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 Amanda Chase (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 2021 General Assembly Legislative Wrap-up March 2, 2021 Page 1 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. 2021 General Assembly Legislative Wrap-up March 2, 2021 Page 2 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 2021 General Assembly Legislative Wrap-up March 2, 2021 Page 3 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.