Highlights
SESSION 2022 - WEEK 5
WEEKLY FRIDAY UPDATE
from
Senator Amanda Chase
Today we celebrated my last bill presentation of 25 bills to the Senate of Virginia. While many bills died along a party line vote on committees that were stacked disproportionately with Democrats, I was able to get at least 9 co-sponsored bills to pass the Senate and they will now head over to the Republican controlled House. Those are listed below.
Cross over is this coming Tuesday, February 15, and is probably the longest day of session as we finish voting on all of the Senate bills. Beginning Wednesday, the Senate will vote exclusively on House bills and vice versa. Cross over is the "half time," if you will, of the General Assembly Session that ends on Saturday, March 17.
THERE ARE NO BILLS TO PRESENT NEXT WEEK. CROSS OVER IS THIS COMING TUESDAY. MY LAST BILL, SB75 (ALLOWING FIREARMS IN CAPITOL SQUARE) WAS PRESENTED 2/11/22 AND PASSED BY INDEFINITELY.
Here are the Senate bills of which I am a chief co-patron and have thankfully survived the Democrat controlled Senate. These bills will come before the House beginning next week.
SB39 Elections; form of ballot; party identification of candidates on ballots; constitutional officers. Extends to elections for constitutional officers the requirement that ballots identify the nominating political party for party candidates and identify independent candidates as such. Currently, this requirement applies only to federal, statewide, and General Assembly elections.
SB80 State and local elections officials; acceptance of certain gifts and funding prohibited. Prohibits state and local elections officials from soliciting, accepting, using, or disposing of any moneys, grants, property, or services given by a private individual or nongovernmental entity for the purpose of funding voter education and outreach programs, voter registration programs, or any other expense incurred in the conduct of elections. The bill specifically provides that the operation of a polling place or voter satellite office in a facility furnished by a private individual or nongovernmental entity is not a violation of this prohibition.
SB159 Public institutions of higher education; debt collection; transcripts and diplomas. Prohibits public institutions of higher education from (i) refusing to provide a transcript or diploma for a current or former student on the grounds that the student owes a debt; (ii) conditioning the provision of a transcript or diploma for a current or former student on the payment of a debt, other than a fee charged to provide the transcript or diploma; (iii) charging a higher fee to a current or former student for obtaining a transcript or diploma, or providing less favorable treatment of a transcript or diploma request because a current or former student owes a debt; or (iv) using transcript or diploma issuance as a tool for debt collection. The bill states that any violation of these provisions constitutes a prohibited practice and is subject to any and all of the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
SB198 Disposition when defendant found incompetent; involuntary admission of the defendant. Provides that when a defendant is found incompetent, the court may, after a preadmission screening report has been completed and the court has made a finding by clear and convincing evidence that a crime has occurred, without objection by counsel for the defendant as to the defendant's competency to stand trial and upon motion of the attorney for the Commonwealth or its own motion, permit the community services board or behavioral health authority to petition for involuntary admission of the defendant and enter an order of nolle prosequi or dismissal for the criminal charge. Under current law, the court is required to order that the defendant receive treatment to restore his competency. The bill also clarifies the process following the completion of the competency evaluation of a defendant.
SB273 Elections; absentee voting; verification by social security or driver's license number in lieu of witness signature. Makes optional the current absentee ballot witness signature requirement by giving the voter the option to provide either the last four digits of the voter's social security number or the voter's valid Virginia driver's license number in lieu of a witness signature.
SB528 Income tax; military benefits subtraction; emergency. Establishes an income tax subtraction for up to $20,000 of military benefits in taxable year 2021, up to $30,000 in taxable year 2022, and up to $40,000 in taxable year 2023 and each year thereafter. The bill defines military benefits to include military retirement income and benefits paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran. The bill contains an emergency clause.
SB656 Board of Education; policy on sexually explicit instructional material. Requires the Board of Education to establish, and each local school board to comply with, a policy to require each public elementary or secondary school to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests.
SB739 Public elementary and secondary schools and public school-based early childhood care and education programs; student instruction; masks. Requires, except in the case of the 10 unscheduled remote learning days otherwise permitted by law or in certain cases of student discipline, each school board to offer in-person instruction, as defined in the bill, to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary or secondary school for at least the minimum number of required annual instructional hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the instructional time provided pursuant to such program. The bill permits, notwithstanding any other provision of law or any regulation, rule, or policy implemented by a school board, school division, school official, or other state or local authority, the parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school, or in any school-based early childhood care and education program, to elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property. The bill provides that no parent making such an election shall be required to provide a reason or any certification of the child's health or education status and no student shall suffer any adverse disciplinary or academic consequences as a result of this parental election.
HB55 Voter registration; list maintenance; lists of decedents transmitted by State Registrar of Vital Records. Requires the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit to the Department of Elections a weekly list of decedents from the previous week. Currently, this list is transmitted monthly. The bill requires the general registrars to use this information to conduct list maintenance and to promptly cancel the registration of a person on the list. Votes 39 to 1
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