Bills & Legislation

Child tax credit; imposition of tax, adjustments.

Imposition of tax; adjustments and child tax credit. Creates a refundable income tax credit for an individual or married persons filing a joint return whose family Virginia adjusted gross income does not exceed $100,000 for taxable years 2025 through 2029 for each dependent member of the taxpayer's household who is younger than the age of 18. The amount of the credit equals $250 for each such dependent, to be increased by $50 for each taxable year that the Department of Taxation certifies annual revenue growth for the prior year of at least five percent, adjusted for the impact of tax policy changes. Additionally, the bill sets the Virginia deduction in the amount of $930 for each personal exemption allowable to the taxpayer for federal income tax purposes to expire after taxable year 2024.The bill also removes the two percent and three percent tax brackets, while maintaining the current five percent tax to be imposed on income in excess of $5,000 but not in excess of $17,000 and reduces from 5.75 percent to 5.6 percent the tax to be imposed on incomes in excess of $17,000, beginning with taxable year 2025. Finally, the bill provides that the tax imposed on income in excess of $17,000 shall be reduced by one-tenth of a percent for each taxable year between 2025 and 2029 that the Department of Taxation certifies annual revenue growth of at least five percent, adjusted for the impact of tax policy changes.

Joseph P. McNamaraRepublican

Higher educational institutions, public; admissions and enrollment.

Public institutions of higher education; admissions and enrollment; certain Virginia student yields required. Requires, beginning with the incoming freshman class in the fall semester of the 2026-2027 academic year and for each admissions and enrollment period thereafter, each public institution of higher education to establish and implement admissions practices that yield total Virginia student enrollment of at least 78.5 percent at the institution.

Geary HigginsRepublican

Admission to bail; rebuttable presumptions against bail for an alien illegally present in the U.S.

Admission to bail; rebuttable presumptions against bail for an alien illegally present in the United States. Creates a rebuttable presumption against bail for an alien illegally present in the United States charged with certain criminal offenses enumerated in the bill. The bill also requires the court to consider specified factors when determining whether the presumption against bail has been rebutted and whether there are appropriate conditions of release.

C. Todd GilbertRepublican

Felony homicide; certain drug offenses, penalty.

Felony homicide; certain drug offenses; penalty. Provides that a person is guilty of felony homicide, which constitutes second degree murder and is punishable by confinement of not less than five nor more than 40 years, if the underlying felonious act that resulted in the killing of another involved the manufacture, sale, gift, or distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substance to another and (i) such other person's death results from his use of the controlled substance and (ii) the controlled substance is the proximate cause of his death. The bill provides that venue for a prosecution of this crime shall lie in the locality where the underlying felony occurred, where the use of the controlled substance occurred, or where death occurred. The bill also provides that if a person gave or distributed a Schedule I or II controlled substance only as an accommodation to another individual who is not an inmate in a community correctional facility, local correctional facility, or state correctional facility, or in the custody of an employee thereof, and not with intent to profit thereby from any consideration received or expected nor to induce the recipient of the controlled substance to use or become addicted to or dependent upon such controlled substance, he is guilty of a Class 5 felony.

C. Todd GilbertRepublican

Animal-drawn vehicles; equipment requirements.

Animal-drawn vehicles; equipment requirements. Establishes certain equipment requirements for animal-drawn vehicles operating on the highways of the Commonwealth, including requirements for brake systems, tires and wheels, headlamps, reflectors, hazard lights, rearview mirrors, and horns. The bill replaces existing light and reflector requirements for animal-drawn vehicles under current law with such equipment requirements for headlamps, reflectors, and hazard lights.

Eric R. ZehrRepublican

Land use; refund by localities of certain application fees.

Refund by localities of certain land use application fees. Provides a method whereby an applicant who fails to receive approval of a land use application due to failure to meet a statutory deadline for a completed application may seek an application fee refund from a locality that is at least partially responsible for the delay that caused the applicant to miss the deadline.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Erosion and sediment control for certain localities; bond for sediment basin.

Erosion and sediment control for certain localities; bond for sediment basin. Limits the amount of the performance bond that an agency issuing a permit for a land-disturbing activity under the erosion and sediment control laws for certain localities can require when the final site plan includes a stormwater management facility that is built on top of a sediment basin or other sediment trap. The bill also sets a cap on the amount of the security that must be in the form of a letter of credit or cash required for performance for a sediment basin of 25 percent of the estimated cost.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Exchange of items on roadways; ability of localities to prohibit.

