2021 General Assembly Session Adjourns Sine Die ​

The 2021 legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly was one for the history books. Starting on January 13, the session was held virtually with the Senate meeting in a socially distanced manner at the Virginia Science Museum and the House of Delegates meeting via Zoom with just the Speaker and House Clerk working from the Capitol. In both instances, meetings were livestreamed and all public interactions were virtual. It was a “short session,” which ​ traditionally lasts for 46 days: 30 days as required by the Virginia Constitution, coupled with what is normally a unanimously approved 16-day extension. Procedure was a bit different this year, as House and Senate Republicans did not support the perfunctory 16-day extension. In order to allow for a full 46 days of meeting, Governor Northam called a 19-day special session after the first 30 day session was completed. Leadership used a procedural move to have all ​ committees move any outstanding legislation directly into the special session. As such, this “special session” was ostensibly “special” in name only. While both the House and the Senate set severe limits on the number of bills each member was permitted to file this session, there were still 2,588 bills and resolutions introduced and more than 1,285 passed from both chambers and sent to the Governor for his action. The Virginia General Assembly will return on April 7th for the reconvened session to consider any vetoes or amendments from the Governor.

Legislators tried to keep the COVID-19 pandemic at the top of their priority list during this session. Emergency legislation facilitating the administration of the coronavirus vaccine, as well as legislation establishing COVID-19 as a compensable disease for certain workers under the Workers’ Compensation Act both received bipartisan support. Other major legislative issues this session were establishing a legalization framework for adult use of marijuana, criminal justice reforms and the abolition of the death penalty, as well as the establishment of a Virginia Voting Rights Act. In addition to policy measures, the Senate passed a resolution with bipartisan support to censure Senator (R-Chesterfield), the first censure resolution since 1987.

There were some new faces seen virtually this year, with a special election on Tuesday, January 5 electing Delegate Angelia Williams Graves (D-Norfolk) and Delegate Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William) to the House of Delegates. Democrats still hold a 55-45 advantage in the House of Delegates and a 21-18 advantage in the State Senate. Virginia legislators honored the ​ life of the late Senator Ben Chafin (R-Russell), who sadly passed away from COVID related

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complications on January 1. Governor Northam declared a special election to be held on March 23rd to fill the vacant Senate seat. In addition to new faces, one General Assembly member also announced his retirement near the end of session - Del. Mark Cole (R-Spotsylvania).

In Virginia, every year is an election year. This November, the entire House of Delegates is up for reelection as well as the three statewide offices: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. Two Capitols will share more details on the upcoming campaign cycle in future updates. Budget Highlights

Virginia is currently in the middle of its normal two-year budget cycle, with the current budget running through June 30, 2022. As is normal in the short Session, the General Assembly amends the current budget and with $730 million more in state revenues than originally anticipated, the General Assembly was able to restore funding for many initiatives put on hold from last year as well as allocate funding to new priorities. The Governor and General Assembly also added $900 million to the reserve fund, bringing the Commonwealth’s reserve and rainy day funds to more than $2 billion.

Some of the budget highlights include:

● $142M for COVID-19 testing and mitigation, ● $41M for the Housing Trust Fund to combat homelessness, ● $25M for Unemployment Insurance, ● $54M funding for the legalization of adult-use marijuana, ● $80M in access and affordability funds for colleges and universities, ● $39M for the Governor’s G3 Program to provide no-cost community college to students who enroll in certain high demand fields, ● $50M for schools to hire additional nurses, social workers and behavioral health professionals, ● $52M in additional funds for childcare, and a ● 5% raise for teachers and state employees as well as an 8% raise for State Troopers.

The budget functions just as any other bill, so it will be reviewed by the Governor for his action by March 31. With an additional COVID relief bill working its way through the legislative process at the federal level, it is likely there will be another special session in late March or early April to allocate several billions of dollars in new federal relief funds.

