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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2018 SESSION
Co-Chair: Thomas K. Norment, Jr. - Co-Chair: Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.
Clerk: John Garrett
Staff: Lisa Wallmeyer
Date of Meeting: January 31, 2018
Time and Place: 9:00 AM Committee Room B Ground Floor Pocahontas Building
Patron: Ware
Commonwealth's tax code; conformity with federal law; emergency. Advances conformity of the Commonwealth's tax code with the federal tax code to December 1, 2017. The bill contains an emergency clause.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Ebbin
Mechanical devices designed to increase the rate of fire of firearms; penalty. Prohibits the manufacture, import, sale or offer to sell, possession, transfer, or transportation of any device used to increase the rate of fire of any semi-automatic firearm beyond the capability of an unaided person to operate the trigger mechanism of that firearm. A violation is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Stanley
Virginia Community College System; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Scholarship Pilot Program. Directs the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to establish and administer a two-year Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Scholarship Pilot Program (the Program) for the purpose of providing access to postsecondary educational opportunities to students living in poverty. The Program would provide scholarships to select comprehensive community colleges in the maximum amount of $4,000 per year, to be applied toward the costs of tuition and books, to 200 selected students who meet TANF eligibility requirements. The Program would be funded by the unexpended balance in federal TANF block grant funds. The bill directs VCCS to report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 1 of each year regarding the effectiveness of and other information about the Program. The bill does not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating the purposes of the bill is included in an appropriation act passed in 2018 by the General Assembly that becomes law.
Patron: Favola
Kinship Guardianship Assistance program. Creates the Kinship Guardianship Assistance program (the program) to facilitate child placements with relatives and ensure permanency for children for whom adoption or being returned home are not appropriate permanency options. The bill sets forth eligibility criteria for the program, payment allowances to kinship guardians, and requirements for kinship guardianship assistance agreements. The bill also requires the Board of Social Services to promulgate regulations for the program.
Patron: Black
Female genital mutilation; criminal penalty. Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 2 felony the penalty for any person to knowingly circumcise, excise, or infibulate the labia major, labia minora, or clitoris of a minor; for any parent or guardian charged with the care of a minor to consent to such circumcision, excision, or infibulation; or for any parent or guardian charged with the care of a minor to knowingly remove or cause of permit the removal of such minor from the Commonwealth for the purposes of performing such circumcision, excision, or infibulation.
Patron: Lucas
Firearms on school property. Adds public, private, or religious preschools and child day centers that are not operated at the residence of the provider or of any of the children to the list of schools where possessing a firearm on school property or on a school bus is prohibited. Under current law, the list of such schools only includes public, private, or religious elementary, middle, or high schools.
Patron: Edwards
Commonwealth's lien for payment of medical services; limitations. Provides that a lien granted to the Commonwealth against any recovery from a third party obtained by an injured person, or the personal representative of a decedent, whose medical costs were paid pursuant to the Virginia Medical Assistance Program shall attach only to the portion of the claim representing compensation for medical expenses incurred by the injured person. The bill further provides that such lien shall be reduced by deducting from the portion of the recovery representing compensation for such medical costs the pro rata share of attorney fees, costs, and expenses incurred by the injured party or decedent.
Patron: Favola
Local government taxing authority. Equalizes municipal taxing authority and county taxing authority by granting a county the same authority available to a municipality through the uniform charter powers. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019, prior which to the Division of Legislative Services is directed to convene a working group to develop recommendations as to what additional legislative changes are needed to effectuate the provisions of the bill.
Patron: Favola
Food stamp eligibility; drug-related felonies. Provides that a person who is otherwise eligible to receive food stamp benefits shall not be denied such assistance solely because he has been convicted of a first-time felony offense of possession with intent to distribute more than one-half ounce but not more than five pounds of marijuana, provided that he complies with all obligations imposed by the criminal court and the Department of Social Services, is actively engaged in or has completed substance abuse treatment, and participates in drug screenings. Current law prohibits denial of such benefits only if such persons have been convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance.
Patron: Favola
Eligibility for TANF; drug-related felonies. Provides that a person who is otherwise eligible to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) shall not be denied assistance solely because he has been convicted of a first-time felony offense of possession of a controlled substance, provided that he complies with all obligations imposed by the court and the Department of Social Services, is actively engaged in or has completed a substance abuse treatment program, and participates in drug screenings. The bill provides that a person who fails or refuses to participate in periodic drug testing or who tests positive for the use of illegal substances shall be ineligible to receive TANF benefits for a period of 12 months; however, such person is given one opportunity during the 12-month period to comply with the testing requirement and be reinstated to eligibility for TANF benefits.