Exchange of items on roadways; ability of localities to prohibit. Authorizes localities to prohibit by ordinance the exchange or attempted exchange of any item between a pedestrian and the occupant of a motor vehicle located on a roadway in such locality, subject to certain exceptions. The bill provides that a violation of any such ordinance may be made punishable by a fine of not more than $50.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Digital Content Authenticity and Transparency Act; established, civil penalty.

Digital Content Authenticity and Transparency Act established; civil penalty. Requires a developer of an artificial intelligence system or service to apply provenance data to synthetic digital content that is generated by such developer's generative artificial intelligence system or service and requires a developer to make a provenance application tool and a provenance reader available to the public. The bill requires a controller of an online service, product, or feature to retain any available provenance data and requires a capture device to include a provenance application tool by default. The bill grants the Attorney General the exclusive authority to enforce such provisions and impose civil penalties pursuant to the bill. Under certain circumstances, the Attorney General may offer a developer an opportunity to cure a violation before imposing such civil penalties. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Michelle Lopes MaldonadoDemocrat

Public elementary and secondary school students; parents' bill of rights established.

Public elementary and secondary school students; parents' bill of rights established. Establishes, consistent with § 1-240.1 of the Code of Virginia, several enumerated rights for the parents of each public elementary or secondary school student in the Commonwealth, including the right to review any books, curricula, or instructional materials being taught or made available to their child and the right to be notified of any situation that directly affects their child's safety at school.

Geary HigginsRepublican

Public schools; delayed implementation and review of revised public school accountability system.

Department of Education; public school accountability; delayed implementation and review of revised public school accountability system; report; emergency. Directs the Department of Education to delay for a period of one year the implementation of the revised public school accountability system adopted pursuant to applicable Board of Education regulations in order to conduct a review of and establish a stakeholder advisory committee to solicit input on such revised public school accountability system for the purpose of ensuring that such accountability system is designed to achieve fair, transparent, and actionable results aimed at improving student growth and learning outcomes across the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to, by April 1, 2026, (i) publish a report on the process and findings of the review conducted in accordance with the provisions of the bill and (ii) submit to the Governor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the House Committee on Education a plan for modifying and implementing the revised public school accountability system that incorporates the findings of the review conducted and the input from the stakeholder advisory committee established in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Karen Keys-GamarraDemocrat

Motion picture production; increases aggregate cap on tax credit.

Motion picture production tax credit. Increases the aggregate cap on the motion picture production tax credit allocated in each fiscal year from $6.5 million to $8.5 million beginning in fiscal year 2025.

Charniele L. HerringDemocrat

Fraudulent insurance acts; penalty.

Fraudulent insurance acts; penalty. Creates a Class 4 felony for fraudulent insurance acts, enumerated in the bill.

Scott A. WyattRepublican

Income tax, state; energy efficient homes tax credits.

Income tax; energy efficient homes tax credits. Authorizes an eligible contractor, defined in the bill, to claim a nonrefundable income tax credit, during taxable years 2025 through 2029, in an amount equal to $1,000 per construction of a qualified new energy efficient home and $2,000 per construction of a zero energy ready home, as those terms are defined in the bill. The bill establishes a maximum credit amount that an eligible contractor may claim per taxable year of $250,000.

Irene ShinDemocrat

Income tax, state; subtraction for volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

Virginia taxable income; subtractions; volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical services personnel. Provides a state income tax subtraction of $2,000 beginning in taxable year 2026 for bona fide volunteers who perform qualifying services, defined in the bill as volunteer firefighting and fire prevention services, emergency medical services, auxiliary police officer services, ambulance services, emergency rescue services, and all training and training-related activities required by law to perform such services.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Virginia Retirement System; service credit for career and technical education teachers.

Virginia Retirement System; service credit for career and technical education teachers. Provides that a member of the Virginia Retirement System shall be eligible for additional years of service credit for service earned as a teacher in the field of career and technical education. The amount of service credit earned shall be as follows: (i) for service earned as a member who is more than 45 years old but less than 55 years old at the time of such service, such service shall be multiplied by the weighted years of service factor of 2.0 and (ii) for service earned as a member who is more than 55 years old at the time of such service, such service shall be multiplied by the weighted years of service factor of 2.5.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Insurance; additional purposes for Fire Programs Fund Aid to Localities Grant Program established.