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Specific Budget Items of Interest

Item 410 #2c This budget amendment provides $96,000 the second year for a program manager position that will be responsible for the creation and coordination of a formalized Partners in Preparedness Program and community outreach campaign. This position will work to ensure that the agency thoroughly engages with partners that can promote and enhance programs and communication by serving as trusted messengers within their communities. These partners come from all industries including but not limited to advocacy groups; education; business/commerce; faith-based; health care; nonprofits; and government agencies. This program will be data-driven and provide critical resources and support needed to be prepared and resilient, including but not limited to preparedness brochures, real-time emergency information, and access to disaster-focused webinars, forums, town halls, and other events. The position would be responsible for engaging with all VDEM divisions and the Virginia Emergency Support Team to ensure response and recovery plans and procedures take equity and inclusion into consideration and serve as a liaison during disasters to vulnerable communities by working with the trusted community partners.

Item 296 #1c This amendment adds 30 full-time positions funded through nongeneral funds in the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS). These positions would backfill the loss of positions based on implementation of the agency's shared business services. However, the positions are needed to enable OEMS to work directly with the Regional Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Councils. Each Council maintains a Board of Directors but they are staffed by OEMS. In addition, the OEMS will have responsibility for directly managing two regional EMS councils (Shenandoah and Rappahannock). Funding will be shifted within OEMS to cover the cost of the added positions.

2021 Bills of Interest

HB 1989 Public health emergency; emergency medical services agencies, real-time access to information (Delegate Lasherecse Aird) ​ Delegate Aird’s bill directs the Department of Health to develop and implement a system for ​ sharing information regarding confirmed cases of communicable diseases of public health threat with emergency medical services agencies in real time during a declared public health emergency related to a communicable disease of public health threat and with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board and regional emergency medical services councils upon request, in order to protect the health and safety of emergency medical services personnel and the public. The conference committee added an enactment clause requiring that the provisions of this

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act not become effective unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) approves a grant to the Commonwealth from the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC) program that is sufficient to fund the costs of the Department of Health to establish and implement the information-sharing system created by this act. The conference report passed both Chambers nearly unanimously and ​ awaits the Governor’s action.

HB 2015 Essential workers; hazard pay, employer to provide personal protective equipment, civil penalty. (Delegate Hala Ayala) ​ Delegate Ayala’s bill would have required, that following the declaration by the Governor of a ​ state of emergency that includes or is followed by any additional executive order in furtherance of such declaration that includes a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order, employers shall (i) compensate each of their essential workers at a rate not less than one and one-half times the essential worker's regular rate of pay for any hours worked during the closure order and (ii) provide their essential workers with personal protective equipment related to the state of emergency and recommended for the relevant work site or job task by the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, the State Department of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The bill defines "essential worker" as an individual employed as a health care provider, home care provider, or airport worker or by an essential retail business, as specified in the bill. The bill subjects violators to the same civil penalties, and provides the same cause of action for an employer's failure to pay the required hazard pay, as are currently imposed for failing to pay wages generally. Due to the extremely high cost of such a measure, the bill was passed by ​ indefinitely in the House Appropriations subcommittee on Health & Human Resources.

HB 2029 Fire training activities; prohibition on the use of certain oriented strand boards. (Delegate Paul Krizek) Delegate Krizek’s legislation prohibits the burning of Class A fuel materials that contain oriented ​ strand board by any person, local government, or agency of the Commonwealth defined in the bill, during fire training activities. While the VFCA supports the intent of the bill in reducing cancer within the fire service, as the bill was first introduced, VFCA had significant concerns of its impact on workforce training, particularly in smaller or more rural fire departments. After many rounds of amendments, and finding a balance between protecting firefighters and providing adequate training, the VFCA was able to remove its opposition and remained neutral on the bill. The legislation passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 81-18, the Senate on a ​ bipartisan vote of 28-11, and is heading to the Governor’s desk for his action.