Patron: Stanley
Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council; opioid addiction treatment pilot. Establishes the Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council (Council) as an advisory council in the executive branch. The bill requires the Council to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the agencies within his secretariat on health care reforms designed to increase access to and improve outcomes of treatment and recovery services for opioid addiction and opioid-related disorders through the use of a patient-centered medical home system.
The bill also requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, in partnership with community services boards, a hospital licensed in the Commonwealth, and telemedicine networks, to establish a two-year pilot program in Planning District 12 designed to provide comprehensive treatment and recovery services to uninsured or underinsured individuals suffering from opioid addiction or opioid-related disorders. The bill requires the Department and its partners to collaborate with the Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council to develop the pilot program.
Patron: Cosgrove
Virginia Veterans Recovery Grant Program and Fund; established. Establishes the Virginia Veterans Recovery Grant Program and the Virginia Veterans Recovery Fund for the purpose of providing diagnostic services, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, and support services to eligible veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. The Program reimburses eligible facilities that provide hyperbaric oxygen treatment to an eligible veteran at no cost to the veteran and reimburses the eligible veteran for any necessary travel and living expenses required to receive treatment.
Patron: Dunnavant
Virginia taxable income; deduction for personal exemptions. Increases the deduction, for purposes of computing Virginia taxable income, for personal exemptions. For taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2019, a taxpayer may deduct $1,000 for each personal exemption allowable to the taxpayer on federal income taxes; current law allows a deduction of $930 per exemption. A taxpayer who is blind or aged may deduct an additional personal exemption in the amount of $900; current law allows an additional deduction of $800.
Patron: Chafin
Coal tax credits. Reinstates the Virginia coal employment and production incentive tax credit. The credit, which expired on July 1, 2016, can be earned on and after January 1, 2018, but before January 1, 2023. The bill limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated or claimed for the coal employment and production incentive tax credit in each fiscal year to $7.3 million. An electricity generator must file an application with the Department of Taxation each year to determine the amount of credits that it may claim or allocate, including credits earned in prior taxable years. If the total amount of credits earned in a taxable year exceeds $7.3 million, the Department of Taxation shall apportion the credits on a pro rata basis. The credits may be carried over for seven years. The bill also reestablishes the coalfield employment enhancement tax credit for metallurgical coal for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2018, but before January 1, 2023.
Patron: Chafin
Passing a stopped school bus; injury to another person; penalty. Provides that any person who unlawfully passes a stopped school bus while driving a motor vehicle and causes serious bodily injury to another person is guilty of a Class 5 felony.
Patron: Marsden
Taxation in the Commonwealth. Makes numerous changes to the Commonwealth's tax structure. The bill creates two new income brackets for the calculation of individual income taxes and lowers the corporate income tax rate. The tax credit for low-income taxpayers would become refundable, and taxpayers would be prohibited from using the same donation to both receive certain tax credits and take a charitable deduction. The bill reinstates the estate tax. The state sales tax on food would be eliminated, and sales tax would be imposed on certain services and digital products. The transient occupancy tax would be imposed on the entire cost of the use or possession of the room. The tobacco tax would be raised.
Patron: McDougle
Driving while intoxicated; fourth offense; penalty. Provides that any person convicted of a fourth or subsequent offense of driving while intoxicated committed within a 10-year period shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
Patron: McDougle
Hashish oil; definition. Adds to the definition of hashish oil any waxy or solid extract containing one or more cannabinoids, excluding any such waxy or solid extract with a combined tetrahydrocannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinol acid content of less than 12 percent by weight.
Patron: Wexton
Schedule I drugs; classification for fentanyl derivatives. Adds to Schedule I of the Drug Control Act a classification for fentanyl derivatives.
Patron: Reeves
Malicious bodily injury to or pointing of laser at members of United States Armed Forces; penalty. Adds members of the United States Armed Forces, and members of the Virginia National Guard, to the list of persons the malicious or unlawful wounding of whom, or the pointing of a laser at whom, is subject to an enhanced penalty.
Patron: Reeves
Income tax; subtraction for military veterans with a service-connected disability. Establishes for taxable years beginning January 1, 2018, an individual income tax subtraction for the military retirement income of veterans with a 100 percent service-connected disability. The bill provides that the subtraction is available only for taxpayers whose federal adjusted gross income does not exceed 250 percent of the federal poverty level for a four-person household.