Insurance; Fire Programs Fund; purposes; Aid to Localities Grant Program. Increases the assessment on certain insurance companies from one percent to 1.5 percent. The bill provides that the portion of the Fire Programs Fund allocated to localities may be used for the additional purposes of (i) constructing, improving, or expanding fire station facilities; (ii) providing mental health resources for fire personnel; or (iii) hiring additional fire personnel and funding recruitment and retention programs. The bill also prohibits such funds from being used, except as provided, for the purposes of investments, operating expenses, debt repayment, taxes, or fees. The bill also establishes the Aid to Localities Grant Program, to be funded by 0.25 percent of the assessments on insurance companies, for the purposes of providing assistance to local fire departments that are at risk of closing or facing major violations due to the lack of funds needed to be in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Local land use; authority for decision belongs solely to locality.

Local land use decision authority. Provides that the authority for a locality's planning and land use decisions belong solely to the locality and shall not be ceded to any state agency or state-sanctioned body.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

School boards; employee criminal history records checks and applications, penalty for noncompliance.

School boards; employee criminal history records checks and applications; penalty for noncompliance. Clarifies that certain school board employees who are (i) employed in an in-person or remote capacity or some combination thereof or (ii) fully licensed, provisionally licensed, or unlicensed are subject to the requirements in existing law to undergo a criminal history records check and a search of the registry of founded complaints of child abuse and neglect and to disclose certain criminal history information at the employment application stage and upon arrest. The bill provides that in the event that any school board fails or refuses to perform its duty to require any employee to undergo a criminal history records check as set forth in relevant law, each individual member of such board is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and his position on such school board shall be deemed vacant.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Income tax, state; eliminates sunset date, veteran student loan forgiveness.

Income tax exclusion; veteran student loan forgiveness. Eliminates the sunset date and expands eligibility for the income tax exclusion for any income received by a disabled veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States from the discharge of federal student loan indebtedness.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act; land preservation distributions and appropriations.

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Provides that beginning July 1, 2026, (i) after required distributions for transportation and localities under current law, no less than $200 million of the remaining recordation tax revenues shall be distributed for specified land protection and preservation purposes and (ii) no less than $30 million of the proceeds of bonds issued by the Virginia Public Building Authority shall be made available for infrastructure improvements and other capital projects for state parks each year The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland Preservation Fund.

Paul E. KrizekDemocrat

Certain gov't. & civics courses; civics diploma seal of excellence, instruction on local government.

Certain government and civics courses; civics diploma seal of excellence; instruction on local government. Requires the Board of Education to include in the Standards of Learning for Virginia and United States Government for grade 12 and requires each school board to provide as a part of any Virginia and United States Government course or civic education course offered to students in grade 12 an explanation of the purpose, role, responsibility, and identity of local constitutional officers and local governing bodies, including city councils, town councils, boards of supervisors, and school boards. The bill also requires the Board of Education to consider in its criteria for awarding a diploma seal for excellence in civics education and understanding of the state and federal constitutions and the democratic model of government the successful completion of government or civics courses that include instruction on the structures and functions of local government.

W. Chad GreenRepublican

Retail Sales and Use Tax; exemption for purchase of motor vehicle child restraint device.

Retail sales and use tax exemption; motor vehicle child restraint device. Creates an exemption from the retail sales and use tax for the purchase of a child restraint device for personal use in a passenger car beginning July 1, 2025.

Holly M. SeiboldDemocrat

Teachers; employment and licensure; locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credentials.

Teachers; employment and licensure; locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credentials. Establishes, enumerates criteria for, and permits a division superintendent or a comprehensive community college to issue a locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credential, valid for a period not to exceed three years, to any individual who demonstrates expertise in content or subject matter area in order for such individual to provide instruction or coursework in a corresponding non-core subject or course, as that term is defined in the bill, in grades six through 12 at any public school in the Commonwealth or at a comprehensive community college in the Commonwealth, including dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment courses. The bill delineates the criteria for issuance of such locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credential. The bill also contains several provisions relating to the employment of individuals under a locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credential, including (i) permitting any school division or institution of higher education to hire any such individual on a full-time or part-time basis to teach a non-core subject or course; (ii) requiring any such individual to be subject to a background clearance check and the fingerprinting and criminal history records check requirements required as a condition of employment of any applicant who is offered or accepts employment at a school division pursuant to applicable law; (iii) requiring each employing school board to assign an individual employed by such school board as a mentor to supervise any individual issued a subject matter expert teaching credential; and (iv) permitting any division superintendent to renew an individual's locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credential for a period not to exceed three additional years, provided that such individual receives satisfactory performance evaluations for each year of the original three-year locally awarded subject matter teaching credential. Finally, the bill requires each school division to annually report to the Department of Education the number of locally awarded subject matter expert teaching credentials issued for part-time and full-time teaching positions.

