Bills & Legislation

Hopewell, City of; amending charter, duties of treasurer.

Charter; City of Hopewell. Amends the charter for the City of Hopewell to allow the city to reassign certain duties from the city's elected treasurer to the city manager's office. The bill provides that the city manager will designate the finance department to be the custodian of all moneys and the treasurer will continue to be responsible for collecting state and federal disbursements to the city and for maintaining local collections.

Carrie E. CoynerRepublican

Deer, elk, or bear; Director of DWR or his designee has exclusive authority to provide kill permits.

Kill permits for deer, elk, or bear; local authority. Clarifies that the Director of the Department of Wildlife Resources or his designee has the exclusive authority to provide written authorization to kill deer, elk, or bear and prohibits a locality from amending, abridging, or limiting such authorization.

Chris ObenshainRepublican

Air quality monitoring program for certain communities; DEQ to establish, report.

Air quality monitoring program for certain communities; Virginia Council on Environmental Justice; report. Requires the Department of Environmental Quality to establish an ongoing air quality monitoring program for fenceline communities, as defined in the bill, disproportionately impacted by toxic metals, coal dust pollution, and other inhalable particulate matter that can cause adverse health effects, including PM2.5 and PM10, in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice by October 1, 2026, and annually thereafter. The bill requires such report to include data analysis on current pollution levels, health risks associated with the identified pollution levels, and any recommendations for regulatory or legislative actions to address any identified risks, and when thresholds established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for particulate matter are exceeded, such report shall also include recommended actions to mitigate such risks. The bill directs the General Assembly to annually review the findings and recommendations from the report to determine whether any legislation is necessary and requires the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice to provide advice and recommendations to the Governor and his cabinet on such findings and recommendations from the report.

Bonita G. AnthonyDemocrat

Artificial Intelligence Training Data Transparency Act; transparency and disclosure requirements.

Consumer Data Protection Act; Artificial Intelligence Training Data Transparency Act. Allows consumers to authorize a third party, acting on the consumer's behalf, to opt out of the processing of the consumer's personal data. Such authorization may be made using technology that indicates the consumer's intent to opt out, including a browser setting, browser extension, global device setting, or other user-selected universal opt-out mechanism. Where a controller has actual knowledge or willfully disregards that a consumer is an adolescent, defined in the bill as at least 13 years of age but younger than 16 years of age, no controller shall process any personal data collected or collect precise geolocation data from such adolescent without obtaining consent from such adolescent. The bill provides that the Attorney General has discretion regarding whether to provide an opportunity to cure a violation to a controller or processor beginning January 1, 2026. The bill also revises the definitions of "sale of personal data," "sensitive data," and "biometric data." The bill requires a developer of a generative artificial intelligence system or service, defined in the bill, to disclose on the developer's website information about the generative artificial intelligence data set used to train such system or service. A developer shall keep detailed records of the generative artificial intelligence data set used to train a generative artificial intelligence system or service and provide clearly designated and publicly available mechanisms for submissions of Training Data Verification Requests, defined in the bill, and Training Data Deletion Requests, defined in the bill. The bill also prohibits nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements from concealing noncompliance with the bill. The bill allows the Attorney General to offer developers an opportunity to cure noncompliance that is noticed by the Attorney General and provides that a person or entity claiming to be injured due to a violation of such provisions shall be entitled to initiate an action for monetary damages or equitable relief. The provisions of the bill regarding such developers have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Michelle Lopes MaldonadoDemocrat

Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund; point source pollution grant agreements.

Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund; Director of Department of Environmental Quality; point source pollution grant agreements. Clarifies that the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality is only required to enter into water quality improvement grant agreements with all facilities designated as significant dischargers or eligible nonsignificant dischargers that apply for such grants if sufficient and unobligated funds are available in the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund at the time the Director enters into such grant agreements.

Chris S. RunionRepublican

Tri-Cities Improvement Commission; established.

Casino gaming; Tri-Cities Improvement Commission established. Establishes the Tri-Cities Improvement Commission, consisting of members from the Cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell and Dinwiddie and Prince George Counties, to receive disbursements of gaming tax revenues and to prioritize and fund certain improvements in those jurisdictions.

Mike A. CherryRepublican

Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program; established.

