Sen. Jennifer L McClellan

Employment; domestic service; Human Rights Act. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic serviceare not excluded from employee protection laws, laws regarding thepayment of wages, and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. Themeasure also provides that the prohibitions on nondiscriminationin employment of the Virginia Human Rights Act apply to employersthat employ one or more domestic workers.

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies for exclusion from dwelling unit, interruption of services, or actions taken to make premises unsafe. Provides that a general district court shall enter an order upon petition by a tenant that his landlord has (i) removed or excluded the tenant from the dwelling unit unlawfully, (ii) interrupted or caused the interruption of an essential service to the tenant, or (iii) taken action to make the premises unsafe for habitation. The bill allows entry of a preliminary order ex parte to require the landlord to allow the tenant to recover possession of the dwelling unit, resume any such interrupted essential service, or fix any willful actions taken by the landlord or his agent to make the premises unsafe for habitation if there is good cause to do so and the tenant made reasonable efforts to notify the landlord of the hearing. The bill requires that any ex parte order entered shall further indicate a date for a full hearing on the petition that is no later than 10 days from the initial hearing date. Finally, the bill provides that, at a full hearing on such petition and upon proper evidence presented, the tenant shall recover actual damages, the greater of $5,000 or four months' rent, and reasonable attorney fees.

Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leaders and mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Paid sick leave. Requires employers to provide certain employees paid sick leave. An employee is eligible for paid sick leave under the bill if the employee is an essential worker and works on average at least 20 hours per week or 90 hours per month. The bill provides for an employee to earn at least one hour of paid sick leave benefit for every 30 hours worked. An employee shall not use more than 40 hours of earned paid sick leave in a year, unless the employer selects a higher limit. The bill provides that earned paid sick leave may be used for (i) an employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; an employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or an employee's need for preventive medical care or (ii) care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or care of a family member who needs preventive medical care. The bill prohibits employers from taking certain retaliatory actions against employees related to leave. The bill provides for a hardship waiver for employers that demonstrate that providing paid sick leave threatens the financial viability of the employer, jeopardizes the ability of the employer to sustain operations, significantly degrades the quality of the employer's business operations, or creates a significant negative financial impact on the employer. The bill requires the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to promulgate regulations that (a) identify workers as essential based on the categories listed in the bill; (b) include reasonable requirements for recordkeeping, confidentiality, and notifying employees of their rights under provisions of the bill; (c) establish complaint, investigation, and enforcement procedures that include fines, not to exceed $500, for violations of provisions of the bill; (d) establish requirements for compensation and accrual of paid sick leave for employees employed and compensated on a fee-for-service basis; and (e) include procedures and requirements for an employer to qualify for a hardship waiver. The provisions of the bill do not apply to a retail business with fewer than 25 employees.

Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fundand Program established. Establishes the Get Skilled,Get a Job, Give Back (G3) Fund and requires the Virginia Community College System to establish the G3 Program for the purpose of providing financial assistance from the Fund to certain low-income and middle-income Virginia students who are enrolled in an educational program at an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher educationthat leads to an occupation in a certain high-demand field. The billcontains provisions for student eligibility, financial assistanceaward amounts, and data reporting.

New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority; creation. Authorizes the creation of a regional passenger rail station authority in Planning District 4 to assist in the creation and maintenance of passenger rail in the region. The authority would be authorized to enter into revenue sharing agreements and to issue revenue bonds. The authority would be governed by a board consisting of members of each participating locality and institution of higher education.

Electric utilities; nonjurisdictional customers;third party power purchase agreements. Provides that for pilotprograms under which an owner or operator of a renewable energy generationfacility sells electricity to an eligible customer-generator througha third party power purchase agreement, both jurisdictional and nonjurisdictionalcustomers may participate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Board of Local and Regional Jails; review servicesprovided to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery; report. Directsthe Board of Local and Regional Jails (the Board), in consultationwith a stakeholder work group, to (i) identify and analyze all obstetricand gynecological services and any other services provided by localand regional jails to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination,labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery; (ii) compare such servicesto best practices recommended by the American Correctional Association,American Jail Association, National Commission on Correctional HealthCare, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and(iii) develop recommendations to ensure that proper services areprovided to inmates during pregnancy, pregnancy termination, laborand delivery, and postpartum recovery. The bill directs the Boardto (a) post its findings and recommendations on its website and reportsuch findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Chairmen of the Senate Committee onthe Judiciary, Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services,House Committee for Courts of Justice, and House Committee on PublicSafety by July 1, 2022, and (b) adopt regulations consistent withits findings and recommendations.

Vehicle registration; special communicationneeds indicator. Expands eligibility for a special communicationneeds indicator on a vehicle registration to vehicle owners whosevehicle is regularly occupied by an individual who has a disabilitythat can impair communication. Current law authorizes those vehicleowners who have a disability that can impair communication to applyfor such an indicator. The bill authorizes the removal of such indicatorby request in writing to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Orders of restitution; enforcement. Provides that an order of restitution shall be docketed in the name of the Commonwealth, or a locality if applicable, on behalf of a victim, unless the victim named in the order of restitution requests in writing that the order be docketed in the name of the victim. The bill provides that an order of restitution docketed in the name of the victim shall be enforced by the victim as a civil judgment. The bill also states that the clerk of such court shall record and disburse restitution payments in accordance with orders of restitution or judgments for restitution docketed in the name of the Commonwealth or a locality. The bill provides that at any time before a judgment for restitution docketed in the name of the Commonwealth or a locality is satisfied, the court shall, at the written request of the victim, order the circuit court clerk to execute and docket an assignment of the judgment to the victim and remove from its automated financial system the amount of unpaid restitution. Similarly, the bill provides that if a judge of the district court orders the circuit court clerk to execute and docket an assignment of the judgment to the victim, the district court clerk shall remove from its automated financial system the amount of unpaid restitution. Additionally, the bill states that if the victim requests that the order of restitution be docketed in the name of the victim or that a judgment for restitution previously docketed in the name of the Commonwealth or a locality be assigned to the victim, the victim shall provide to the court an address where the defendant can mail payment for the amount due and such address shall not be confidential.