Cannabis control; retail market; penalties.Establishes a framework for the creation of a retail marijuanamarket in the Commonwealth. The bill creates a regulatory and licensingstructure for such retail market and for the cultivation, manufacture,and wholesale of marijuana and marijuana products to be administeredby the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. The bill also relocatesand modifies numerous criminal provisions regarding marijuana offenses.The bill has staggered effective dates. The bill satisfies the reenactmentrequirement of Chapters 550 and 551 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021,Special Session I, but makes numerous modifications to the provisionsof the 2021 legislation related to criminal penalties, expungement,regulation of certain hemp products, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Affordable dwelling unit ordinances in certainlocalities. Provides that any project may be required, outsideof an affordable housing dwelling unit program, to contribute toa county or city housing fund but not for density covered by theprogram. The bill's provision applies to any county where the urbancounty executive form of government (Fairfax County) or the countymanager plan of government (Arlington County) is in effect, as wellas to the Counties of Albemarle and Loudoun and the Cities of Alexandria,Charlottesville, and Fairfax.
Victim of sex trafficking; affirmative defense;writ of vacatur; minors. Makes changes to the definitions ofvictim of sex trafficking used for the purposes of the issuance ofa writ of vacatur and the affirmative defense available to victimsof sex trafficking to include a minor charged with, convicted, oradjudicated delinquent of a qualifying offense in the Commonwealthwho committed such offense while younger than 18 years of age.
State Board of Local and Regional Jails; powersand duties; attorney visitation of clients. Requires the StateBoard of Local and Regional Jails to develop and establish minimumstandards for ensuring that attorneys have sufficient opportunitiesto have confidential visits with their clients who are held in local,regional, and community correctional facilities, which, considering facility schedules, space, personnel constraints, and inmate disciplinary status, shall include some opportunity for visitation of clientson the weekends and after 5:00 p.m.
Home instruction and private school tax credit.Creates an individual, nonrefundable income tax credit for taxableyears 2022 through 2026, for amounts paid by the parent or legalguardian of a child for the child's home instruction expenses or tuitionfor attending an accredited private school in Virginia. The creditshall equal the lesser of the amount actually paid in the taxableyear for such costs or half of the average state standards of quality funding per student per year. The credit may be taken for instruction-relatedmaterials, courses, or programs used in home instruction or for privateschool tuition. The credit is available for two years per child andcan be carried forward for five taxable years.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; meetingsheld through electronic communication means; local advisory boardsand commissions. Allows a local public body that serves in anadvisory capacity to gather through electronic communication meanswithout a quorum of the public body physically assembled at one primaryor central meeting location if certain conditions, outlined in thebill, are met.
Pensions; hazardous duty pay. Provides thatservice in the Fire and Rescue Department of the Virginia Air NationalGuard shall be treated as service in a hazardous position for purposesof the hazardous duty supplement or increased retirement multiplierin the State Police Officers' Retirement System, in the VirginiaLaw Officers' Retirement System, or as a local law-enforcement officereligible for similar benefits. The bill applies to creditable serviceearned before July 1, 2022, but only allows additional benefits tobe paid prospectively.
COVID-19 immunization; prohibition on requirement; discrimination prohibited. Prohibits the State Health Commissionerand the Board of Health, the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Department of Health Professions and any regulatoryboard therein, and the Department of Social Services from requiringany person to undergo vaccination for COVID-19 and prohibits discriminationbased on a person's COVID-19 vaccination status (i) with regard to education, employment, insurance, or issuance of a driver's licenseor other state identification or (ii) in numerous other contexts.
Breeding dogs or cats for foreign animal testingfacility prohibited; penalty. Prohibits a person from breedingor raising a dog or cat for the purpose of selling or transferringthe dog or cat, or its offspring, to an animal testing facility outsideof the United States. A violation of the bill is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Income tax credit; small businesses. Provides,in taxable year 2022, an individual or corporate income tax credit,as applicable for an eligible small business, defined in the billas a (i) (a) pass-through entity that employs fewer than 50 employeesand that has no more than $10 million in gross receipts during suchtaxable year or (b) self-employed individual or (ii) corporationthat is at least 51 percent independently owned by one or more UnitedStates citizens or legal resident aliens, employs fewer than 50 employees together with affiliates, and has no more than $10 million in grossreceipts during the taxable year, and where the individual businessowners must control both the management and daily operations of thebusiness. The individual income tax credit is equal to the amountof Virginia income tax owed on up to $250,000 of personal income during such taxable year and the credit for a corporation equals theamount of Virginia income tax owed during such taxable year on upto $250,000 of the amount that is not deductible when computing federaltax due to Virginia's deconformity from certain provisions of thefederal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020. The credit is subjectto an aggregate cap of $75 million.
Legal holidays; Clerk of Court Day. Establishesthe second Friday of August as a state holiday, in recognition ofthe clerks of the courts of the Commonwealth.
Powers of local government; trees during development process; replacement and conservation. Expands to all localitiesprovisions that currently allow only certain localities to adopt anordinance providing for the planting and replacement of trees duringthe development process and adds more flexibility for implementationand management of tree canopy banks, tree canopy credits, and treecanopy requirements. The bill changes and updates standards, referencedocuments, and published reference texts, expands options for localitiesto disburse funds to charitable organizations, and adds percentage specifications for ordinances related to cemeteries. In addition,the bill removes the prohibition of invalidating local ordinancesadopted before July 1, 1990, the allowance of 10-year minimum requirementsfor pre-1990 ordinances, and the inability to invalidate an ordinanceadopted that relates to the replacement of trees during the developmentprocess in certain localities. The bill allows ordinances that havebeen made pursuant to the law prior to the effective date of the changes in this bill to not be invalidated by the changes. The billrequires the Virginia State Forester to create standards for treecanopy percentages and to select members for the Stakeholder Advisory Group, established by the bill to provide recommendations on suchstandards. Some provisions of the bill become effective on July 1, 2022, and some have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.
