Nutrient credits; generation near where used;report. Provides that any nutrient credit used to comply withcertain stormwater runoff water quality criteria shall be generatedin the same eight-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC), as defined bythe U.S. Geological Survey, as the site of the land-disturbing activity.Current law allows such a credit to be generated in a HUC adjacentto the one in which the land-disturbing activity is located. Thebill also directs the Department of Environmental Quality to reportto the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Agriculture, Conservationand Natural Resources Committee on the nutrient credit trading program.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;retaliatory conduct; rebuttable presumption. Establishes a rebuttablepresumption of retaliatory conduct pursuant to the provisions ofthe Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act if a landlord increasesrent beyond that which is charged for similar market rentals, decreasesservices, brings or threatens to bring an action for possession,or terminates the rental agreement within six months of having knowledgeof certain actions made by a tenant.
Control of firearms by localities. Removes the authority for a locality by ordinance to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms, ammunition, or components or any combination thereof in (i) any building, or part thereof, owned or used by such locality for governmental purposes; (ii) any public park owned or operated by the locality; (iii) any recreation or community center facility; or (iv) any public street, road, alley, or sidewalk or public right-of-way or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public and is being used by or is adjacent to a permitted event or an event that would otherwise require a permit. The bill provides that any firearm received by the locality pursuant to a buy-back program shall be offered for sale by public auction or sealed bids to a person licensed as a dealer. Current law provides that any such firearm shall be destroyed by the locality unless the person surrendering the firearm requests in writing that the firearm be offered for sale. The bill also limits the authority of localities and state governmental entities to bring lawsuits against certain firearms manufacturers and others.
Heavy Equipment Dealer Act. Provides that,under the Heavy Equipment Dealer Act, a supplier's refusal to continuewith a dealer an agreement that is expiring in accordance with its terms constitutes a refusal to continue or renew the agreement evenif the supplier offers to enter into a replacement agreement withsuch dealer. The bill removes the exception to the Act's notificationrequirements for agreement amendments for cases where the supplieruniformly amends agreements as to all dealers of the supplier inquestion in all states in which the supplier is marketing its products.The bill also prohibits a supplier from prohibiting a dealer frompurchasing equipment manufactured by another supplier for purposesof rental or resale to the dealer's customers or from directly orindirectly discriminating or taking adverse action against, or otherwisepenalizing, any dealer that purchases equipment or repair parts manufacturedby another supplier for purposes of rental or resale to the dealer'scustomers.
Military personnel; free admittance to stateparks, museums, and cultural institutions. Provides free accessto state parks, museums, and cultural institutions to active dutyand reserved members of the United States Armed Forces and theirdependents.
Conformity with the Internal Revenue Code; cannabis licensees. Deconforms from federal law, as it applies to Virginiamedical and recreational cannabis licensees, the prohibition on adeduction or credit for any amount paid or incurred during the taxableyear in carrying on any trade or business if such trade or businessconsists of trafficking in a controlled substance prohibited by federallaw.
Sexual abuse of animals; penalty. Providesthat any person who knowingly (i) engages in sexual contact withan animal; (ii) causes another person by force, threat, or intimidationto engage in sexual contact with an animal; (iii) advertises, solicits,offers, sells, purchases, or possesses an animal with the intentthat the animal be subject to sexual contact; (iv) permits sexualcontact with an animal to be conducted on any premises under hisownership or control; (v) produces, distributes, publishes, sells,transmits, finances, possesses with the intent to distribute, publish,sell, or transmit, or makes any attempt to produce, distribute, publish,sell, transmit, or finance an obscene item depicting a person engagedin sexual contact with an animal is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Thebill also provides that any person convicted of sexual abuse of ananimal may be prohibited from possessing, owning, or exercising controlover any animal for a period of up to five years and may be orderedto attend an appropriate treatment program or obtain psychiatricor psychological counseling.
Public school buildings; entry points; limits;screening. Requires each local school board to (i) limit to thelowest feasible number the entry points in each public school buildingin the local school division, (ii) ensure that each individual whoseeks to enter any school building in the local school division isscreened with a handheld metal detector wand by a school securityofficer or another appropriate school board employee who is appropriatelytrained in such method of screening, (iii) require each such schoolsecurity officer or other appropriate school board employee to implement further screening according to a protocol that it deems appropriatein any case in which the school board employee who conducts the initialscreening has reason to believe that the individual who seeks toenter the school building is in possession of a weapon, and (iv)prohibit any individual from entering any school building in thelocal school division if the individual fails or refuses to submitto the screening required in clauses (ii) and (iii).
Employer-mandated vaccinations for COVID-19;required exemptions; civil penalties. Prohibits an employer fromrequiring its employees to receive a vaccine for the prevention ofCOVID-19 unless such employer provides individual exemptions that allow an employee to opt out from such requirement on the basis of(i) medical reasons, including pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy; (ii) religious reasons; (iii) immunity from COVID-19; (iv) periodictesting; or (v) the use of employer-provided personal protectiveequipment. The bill provides requirements for an employee to claimsuch exemptions. The bill prohibits an employer from discriminationagainst an employee who claims such an exemption. The bill also providesfor civil penalties not to exceed $10,000 by an employer with fewerthan 100 employees or $50,000 by an employer with 100 or more employeesfor violations of the bill's requirements.
Use of confidential informants in drug-related investigations. Directs the Department of Criminal Justice Servicesto establish a model policy for the use of confidential informantsin drug-related investigations and to include in such model policythat (i) no individual currently on probation may serve as a confidentialinformant without notice to his probation or parole officer, (ii)no individual who has recently violated the terms of his probationor parole shall serve as a confidential informant, (iii) law-enforcementpersonnel shall obtain approval from the appropriate local attorneyfor the Commonwealth prior to working with a confidential informant,and (iv) such confidential informant shall not unlawfully use orpossess any controlled substances.
Cannabis control; vertical integration; socialequity. Requires the Board of Directors of the Virginia CannabisControl Authority (the Board) to promulgate regulations that allowto qualify as a social equity applicant, and therefore receive certainlicensing preferences and advantages, any applicant that has livedor been domiciled for at least 12 months in the Commonwealth andwhose principal place of business is, and was prior to July 1, 2021,located in a jurisdiction determined by the Board to be economically distressed. The bill also provides that, if an act of assembly ispassed by the 2022 Session of the General Assembly that creates licensesto allow for the cultivation, manufacture, wholesale, and retailsale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products in the Commonwealth,any industrial hemp processor that meets certain registration, program,and production requirements set forth in the bill shall be permittedto possess one or any combination of such licenses upon payment ofa $1 million fee to the Board and submission of and compliance witha diversity, equity, and inclusion plan.
Peer Recovery Support Fund. Establishesthe Peer Recovery Support Fund (the Fund) to provide payment forthe cost of peer-to-peer substance abuse recovery support servicesprovided by individuals other than state or local government employees.The bill requires that 10 percent of the net profits of the VirginiaCannabis Control Authority derived from the sale of marijuana beappropriated to the Fund in the general appropriation act. The billalso directs the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Servicesto develop regulations setting forth criteria for payments for peer-to-peersubstance abuse recovery support services provided by individuals other than state or local government employees from the Fund.