Patron: Reeves
Use or display of firearm during commission of a felony; killing or injuring police animals; penalty. Adds maliciously shooting, stabbing, wounding, or otherwise causing bodily injury to or administering poison to any animal used or trained by a law-enforcement agency, regional jail, or the Department of Corrections to the list of felonies for which a separate penalty is prescribed if a firearm is used during the commission of the offense.
Patron: Reeves
Individual income tax; phased-in subtraction of military retirement income. Phases in, over a five-year period beginning with taxable year 2018, a subtraction from Virginia taxable income for military retirement income. By taxable year 2022, 100 percent of military retirement income would be exempt from taxation. Under current law, military retirement income is exempt from taxation only if the individual is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Patron: Hanger
Long-Term Employment Support Services and Extended Employment Services. Requires the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services to administer Long-Term Employment Support Services and Extended Employment Services to assist individuals with disabilities with maintaining employment.
Patron: Obenshain
Unlawful creation of image of another; incapacitated adult; penalty. Provides that knowingly and intentionally creating a videographic or still image of a nonconsenting person if such person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast or if the recording device was positioned directly beneath or between such person's legs is punishable as a Class 6 felony if the nonconsenting person is an incapacitated adult. The bill provides that any person who, without authorization and with the intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate, maliciously disseminates or sells a videographic or still image of an incapacitated adult who is totally nude, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Hanger
Green job creation tax credit; extends sunset provision. Extends through taxable year 2020 the sunset date for the green job creation tax credit. Under current law, the credit expires for taxable years beginning on January 1, 2018.
Patron: Dunnavant
Kinship Guardianship Assistance program. Creates the Kinship Guardianship Assistance program (the program) to facilitate child placements with relatives and ensure permanency for children for whom adoption or being returned home are not appropriate permanency options. The bill sets forth eligibility criteria for the program, payment allowances to kinship guardians, and requirements for kinship guardianship assistance agreements. The bill also requires the Board of Social Services to promulgate regulations for the program.
Patron: Deeds
Impersonating certain public safety personnel; military members; penalty. Adds members of the United States Armed Forces, Armed Forces Reserves, and National Guard to the list of public safety personnel for which it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to impersonate with the intent to make someone else believe he is such a public safety official. A second or subsequent offense is punishable as a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Dunnavant
CBD oil and THC-A oil; certification for use; dispensing. Provides that a practitioner may issue a written certification for the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner to benefit from such use. Under current law, a practitioner may only issue such certification for the treatment or to alleviate the symptoms of intractable epilepsy. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care.
Patron: DeSteph
Cruelty to animals; aggravated cruelty; penalty. Provides that a person who commits an act of aggravated cruelty on a companion animal is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill defines "aggravated cruelty" and "torture." The bill increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony the penalty for torturing, killing, or willfully inflicting inhumane injury or pain to a dog or cat. Current law requires that the dog or cat die as a direct result of the torture or cruelty before the violation is a Class 6 felony.
Patron: Surovell
Driving under the influence; first offenders; license conditions; penalty. Provides that in the case of an adult offender's first conviction of driving under the influence when the offender's blood alcohol content was less than 0.15, the sole restriction of the offender's restricted driver's license shall be the prohibition of the offender from operating any motor vehicle not equipped with a functioning, certified ignition interlock system for one year without any violation of the ignition interlock system requirements.
Patron: Sturtevant
Virginia taxable income; standard deduction. Increases, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2019, but before January 1, 2020, the amount of the standard deduction to $6,350 for single individuals and $12,700 for married couples. Under current law, the standard deduction is $3,000 for single individuals and $6,000 for married couples.
In future tax years, the deduction will be adjusted by a percentage equal to the difference in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers between the current year and 2019. Despite the indexing, the amount of the deduction will never fall below $3,000 for individuals or $6,000 for married persons filing jointly.
Patron: Sturtevant
Individual income tax rates. Lowers the rate of taxation for each tax bracket for individual income tax by 10 percent. The reduction will be phased in over the course of three years in which Virginia Gross Domestic Product grows by three percent or more.
Patron: Howell
Protective orders; possession of firearms; penalty. Provides that it is a Class 6 felony for a person who is subject to a permanent protective order (i.e., a protective order with a maximum duration of two years) for subjecting another person to an act of violence, force, or threat to possess a firearm while the order is in effect, which is equivalent to the existing penalty for possession of a firearm by a person subject to a permanent protective order for family abuse. The bill also provides that such person may continue to possess and transport a firearm for 24 hours after being served with the order for the purposes of selling or transferring the firearm to another person.
