Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. DesignatesSeptember, in 2020 and in each succeeding year, as Ovarian CancerAwareness Month in Virginia.
Puppy Mill Awareness Month. Designates December,in 2020 and in each succeeding year, as Puppy Mill Awareness Monthin Virginia.
Celebrating the life of William Griffith Thomas.
Commending John F. Reinhart.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable GeraldL. Baliles.
Use of handheld personal communications devices; school zones and school property; penalty. Adds school crossing zones and school property to the locations in which a driver is prohibited from holding a handheld personal communications device in his hand while driving a motor vehicle, with certain exceptions. The bill provides that a violation is punishable by a mandatory fine of $250. Current law prohibits (i) the reading of an email or text message on the device and manually entering letters or text in the device as a means of communicating and (ii) the holding of a handheld personal communication device in a highway work zone, with the same exceptions.
Celebrating the life of the Honorable Eva MaeFleming Scott.
Fossil fuel projects moratorium; clean energy mandates; civil penalties; Green New Deal Act. Establishes a moratorium, effective January 1, 2021, on approval by any state agency or political subdivision of any approval required for (i) electric generating facilities that generate fossil fuel energy through the combustion of a fossil fuel resource; (ii) import or export terminals for fossil fuel resources; (iii) certain maintenance activities relating to an import or export terminal for a fossil fuel resource; (iv) gathering lines or pipelines for the transport of any fossil fuel resource that requires the use of eminent domain on private property; (v) certain maintenance activities relating to such gathering lines or pipelines; (vi) refineries of a fossil fuel resource; and (vii) exploration for any type of fossil fuel, unless preempted by applicable federal law. The measure also requires that at least 80 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier in calendar years 2028 through 2035 be generated from clean energy resources. In calendar year 2036 and every calendar year thereafter, 100 percent of the electricity sold by a retail electric supplier is required to be generated from clean energy resources. The clean energy mandates apply to a public utility or other person that sells not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy to retail customers or generates not less than 1,000 megawatt hours of electric energy for use by the person. The Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy is authorized to bring actions for injunctions to enforce these requirements. The measure requires the Department to adopt a Climate Action Plan that addresses all aspects of climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, resiliency, and assistance in the transition from current energy sources to clean renewable energy. The measure provides that residents of the Commonwealth and organizations shall have the legal standing to sue to ensure that its provisions and any Climate Action Plan are enforced. The measure requires (a) a 36 percent reduction in electric energy consumption in buildings by 2035, (b) the establishment of job training programs and energy worker protections, (c) transitional assistance for workers in the fossil fuel industry and affected communities, and (d) environmental justice protections. The measure provides that any retail electric supplier that fails to meet any goal or benchmark is liable for a civil penalty equal to twice the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or mandate that was not achieved, or three times the cost of the financial investment necessary to meet such goal or benchmark that was not achieved if not met in an environmental justice community, defined in the bill.
Virginia Human Rights Act; discrimination onthe basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.Creates a cause of action against any employer employing more thanfive but fewer than 15 persons who engages in an unlawful discriminatoryact against any employee on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, orrelated medical conditions. Under current law, an employee who hasbeen discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth,or related medical conditions may only file an action against his employer if the employee is discharged by the employer on the basisof sex. The bill permits a court, in cases where the employee prevails,to award compensatory or punitive damages, and attorney fees notto exceed 25 percent of the amount awarded. The bill also clarifiesthat for purposes of the cause of action, discrimination on the basisof pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions includesdiscrimination against a person because such person may become pregnantor has been pregnant.
School Divisions of Innovation; performance-based assessments. Allows a local school board, when applying for itsschool division to be designated as a School Division of Innovation,to apply to the Board of Education to replace the Virginia Studiesand Civics and Economics Standards of Learning assessments with performance-basedassessments. The bill requires any such application to (i) demonstratethat the proposed performance-based assessment requires that studentsdemonstrate the knowledge and skills required by the relevant Standardsof Learning and that students demonstrate one or more of the skillsand qualities of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication,or citizenship and (ii) provide evidence of the local school board'scapacity to administer and score performance-based assessments.
