an emergency substantial risk order to determine whether a substantial risk order should be issued. Seized firearms shall be retained by a law-enforcement agency for the duration of an emergency substantial risk order or a substantial risk order or, for a substantial risk order and with court approval, may be transferred to a third party 21 years of age or older chosen by the person from whom they were seized. The bill allows the complainant of the original warrant to file a motion for a hearing to extend the substantial risk order prior to its expiration. The court may extend the substantial risk order for a period not longer than 180 days. The bill provides that persons who are subject to a substantial risk order, until such order has been dissolved by a court, are guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor for purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm; are disqualified from having a concealed handgun permit; and may not be employed by a licensed firearms dealer. The bill also provides that a person who transfers a firearm to a person he knows has been served with a warrant or who is the subject of a substantial risk order is guilty of a Class 4 felony. The bill creates a computerized substantial risk order registry for the entry of orders issued pursuant to provisions in the bill.