Patron: Reeves
Damage or trespass to critical infrastructure or utilities; penalty. Provides that any person who intentionally destroys or damages any alumina refinery, a chemical, polymer, or rubber manufacturing facility, a transmission facility used by a federally licensed radio or television station, a steelmaking facility that uses an electric arc furnace to make steel, a facility identified and regulated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, a dam that is regulated by the Commonwealth or federal government, a port, a railroad switching yard, railroad tracks, a trucking terminal, or other freight transportation facility, or a facility that is used to furnish cellular telephone or other wireless telecommunications service, is guilty of a Class 4 felony, provided that in the event the destruction or damage may be remedied or repaired for $200 or less such act shall constitute a Class 3 misdemeanor.
Patron: Stanley
Income tax; modification for certain companies and subtraction for their employees; local grants. Establishes an income tax modification for companies that, from 2018 through 2028, either (i) invest at least $5 million in new capital investment in a qualified locality and create at least 10 jobs in a qualified locality or (ii) create at least 50 jobs in a qualified locality. Such companies are exempt from withholding for their employees that reside in a qualified locality.
The bill defines qualified locality to include (i) the Counties of Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson, Giles, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Wise, and Wythe and the Cities of Bristol and Norton, (ii) the Counties of Carroll, Grayson, Henry, Halifax, Patrick, and Pittsylvania and the Cities of Danville, Galax, and Martinsville, and (iii) the City of Petersburg. Qualified locality also includes certain real property owned or partly owned by such localities outside of their territorial boundaries.
A company is eligible to claim the subtraction if it had no property or payroll in Virginia or if it had property or payroll in a qualified locality on the effective date of the act and remits its applicable estimated tax to the Tax Department. The bill authorizes the Commonwealth's Development Opportunity Fund and the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund to issue grants or loans to eligible companies to pay their estimated tax liability. The bill defines applicable estimated tax as the sum of (i) the company's tax liability, calculated without allowing the modification, and (ii) the amount it would have been required to withhold for each of its employees that reside in a qualified locality.
Generally, the amount of the modification is the value of the company's property and payroll in qualified localities. The bill provides similar modifications for industries that use different apportionment formulas including motor carriers, financial companies, construction companies, railway companies, manufacturing companies, retailers, and businesses with enterprise data center operations.
The bill also establishes a subtraction of up to $250,000 from individual income tax for employees of an eligible company. Eligibility for the corporate and individual income tax subtractions shall continue for nine years following the year in which the company initially makes a modification to its apportionment formula. Continuing eligibility is contingent on the company maintaining its capital investment and jobs created in qualified localities.
The bill permits (i) the Counties of Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, and Wise and the Cities of Bristol and Norton, (ii) the Counties of Carroll, Grayson, Henry, Halifax, and Pittsylvania and the Cities of Danville, Galax, and Martinsville, and (iii) the City of Petersburg to provide grants and loans to companies that qualify for the modification provided by the bill. The bill also authorizes all industrial development authorities to provide grants and loans to such companies.
Patron: Wagner
Virginia Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund. Creates the Virginia Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund to provide no-interest loans to any locality, school division, or public institution of higher education for energy conservation or efficiency projects, funded by 40 percent of the annual revenue over $325 million of certain state recordation taxes and other funds given to the Fund.
Patron: Sturtevant
High school apprenticeship tax credit. Creates a tax credit for a business that hosts a junior or senior in a Richmond City high school as an apprentice for a semester during the 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 academic year. The business would receive a $2,500 credit per student, per semester. Participation in the program would be limited to 25 students.
Patron: Ebbin
Tax credits for contributions to the Commonwealth Competitiveness Fund. Establishes the Commonwealth Competitiveness Fund (the Fund) and provides that a taxpayer shall receive an income tax credit in the amount of 90 percent of his contribution to the Fund starting with taxable year 2018. The bill provides that moneys in the fund shall be used for exclusively public purposes and shall be subject to appropriation by the General Assembly; however, 10 percent of the money in the Fund shall be reallocated to the at-risk add-on based on the concentration of children qualifying for the federal Free Lunch Program.
The bill provides that the credit shall not exceed the taxpayer's tax liability. The bill provides that a taxpayer may not claim a charitable deduction for state tax purposes if he claims a credit under the bill for the same donation to the Commonwealth Competitiveness Fund.
The bill provides that if a federal agency or federal court issues a public ruling, regulation, or court decision that limits the amount allowed for federal tax purposes under the federal charitable contribution deduction, the amount of the state credit shall be limited to the amount as determined by the federal agency or court.