Sen. Jennifer L McClellan

Sealing of offenses resulting in a deferredand dismissed disposition or conviction by petition; defendant witha disorder or disability. Provides that a defendant with a disorderor disability, as defined in the bill, may file a petition that requeststhe sealing of the criminal history record information and courtrecords of a Class 4 felony conviction or deferred and dismisseddisposition. Under current law, Class 4 felony convictions or deferredand dismissed dispositions are ineligible to be sealed.

Study; JLARC; election governance structure; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to conduct a two-year study on the election governance structure in the Commonwealth. In conducting its study, JLARC shall (i) review the roles and responsibilities of state and local election officials in the administration and conduct of elections in the Commonwealth, including the level of oversight by state election officials and the degree of decision-making by local election officials; (ii) review the methods of selection and removal of state and local election officials and evaluate how such methods shape accountability mechanisms; (iii) review the level of funding provided by the state and localities; (iv) evaluate the potential for partisan pressures and influence in administrative decisions at the state and local election level; (v) develop recommendations for objective methods of evaluating the performance of both local and state election officers to determine if they are appropriately fulfilling the responsibilities of their positions and whether removal may be necessary; and (vi) make other recommendations as necessary and review other issues as warranted.

Assault and battery; persons diagnosed withautism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, or mental illness;penalties. Provides that any person charged with a simple assaultand battery offense who has been diagnosed by a psychiatrist or clinicalpsychologist with an autism spectrum disorder, an intellectual disability,or mental illness and the violation was caused by or had a directand substantial relationship to the person's disorder or disabilityis guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and shall not be subject to mandatoryminimum punishment. Under current law, certain simple assault and battery offenses carry a mandatory minimum punishment when such offensesare committed against certain groups of people.

Virginia Elections Commission; establishment;purpose. Establishes the Virginia Elections Commission as anadvisory commission in the legislative branch for the purpose ofstudying and making recommendations on matters related to the administrationand conduct of elections in the Commonwealth in order to ensure theaccessibility, integrity, efficiency, and security of elections inthe Commonwealth. The Commission will be composed of 15 members, includingmembers of local electoral boards, general registrars, and membersof the General Assembly, and shall employ an executive director andother persons as it deems necessary to assist in carrying out itsduties.

Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board. Establishes the Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board to advise the Governor on ways to improve economic and cultural links between the Commonwealth and African nations, with a focus on the areas of commerce and trade, agriculture, art, education, and government. The Board is composed of 18 nonlegislative citizen members, of whom at least 15 must be persons who identify as part of the African diaspora, to be appointed by the Governor. The Secretaries of Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce and Trade, and Education or their designees serve as ex officio members.

School boards and local governing bodies; unexpended local funds; school maintenance, renovation, and construction. Encourages each local governing body and local school board to enter into a collaborative agreement to set aside in a separate fund any sums, exclusive of the required local effort and required local match as stated in the general appropriation act, appropriated to the school board by the local governing body that are unexpended by the school board in any year in order to use such sums to finance school maintenance, renovation, or construction in the local school division. The bill provides that any such agreement may permit the local school board to retain and make authorized expenditures from such separate fund. As introduced, this bill is a recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization and incorporates SB 276.

Transit Transition Fund and Program; established.Establishes the Transit Transition Fund and Program, administeredby the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, to provide grantsto state, regional, and local public entities to support the transitionof public transit fleets to zero-emission and low-emission fleets.The Director of the Department is directed by the bill to report annually to the Governor and the chairmen of the House Committeeon Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriationsby November 1 of each year. The bill also directs 7.5 percent ofthe revenues collected from the tax on sports betting permitteesto the Fund, reducing the share of the tax revenue allocated to thegeneral fund.

Minor victims of sex trafficking; services.Provides that a minor engaged in prostitution or keeping, residingin, or frequenting a bawdy place shall not be proceeded upon as delinquentand shall be referred to the local department of social servicesfor an assessment and services.

Additional local sales and use tax; use of revenuesfor construction or renovation of schools. Allows any countyor city to levy a local general retail sales tax and a local usetax at a rate not to exceed one percent as determined by its governingbody to provide revenues solely for capital projects for the constructionor renovation of schools if such levy is approved in a voter referendum.Under current law, the power to levy such local sales and use taxesfor the construction or renovation of schools is limited to the qualifyinglocalities of Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick, and Pittsylvania Counties and the City of Danville.

Administration of government; language accessequity; report. Establishes the Interagency Language Access WorkingGroup in the Office of the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusionwith the following membership: the Director of Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion, the Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman,the Governor's Secretaries, and six nonlegislative citizen membersrepresenting organizations that represent individuals with languageaccess needs. The Working Group is established for the purpose ofmaximizing state policies, resources, technical assistance, and procurementpractices to further language access and equity in the Commonwealthand its state government agencies. The bill also requires each stateagency to designate a language access coordinator who will be responsiblefor the agency's annual language access report, the requirementsof which are set out in the bill. The Secretary of Administrationis directed to establish criteria for state agencies to procurelanguage interpretation and translation services and to establisha policy for compensating multilingual state employees who are requiredas part of their job to provide interpretation, translation, or other bilingual skills at least once a month.