Local regulation of gas-powered leaf blowers;civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance regulatethe use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Prior to enactment of such ordinance,a public hearing is required. The ordinance may include provisions for a civil penalty.
Workers' compensation; domestic service employees.Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domesticservice, defined in the bill, are not excluded from the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
Study; Department of Education; root causesof public school bus driver shortages and working conditions of publicschool bus drivers in the Commonwealth; report. Requests thatthe Department of Education, with the assistance of each local schoolboard, to study the root causes of public school bus driver shortagesand the working conditions of public school bus drivers in the Commonwealthby (i) administering to each public school bus driver in each localschool division in the Commonwealth and as many former public school bus drivers as is feasible a survey to determine the level of satisfactionwith and the need for improvement to the working conditions of publicschool bus drivers in the Commonwealth, (ii) analyzing such surveydata and such other information and data as it deems necessary andadvisable, including information from other states and school districtscontained therein that have had success in addressing public schoolbus driver shortages by addressing working conditions, and (iii)making recommendations for statutory, regulatory, or budgetary changesthat may contribute to the improvement of the working conditionsof public school bus drivers.
Food delivery platforms; fee transparency. Requires each agreement between a restaurant and a food delivery platform to disclose all fees charged by the food delivery platform. Prior to confirming an online order, a food delivery platform must clearly display the baseline cost of the food order and any additional fees associated with the order. However, under the bill, a restaurant operating through an independent ordering system that includes the option of delivery by a food delivery platform may elect to display only the total order cost rather than listing each associated fee.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;nonrefundable application fee; limitations. Places limitationson when a landlord may charge a nonrefundable application fee inaddition to a refundable application deposit. The bill prohibitsa landlord with more than four rental dwelling units or more thana 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units from charging prospective tenants any nonrefundable application fee inexcess of the amount necessary to reimburse the landlord for anyactual out-of-pocket expenses paid by the landlord to a third party performing a number of pre-occupancy checks on the applicant. Thebill allows an applicant to choose to provide certain informationto the landlord in the form of a portable tenant screening reportin lieu of paying an application fee. When an applicant chooses notto provide such report, a landlord that owns four or fewer rentaldwelling units may charge such applicant actual out-of-pocket expensespaid by the landlord to a third party performing certain pre-occupancychecks on the applicant or, in the case of an application for a publichousing unit, an application fee of no more than $32, including anyactual out-of-pocket expenses paid to a third party by the landlordperforming background, credit, or other pre-occupancy checks on theapplicant.
Refundable income tax credit for low-incometaxpayers. Allows low-income individuals and married persons to claim either (i) a nonrefundable income tax credit equal to $300for each individual, his spouse, and any dependents or (ii) a refundableincome tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal earned incometax credit claimed that year by the individual or married personsfor the same taxable year. Under current law, low-income individualsand married persons may elect either of these amounts; however, bothoptions for claiming the credit are nonrefundable. The provisionsof the bill apply to taxable years 2022 through 2028.
Arrest and prosecution of individual experiencing a mental health emergency; assault or assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer. Provides that no individual shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for an assault or assault and battery against a law-enforcement officer if at the time of the assault or assault and battery (i) the individual (a) is experiencing a mental health emergency or (b) meets the criteria for issuance of an emergency custody order and (ii) the law-enforcement officer subject to the assault or assault and battery was responding to a call for service requesting assistance for such individual. The bill provides that no law-enforcement officer acting in good faith shall be found liable for false arrest if it is later determined that the person arrested was immune from prosecution.
Fair Labor Standards Act waiver; employeeswith disabilities. Removes the provision of the Code stating that any person who is paid pursuant to Section 14(c) of the Fair LaborStandards Act is not considered an employee for the purposes of theVirginia Minimum Wage Act.
Literary Fund; loans; application process; maximum loan amounts; rates of interest; closing costs; waiting lists. Makes several changes to the provisions relating to loans from the Literary Fund to finance the construction and renovation of public elementary and secondary school buildings in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Board of Education (the Board) to establish an annual open application process for Literary Fund loans to occur during the period that the Board deems most suitable. The bill increases from $7.5 million to $25 million the maximum Literary Fund loan amount and permits the Board to increase such maximum to up to $35 million for loans for any school construction or renovation project that facilitates the consolidation of schools. The bill requires the Board to fix the interest rate on all loans made from the Literary Fund at not less than one percent per year, not more than three percent per year, and at increments of one half of one percent per year between such minimum and maximum rates, payable annually, and to utilize a sliding scale based on the local school division's composite index of local ability to pay to determine the interest rate on each such loan. Under current law, such rates are required to be set between two and six percent per year. The bill requires the Board to establish a competitive program for the award of up to $25,000 to a school division that receives a Literary Fund loan for the purpose of subsidizing all or a portion of the closing costs for such loan. The bill also permits the Board to remove any project that has been inactive for at least five years from any Literary Fund loan project waiting list that it maintains. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization.
Public school buses; display of advertising;hiring of school bus drivers in the local school division. Permitsany local school board, notwithstanding any regulation to the contrary,to display decals, posters, and stickers on the sides and rear ofschool buses advertising the hiring of school bus drivers in thelocal school division, provided that the local school board is responsiblefor the cost of such decals, posters, and stickers and that no suchdecal, poster, or sticker obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus.