Wendell S. WalkerRepublican

Consumer Data Protection Act; user-generated content protected, civil penalty.

Consumer Data Protection Act; user-generated content protected; civil penalty. Requires controllers and processors to provide consumers with a privacy notice that applies to the consumers' user-generated content, defined in the bill, under the Consumer Data Protection Act and requires that any secondary use, defined in the bill, of personal data or user-generated content be consented to by the consumer. The bill requires a controller or processor, upon request by a consumer, to provide such consumer with a report that describes how the consumer's personal data or user-generated content was processed over the prior 12 months. The bill increases from $7,500 to $15,000 the maximum civil penalties for violations and allows civil penalties of up to $22,500 per violation for repeated noncompliance or egregious violations. The bill also allows a consumer who suffers a loss due to a violation to bring a private right of action against a controller or processor.

Bonita G. AnthonyDemocrat

Data centers; industrial zoning.

Data centers; industrial zoning. Requires a locality to review and amend its zoning ordinance to (i) designate data centers as industrial uses for zoning purposes; (ii) review the locations of zones allowing data centers by right, and adjust the zoning map, if needed, considering proximity to residential areas; (iii) review the minimum requirements in the zoning ordinance, such as setbacks and building heights, for the purpose of mitigating negative impacts on residential or other sensitive areas and consider adding requirements specific to data centers as needed; (iv) identify optimal areas for data center development in the locality, including locations that are suitable from the locality's perspective as well as the industry's perspective; (v) consider zoning ordinance changes to reduce the likelihood of noisy data centers, including through limiting allowable locations and requiring sound modeling, and prohibit the constant low-frequency noise of data centers from reaching residential areas; and (vi) require commitments from data centers making zoning requests to sufficiently mitigate negative impacts on any nearby residential areas. The provisions of the bill shall only apply to localities where data centers are already addressed in the locality's zoning ordinance and where a locality is revising its zoning ordinance to include data centers.

Joshua E. ThomasDemocrat

School boards; entitlement to one-time fee from certain data centers.

School boards; entitlement to one-time fee from certain data centers. Provides that any school board that governs a school division that contains a public school located within three miles of a data center, as such term is defined in relevant law, that received its certificate of occupancy from the relevant locality after July 1, 2025, is entitled to a one-time fee of $250,000 to be paid by the owner of such data center no later than 90 days after the issuance of such data center's certificate of occupancy by the locality.

Joshua E. ThomasDemocrat

Education improvement scholarships tax credits; removes sunset date.

Education improvement scholarships tax credits; sunset repeal. Repeals the sunset following taxable year 2027 for the education improvement scholarships tax credits and current benefit and eligibility requirements.

Mark L. Earley, Jr.Republican

Enhanced earned sentence credits; repeals four-level classification system.

Enhanced earned sentence credits; repeal. Repeals the four-level classification system for the awarding and calculation of enhanced earned sentence credits, allowing only a maximum of 4.5 earned sentence credits for every 30 days served.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Standards of Learning and programs of instruction; recognition of dangers and victims of communism.

Dangers and victims of communism; recognition; Standards of Learning and programs of instruction. Requires the Governor to annually issue a proclamation setting the seventh day of November as Victims of Communism Day and requiring such day to be suitably observed in each public elementary and secondary school in the Commonwealth as a day honoring the approximately 100 million individuals who have fallen victim to communist regimes around the world and to be suitably observed by a public exercise in the Capitol and elsewhere as the Governor may designate in such proclamation. The bill also requires the Board of Education to include in the history and social science Standards of Learning in grades six through 12 and each school board to emphasize in its Standards-aligned program of instruction in grades six through 12 the study of the dangers of communism.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Public schools; catalog of print or digital materials available in school libraries, etc.