Public schools; Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program established. Establishes the Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program, to be administered and managed by the Department of the Treasury pursuant to guidelines developed by the Board of Education in collaboration with the Department of the Treasury, for the purpose of ensuring that all children in the Commonwealth have access to quality educational opportunities by annually awarding a grant in the amount of $5,000 per eligible student, as that term is outlined in the bill, for up to 10,000 eligible students each year. The bill requires the grant funds awarded pursuant to the Program to be used to support qualified educational expenses of attending an accredited private school in the Commonwealth, as enumerated by the bill. The bill also (i) directs the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of the Treasury, to develop guidelines for the implementation and administration of the Program; (ii) requires the Board of Education to develop and make available to each school board and each school board to make available to parents at the start of each school year informational materials relating to the Program; and (iii) requires the Department of Education to annually collect data on and include as a part of the Board of Education's Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia the total student participation in the Program.

Mike A. CherryRepublican

Parole; exception to limitation on the application of parole statutes.

Parole; exception to limitation on the application of parole statutes. Provides that a person is eligible to be considered for parole if such person (i) was sentenced by a jury after the date of the Supreme Court of Virginia decision in Fishback v. Commonwealth, 260 Va. 104 (2000), in which the Supreme Court held that a jury should be instructed on the fact that parole has been abolished, for a felony committed on or after the abolition of parole going into effect on January 1, 1995; (ii) can prove by the preponderance of the evidence that the jury in his case was not instructed on the fact that parole has been abolished; and (iii) remained incarcerated for the offense on July 1, 2025, and the offense was not one of the following: (a) a Class 1 felony; (b) if the victim was a minor, rape, forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration, or aggravated sexual battery or an attempt to commit any such act; or (c) carnal knowledge. The bill also requires the Parole Board to establish procedures for consideration of parole of persons entitled to it and also provides that any person who is eligible for parole as of July 1, 2025, shall be scheduled for a parole interview no later than July 1, 2026, allowing for extension of time for reasonable cause.

Delores L. McQuinnDemocrat

Stormwater management regulations; localities outside Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Stormwater management regulations; localities outside Chesapeake Bay watershed. Requires the State Water Control Board and the Department of Environmental Quality to apply in a locality that is located outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed the regulations establishing minimum design criteria for measures that were in effect prior to July 1, 2014, to control (i) nonpoint source pollution and (ii) localized flooding and stream channel erosion.

Israel D. O'QuinnRepublican

Sage's Law; minor students experiencing gender incongruence, etc.

Sage's Law; minor students experiencing gender incongruence; parental notification of certain requests and parental permission for certain plans required; parental care. Requires each public elementary or secondary school principal or his designee to (i) as soon as practicable, inform at least one parent of a minor student enrolled in such school if such minor requests that any such employee participate while at school in the social affirmation of such minor student's gender incongruence or the transition of such minor student to a sex or gender different from the minor's biological sex, as such terms are defined in the bill, and (ii) request and receive permission from at least one parent of a minor student enrolled at such school prior to the implementation at such school of any plan concerning any gender incongruence experienced by such minor, including any counseling of such minor at school. Any such plan shall include provision for parental participation to the extent requested by the parent. The bill also clarifies, in the definition of the term "abused or neglected child," that in no event shall referring to and raising the child in a manner consistent with the child's biological sex, including related mental health or medical decisions, be considered abuse or neglect.

Nicholas J. FreitasRepublican

Child tax credit; Virginia adjusted gross income.

Child tax credit; Virginia adjusted gross income. Creates a one-time tax credit in taxable years 2025 through 2029 for taxpayers whose households include dependents younger than 12 years of age and whose family Virginia adjusted gross income, defined in the bill, does not exceed $100,000. Such credit shall be in an amount equal to $300 for each such dependent and only one credit may be claimed for each such dependent. The bill provides that if the taxpayer is a resident of the Commonwealth for the full taxable year, the credit is refundable. Otherwise, the credit is nonrefundable.

Kathy K.L. TranDemocrat

Discharging preproduction plastic; regulation, requirements.

Regulation of discharging preproduction plastic; requirements. Requires the Department of Environmental Quality to establish a program to ensure zero discharge or release from point and nonpoint source at certain facilities that discharge to (i) a surface water under a Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the Department or (ii) a publicly owned treatment works under an industrial pretreatment program permit or other written authorization issued by a local permit control authority and to require the prompt and environmentally responsible containment and cleanup of discharged or released preproduction plastic. The bill requires the Department to adopt and implement certain requirements in order to reduce and control the discharge or release of preproduction plastic from such facilities. The bill allows the Department to exempt a facility from the requirements of the program if a facility satisfies the criteria for a no exposure certification and complies with inspection requirements administered by the Department. The bill also allows the Department to establish additional requirements regarding the regulation of discharges and releases of preproduction plastic from certain facilities into water or onto land in the Commonwealth.

Nadarius E. ClarkDemocrat

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