Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Creditsprogram. Increases from 65 percent to 75 percent the tax creditfor the value of the monetary or marketable securities donation madeby a taxpayer to an eligible scholarship foundation.
Elections; absentee voting; ballots to be sortedand results to be reported by precinct. Provides that absentee ballots processed at a central absentee precinct must be sorted bythe precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assignedand that the resulting vote totals from such ballots must be reportedseparately for each voter precinct.
Superintendent of Public Instruction and localschool boards; standards for certain public school library materials;parental review of library and other educational materials. Requiresthe Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and distribute to each local school board and each such school board to enforcethroughout the local school division mandatory statewide standardsfor evaluating, classifying, and removing from any public elementaryor secondary school library any explicit material. The bill alsopermits the Office of the Attorney General to enforce compliancewith such standards in any local school division. The bill also establishesmeans and processes for the review of education materials and thereview and approval of library materials by parents, including requiringthe parents of all students who attend a public elementary or secondaryschool to comprise the Parental Review and Approval Committee forsuch school and requiring such Committee to review and vote to approveor disapprove of each item on a list of proposed library materialsdistributed to it by the school.
Board of Education; standards for the maintenanceand operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementaryand secondary school buildings. Requires the Board of Education(the Board) to make recommendations to the General Assembly for amendmentsto the Standards of Quality to establish standards for the maintenanceand operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementaryand secondary school buildings. The bill requires such recommendationsto include standards for the percentage of the current replacementvalue of a public school building that a school board should budget for the maintenance and operations of the building and such otherstandards as the Board deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board to solicit the input of relevant stakeholders and the publicin developing such recommendations. Finally, the bill requires theBoard to submit its recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Healthno later than December 1, 2022. This bill is a recommendation ofthe Commission on School Construction and Modernization.
School principals; incident reports; violent offenses.Requires that school principals report to law enforcement any felonyoffenses and violent offenses enumerated in the bill that may constitutea criminal offense. Under the bill, principals have discretion toreport certain non-violent crimes to law enforcement. Under currentlaw, principals are required to make such reports to law enforcementonly for such acts that may constitute a felony offense.
Immunizations; authority of the Commissionerof Health; religious exception. Exempts a person, including aparent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects to administrationof a vaccine on religious grounds from mandatory immunization requirementsduring an epidemic. Currently, exemption from mandatory immunizationrequirements during an epidemic is available only to those personsto whose health the administration of the vaccine would be detrimental,as certified in writing by a licensed physician.
Emergency Services and Disaster Law; Commissioner of Health; emergency orders and regulations; limitations; civil penalty. Provides that neither the Board of Health nor the Commissioner of Health shall make any emergency order or regulation unless, on the basis of the evidence available to the Board, (i) such order or regulation is necessary to suppress a nuisance dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health; (ii) no alternatives to the proposed order or regulation that are reasonable in light of the impact on quality of life and economic well-being exist; and (iii) the provisions of such order or regulation are narrowly tailored to address the nuisance dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health. The bill also provides that the Governor shall not issue any emergency rule, regulation, or order unless, on the basis of the evidence available to the Governor, (a) such rule, regulation, or order is necessary to address a compelling circumstance; (b) no alternatives to the proposed rule, regulation, or order that are reasonable in light of the impact on quality of life and economic well-being exist; and (c) the provisions of such rule, regulation, or order are narrowly tailored to address the compelling circumstance.The bill provides that any order that limits the number of individuals who may gather together in person, in public or private, or categorizes individuals on the basis of their relationship to or association with such individuals and limits the categories of individuals with whom an individual who is not known or reasonably suspected to have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health threat may associate is presumed to negatively impact quality of life and economic well-being.The bill also limits the duration of any emergency rule, regulation, or order to 15 days; provides for one extension of such rule, regulation, or order; and provides that any person who violates such rule, regulation, or order shall be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $100 per violation. Under current law, any person who violates the provisions of an executive order is subject to a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Family life education curriculum guidelines;human reproduction; viewing of ultrasound video recording. Requiresthe instruction on human reproduction contained in the Board of Education'sfamily life education curriculum guidelines to include the viewingof a video recording of an ultrasound of a live unborn human in theuterus.
Department of Health; restrictions on expenditureof funds related to family planning services. Prioritizes thetypes of entities to which the Department of Health provides grantsfor family planning services.
Voter identification; identification containinga photograph required. Requires presentation of a form of identificationcontaining a photograph in order to vote. The bill repeals the provisionsof law permitting a voter who does not have one of the required formsof identification to vote after signing a statement, subject to felonypenalties for false statements, that he is the named registered voterhe claims to be. Instead, the bill provides that such voter is entitledto cast a provisional ballot.