Public schools; school libraries; catalog of print or digital materials available in school libraries and used as instructional materials; development, implementation, and maintenance. Requires the principal of each public elementary or secondary school or his designee to develop, implement, and maintain in an electronic spreadsheet or substantially similar electronic format a catalog of all print or digital materials, as defined in the bill, available in the school library and all instructional materials, as defined in the bill, used as a part of the school curriculum. The bill requires such catalog to (i) be developed and posted in a publicly accessible location on the school website in a searchable and downloadable format; (ii) identify each item by the item's title, author, and, if applicable, International Standard Book Number, or such other identifying features or information as the principal or his designee deems appropriate; and (iii) be maintained and updated as necessary to accurately reflect all print or digital materials available in the school library and any instructional materials used as a part of the school curriculum.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Children's Ombudsman; powers and duties.

Children's Ombudsman; powers and duties. Authorizes the Children's Ombudsman to take action on behalf of children for whom a report of abuse or neglect was made. Under current law, the Children's Ombudsman has the authority to take action on behalf of children receiving child-protective services, in foster care, or placed for adoption and children who may have died as a result of alleged abuse or neglect.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Higher educational institutions, public; grants with foreign countries of concern prohibited, etc.

Public institutions of higher education; certain grants from and partnerships and agreements with foreign countries of concern prohibited; report; civil penalty. Prohibits, except with the approval of the governing board of the institution of higher education or the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia under certain circumstances, any public institution of higher education from accepting any grant from or participating in any partnership or agreement with any foreign country of concern, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill requires the Council to establish and enforce mechanisms for compliance and penalties for noncompliance with such prohibition, which shall include civil penalties not to exceed $25,000 per offense and may include periodic institutional reporting until any such noncompliance is remedied by the institution. The bill requires each public institution of higher education, by December 1 of each year, to report to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Council any grant that it accepted from or agreement or partnership in which it participated with a foreign country of concern during the previous fiscal year and the date on which such grant, agreement, or partnership is expected to terminate.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Cash proffers; land transfer, extinguishing development rights.

Cash proffers; land transfer; extinguishing development rights. Provides that (i) cash payments proffered pursuant to relevant zoning law and (ii) the transfer of land may be used by an applicant for the purpose of extinguishing development rights elsewhere in the locality if the development rights to be extinguished are greater than the development rights being granted and the extinguishing of those development rights results in a perpetual conservation easement. The bill also provides that cash payments proffered may be used to seek matching funds from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Marijuana-related offenses; modification of sentence, sunset.

Modification of sentence for marijuana-related offenses. Creates a process by which persons convicted of certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling, giving, distribution, transportation, or delivery of marijuana committed prior to July 1, 2021, who remain incarcerated or on community supervision on July 1, 2025, may receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of such person's sentence. The provisions of this bill sunset on July 1, 2028. This bill was incorporated into HB 2555.

Nadarius E. ClarkDemocrat

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty.

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gouging provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under the ordinance may be required to give at least two months' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, described in the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent during any 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less, states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowance on its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also requires a locality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will develop and implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by the ordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality shall establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in its ordinance.

Nadarius E. ClarkDemocrat

Legal representation of indigent defendant; abolition of fees.

Abolition of fees; legal representation of indigent defendant. Eliminates the fees for the cost of court-appointed counsel or public defender representation for persons who are determined to be indigent.

Rae CousinsDemocrat

Public school funding; certain funding calculations.

Public school funding; certain funding calculations. Requires the Department of Education to calculate the composite index of local ability-to-pay for each school division by excluding the true value of real property that is eligible for certain disabled veteran and surviving spouse property tax exemptions in the locality.

Joshua G. ColeDemocrat

School crossing zones; expands definition to include higher educational institutions.

School crossing zones; institutions of higher education. Expands the definition of "school crossing zone" to include areas surrounding schools where the presence of students reasonably requires a special warning to motorists and provides that the term "school" includes public institutions of higher education and nonprofit private institutions of higher education. Currently, the definition of "school crossing zone" includes only areas surrounding schools where the presence of children requires such warning. The existing provisions of law allowing photo speed monitoring devices to be installed in school crossing zones will apply to any location that meets such expanded definition.

Betsy B. CarrDemocrat

Private schools, certain; memoranda of understanding with local law enforcement permitted.

Certain private schools; certain memoranda of understanding with local law enforcement permitted. Permits the administration of any private elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth that has a campus that is (i) located wholly within one locality but (ii) contiguous to another locality to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the local law-enforcement agency in such contiguous locality governing such agency's response to any law-enforcement emergency involving any immediate threat to life or public safety on such campus in accordance with the authority granted to the local law-enforcement agency pursuant to relevant law to so respond.

Betsy B. CarrDemocrat

Proposed plat, site plan, etc.; time period for action by local planning commission.

Proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development or preliminary subdivision plat; time period for action by local planning commission. Reduces from 45 days to 30 days the period of time that a local planning commission or other agent has to act on any proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development that it has previously disapproved after the first time such plat or plan has been modified, corrected, and resubmitted for approval, and provides that such planning commission or other agent has within 15 days after the second or any subsequent time such plat or plan has been resubmitted for approval to act on such plat or plan. The bill makes similar changes to the review timelines for state agencies that review such plats. The bill also provides that, in any instance in which an initial review by a locality determines that the resubmitted application contains solely technical changes requiring less than 60 minutes of review, a locality's approved agent shall approve such application within five business days. The bill further provides that if a local planning commission has the responsibility of review of preliminary subdivision plats and conducts a public hearing, it shall act on the proposed preliminary subdivision plat within 35 days, rather than the current 45 days, after receiving approval from all state agencies.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Tax increment financing; use of other local taxes.

Tax increment financing; use of other local taxes. Authorizes the governing body of a county, city, or town to apply tax revenues from sources other than real estate taxes for use in tax increment financing of development projects. Under current law, only real estate taxes are specifically authorized to be used for such projects. The governing body may choose any or all of such taxes to be applied in such manner. The amount of revenues to be so used shall be the amount of the increase of such taxes collected in the development project area in a given year compared with the base amount of revenues prior to the establishment of such area. The local taxes that may be so applied include local sales and use taxes, merchants' capital taxes, license taxes, admissions taxes, transient occupancy taxes, meals taxes, and other local taxes and fees for utilities and transportation purposes.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Actions for medical malpractice; minors, gender transition procedures.

Actions for medical malpractice; minors; gender transition procedures. Provides a 20-year statute of limitations for any cause of action for personal injury or wrongful death accruing on or after July 1, 2025, on behalf of a person who was a minor at the time the cause of action accrued against a health care provider for medical malpractice wherein the act or omission giving rise to such cause of action occurred during a gender transition procedure, as defined in the bill, on such minor.

Eric R. ZehrRepublican

Signs or advertisements within the limits of a highway; increases civil penalty.

Signs or advertisements within the limits of a highway; civil penalty. Increases the civil penalty for placing advertisements and signs within the limits of any highway from $100 to $250 but retains the $100 civil penalty for identical signs and advertisements located within a 100-yard radius of a sign or advertisement for which the $250 civil penalty is imposed. The bill clarifies that when such signs and advertisements are removed, civil penalties may be collected in addition to the cost of removing such advertisements or signs.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Unemployment compensation; allowance for dependents.

Unemployment compensation: allowance for dependents. Provides that, in addition to the weekly unemployment benefit amount determined by relevant law, an eligible claimant who is unemployed in any week shall be paid an allowance of $25 for each of up to three dependents of such claimant. The bill defines "dependent" as the child, adopted child, or stepchild of a claimant who, on January 1 of the benefit year, is wholly or partly supported by such claimant and younger than 16 years of age. The bill requires any claimant declaring one or more dependents to provide proof of such dependents in a form and manner prescribed by the Commission in conformance with certain conditions enumerated in the bill. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation.

Karen Keys-GamarraDemocrat

Local gov't. employees; establishes framework for locality to establish & implement telework policy.

Telework by local government employees. Establishes a framework for localities to establish and implement a telework policy for local government employees. The bill specifies that such policy shall require all employees applying for telework to submit a standard telework agreement as provided by the locality and shall include provisions requiring (i) department head approval for any telework agreement where one telework day per week is requested, (ii) chief administrative officer approval for any telework agreement where two telework days per week are requested, and (iii) local governing body approval for any telework agreement where more than two telework days per week are requested. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Paul V. MildeRepublican

Sexual abuse of children; penalty.

Sexual abuse of certain children; penalty. Increases from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony the penalty for sexual abuse of a child who is 13 or 14 years of age.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican

Standards of School Safety; Board of Education, et al., to establish.

Board of Education; Standards of Quality; Standards of School Safety. Requires the Board of Education (the Board), in collaboration with the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to establish pursuant to regulation the Standards of School Safety for the purpose of assessing school safety in each local school division in the Commonwealth and each school building therein based on such objective, quantifiable measures of safety as the Board deems appropriate. The bill requires the Board to incorporate compliance with the Standards of School Safety as a school and school division accountability measure for the purposes of the Standards of Accreditation.

Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.Republican