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HB 2143 COVID-19 virus; immunity from civil claims related to the transmission of or exposure to the virus. (Delegate Jason Miyares) ​ ​ Delegate Miyares’ bill provides immunity to persons, as defined in the bill, from civil causes of action arising from any act or omission alleged to have resulted in the contraction of or exposure to the COVID-19 virus, provided such person has complied with applicable federal, state, and local policies, procedures, and guidance regarding COVID-19. The bill further provides immunity to persons who design, manufacture, label, or distribute any personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 virus from any civil cause of action arising out of the use of such equipment. The bill contains an emergency clause, and the immunities provided by such bill expire two years after the expiration or revocation of all states of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite there being an appetite over the ​ summer for similar legislation, this bill did not receive a hearing and was left in the House Committee on Courts of Justice.

HB 2053 Affordable & market-rate housing; DHCD to evaluate growing demand. (Delegate Ibraham Samirah) Delegate Samirah’s bill directs the Department of Housing and Community Development to convene a stakeholder advisory group to evaluate the construction of internal, attached, and detached accessory dwelling units as a strategy to address the Commonwealth's growing demand for affordable and market-rate housing. The bill requires the stakeholder advisory group to report its findings and recommendations, including any legislative recommendations, to the Director of the Department, the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, the commissioners of the Virginia Housing Development Authority, and the Virginia Housing Commission no later than November 1, 2021. The bill passed the House on a vote of 55-45 and the Senate on a vote of 22-17; it is ​ headed to the Governor’s desk for action.

HB 2207 Workers’ compensation; presumption of compensability for COVID-19 (Delegate Jay ​ Jones) / SB 1342 Workers’ compensation; presumption of compensability for COVD-19 (Senator ​ ​ ) / SB 1375 Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability for COVID-19 ​ (Senator ) After Senator Vogel’s bill was rolled into SB1375, Senator Saslaw’s bill and Delegate Jones’ bill became the vehicles for COVID-19 presumption. As originally introduced the three bills differed in approach and scope, however the final House and Senate bills that were agreed to during a committee of conference were identical and both passed the House and Senate unanimously. After the conference committee, both pieces of legislation establish a presumption that COVID-19 causing the death or disability of firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, law-enforcement officers, correctional officers, and regional jail officers is an occupational disease compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. The bills provide that such

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presumption applies to any death or disability occurring on or after September 1, 2020, caused by infection from the COVID-19 virus, provided that for any such death or disability that occurred on or after September 1, 2020, and prior to December 31, 2021, the claimant received a diagnosis of COVID-19 from a licensed physician, after either a presumptive positive test or a laboratory confirmed test for COVID-19, and presented with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that required medical treatment. The conference reports for both bills passed on near ​ unanimous votes from each chamber. The bills will soon be communicated to the Governor for his action.

HB 2228 Workers’ compensation; injuries caused by repetitive and sustained physical stressors. (Delegate Elizabeth Guzman) Delegate Guzman’s legislation defined "occupational disease" to include injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions, posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill would have provided that such injuries are covered under Workers Compensation. Such coverage would not have required that the injuries occurred over a particular period, provided that such a period can be reasonably identified and documented and further provided that the employment is shown to have primarily caused the injury, considering all causes. This bill was left in the house ​ Appropriations subcommittee on Compensation and General Government.

SB 1302 Crisis Call Center Fund; created, consistency with federal guidelines. (Senator Jeremy ​ ​ McPike) Senator McPike’s bill provides that the crisis call center, administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, shall be designated as the 9-8-8 Crisis Hotline Center for purposes of participating in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The bill directs the Department, in its development of the crisis call center, community care teams, and mobile crisis teams, to comply with any applicable requirements of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 and to provide for consistency with federal guidelines promulgated under such law. The bill contains immunity provisions for any originating service provider and its employees and agents acting pursuant to the act. The bill also increases from $0.75 to $0.94 the wireless E-911 surcharge and increases from $0.50 to $0.63 the prepaid wireless E-911 charge. The bill provides that part of the revenue attributable to the increase would be distributed to the Crisis Call Center Fund, established by the bill, to fund the Department's costs in establishing and administering the call center, and that the remainder of the revenue would be distributed to public safety answering points (PSAPs). This bill passed the Senate on a ​ bipartisan vote of 30-7 and unanimously from the House. It is headed to the Governor’s desk for his action.

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SB 1306 Assault and battery; penalty. (Senator ) ​ Senator Morrissey’s bill would have eliminated the mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months for an assault and battery committed against a law enforcement and first responder personnel including firefighters or volunteer firefighters, or emergency medical services personnel. The bill would have removed simple assault from enhanced punishment and provided that the enhanced punishment applies for assault and battery only when it results in bodily injury. The bill also contained a provision that a jury or the court may find any person charged with such offense (i) whose physical or mental capacity is diminished to the extent that he needs counseling or supervisory assistance or assistance with activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living or (ii) who has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, a developmental disability, or an intellectual disability, not guilty of such offense but guilty of a simple assault or assault and battery, punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Having previously ​ worked with Senator Surovell on this issue over the summer during the 2020 Special Session, Two Capitols offered the VFCA’s strong concerns to the patron and provided amendments worked out in the previous Special Session. The bill passed the Senate 21-18, but never received a hearing in the House Courts of Justice Committee.

SB 1406 Marijuana; legalization of simple possession, penalties. (Senator and ​ Senator ) Also incorporating Senator Morrissey’s SB 1243, the Ebbin/Lucas bill eliminates criminal ​ ​ penalties for simple possession of marijuana, modifies several other criminal penalties related to marijuana, and provides for an automatic expungement process for those convicted of certain marijuana-related crimes. The bill creates the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority tasked with creating a regulatory structure for the cultivation, manufacture, wholesale, and retail sale of retail marijuana and retail marijuana products. The bill contains social equity provisions that, among other things, provide support and resources to persons and communities that have been historically and disproportionately affected by drug enforcement. The bill has staggered effective dates and allows retail marijuana sales to begin on January 1, 2024. Certain provisions of the bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2022 Session of the General Assembly. The ​ Senate agreed to the conference report on a vote of 20-19 and from the House on a vote of ​ ​ 47-44.

SB 1445 COVID-19; facilitates vaccine administration (Senator ) / HB 2333 ​ COVID-19; administration of vaccine. (Delegate Lamont Bagby) ​ Senator Dunnavant and Delegate Bagby’s bills require the Department of Health to enable eligible health care providers to volunteer to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of

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the Commonwealth during a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the Governor. The bills define "eligible health care provider" and provide that the program shall include (i) a process by which an eligible health care provider may register to participate in the program and (ii) the training requirements for participating eligible health care providers related to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, including training on the intramuscular injection of the COVID-19 vaccine and contraindications and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. The bills specify requirements that the Department shall ensure that each site at which COVID-19 vaccinations are administered by eligible health care providers satisfies. The bills also require the Department to establish a process by which entities, including medical care facilities, hospitals, hospital systems, corporations, businesses, pharmacies, public and private institutions of higher education, localities, and any other professional or community entity operating in the Commonwealth, may volunteer their facilities as sites at which the COVID-19 vaccine may be administered to residents of the Commonwealth. The bills permit a public institution of higher education or a private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to volunteer to provide assistance to the Department and local health departments for data processing, analytics, and program development related to the COVID-19 vaccine through the use of its employees, students, technology, and facilities. The bills also permit localities with fire departments, emergency medical services departments, and volunteer rescue squads to establish and staff vaccine administration clinics. The bill provides civil and criminal immunity to individuals and professional entities acting pursuant to the bill and contains an emergency clause. The bill ​ passed both chambers unanimously and was signed by the Governor on February 15, 2021. With an emergency clause on the bill, this legislation went into effect the day the Governor signed it.

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